Salvage

Pity poor Lois Williams (Gates)—she's at wits end. Depressed and out of work, she's blamed by everyone for the death of Dan Varrel's brother. Worse, Varrel (Barry) is one tough mug, no one to mess with, and now he's out of jail and blaming her. So why not just give up, let him put her out of her misery. Please do it, she tells him, which is what we expect him to do as an act of revenge. But, surprise, surprise, he doesn't. Instead he does everything he can to help her out of her misery. Now it looks like he's rewarding her for killing his brother. So, what's going on with this guy?

My real purpose here is to point out what a wonderful little actress Nancy Gates is. Scope out those early scenes where she's an emotional wreck. She's convincing as all get out. Remember, nobody in 1955 expected these transitory half-hours to still be shown 50 years later. That's one reason many actors didn't try so hard for episodic TV. But Gates delivers in spades, even in the later scenes where she's bubbly happy. It's that emotional gamut that lends what force there is to this half-hour. She may not have been the prettiest girl in Hollywood, but she is surely among the many fine unsung actresses.

The best episode since the Hitchcock-directed pilot, "Salvage" (Season 1, Episode 6) is an excellent addition to series. Television has always been a distinct artistic medium from film, mostly with regards to running times. While sitcoms or TV dramas may have hours to develop characters and plot lines, anthology series such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had just under thirty minutes to unfold a complete standalone story. In many cases, as in "Don't Come Back Alive" (Season 1, Episode 4), this restriction hindered the quality, but here it serves as a positive. "Salvage" jumps full-swing into its story, with its shifty female protagonist (Nancy Gates) already fearing the arrival of a paroled gangster (Gene Barry, his second appearance in the series) whose brother she betrayed to the authorities. It's this sort of efficient storytelling that produces the best half-hour episodes – most of the characters' back-story can be filled in automatically by the viewer, allowing a considerable amount of drama to unfold in an otherwise limited running-time.

Both of the leads deliver strong performances. Nancy Gates, not an actress I'm familiar with, convincingly plays a shivering emotional wreck, a wretched woman who both understands and accepts that her time is up. Usually, a leading lady can be expected to be innocent and virtuous (as was Patricia Hitchcock in the previous episode, "Into Thin Air"), but Lois Williams is pretty much rotten from the beginning, a cowardly and unrepentant opportunist. Is this the developing mould of Marion Crane, an anti-heroine who deserved everything she got? Gene Barry has an excellent presence, a smouldering ex-convict who's always contemplating his next move. Also look out for film noir stalwart Elisha Cook Jr. as a ratty criminal associate. Hitchcock has some fun in the episode introduction, taking the viewer on a "behind the scenes" tour of the television studio, and narrowly avoiding being pulverised by a heavy object. Hitchcock's droll sense of humour would be the death of him!

Gangster Dan Varrell, just released from prison, goes looking for the woman he holds responsible for his brother's death. An edgy thriller that boasts fine performances from Nancy Gates and Gene Evans. You really root for Varrell for trying to change Nancy Gate's character's life instead of killing, but not everything is simple as that.

A story about Revenge but some events will make them business partner. A pretty interesting story and we still wondering how it will end. A story also about reputation also. A nice episode as always. The end is pretty surprising.

A young woman betrays the brother of a gangster while he is in prison. She lives in abject terror of his return, knowing that these will be her last days. When he comes to kill her, he realizes that she is so guilt ridden she doesn't even care. He says as much. He wants her to beg, to plead, to get on her knees. Then a strange turn of events. Instead of doing her in, he offers her a business partnership. Of course, we think he is fronting some illegal operation and she will be victimized by it. It is, after all, Alfred Hitchcock. Still, she begins to design clothes and create a very successful dress shop. She is the happiest she has ever been. She is walking on air. There is a lot of byplay with some real noir characters such as Elijah Cook. Gene Barry is quite good as the cold calculating gangster. This is really a solid episode.