The Case of Mr. Pelham

The ending is in particular pretty humorous once you figure out what exactly is going on in the last scenes.

That said, the episode could have benefitted from one of Hitchcock's usual clever commentary at the end of the episode about the main character's solution to his own problem or how it came about in the first place.

Absolutely loved the idea of the story, which was a different one for the series at that time. There were episodes where one is immediately sucked in even reading the synopsis and having a feeling that it would be good, and "The Case of Mr Pelham" is one of them. It also has the advantage of being directed by the master of suspense himself, whose previous episode was the brilliant "Breakdown" (a season and series high point). So expectations were high.

Those expectations were absolutely filled and very nearly exceeded with "The Case of Mr Pelham". While not quite as brilliant as Hitchcock's previous entry, it has all of the things that made that episode so good and executes them just as well. "Breakdown" gets the slight edge for the atmosphere being a little more chilling and for having a more satisfying ending. "The Case of Mr Pelham" is still an excellent episode and one of Season 1's best overall, and certainly up to this point.

Some people might like that the ending is open to interpretation and ambiguous, while that was intriguing to me there was too much of an abrupt and incompletely inconclusive feel in a case where a well rounded off conclusion was needed.

Everything else is fantastic. It is stylishly and atmospherically made and Hitchcock's direction is typically exemplary. His bookending is also wonderfully droll and interesting. The music adds well to the ominous unease and have said a lot in reviews for the previous episodes about the theme tune being such a perfect pick for the series and can't get enough of it.

Furthermore, the script is lean and thoughtful and the story is laden with uneasy suspense and a truly scary atmosphere that is enough to give the chills. A good deal goes on but it doesn't feel over-stuffed and it is neither too simple or over-complicated. Flashbacks have the dangers of bogging down the momentum or distracting from the story without adding much, "The Case of Mr Pelham" does neither.

The titular character is one worth rooting for, while not being too passive, and played with absolute conviction by Tom Ewell, here playing it straight in an atypical dramatic role that could easily have been played blandly but isn't. Raymond Bailey is perfectly cast as well.

In summary, excellent. 9/10.

Alfred Hitchcock's offers to us an implausible tale, but who care anyway, the Case of Mr. Pelham is original and fresh, about a man of middle age, just single (Tom Ewell) who has his own business, living in a normal and easy lifestyle, when suddenly he realizes that someone else is trying to mimic him, he already was warned by some friends that they met him in another places, however unnoticed by Mr. Pelham, who didn't remember to be there, in fact in that moment he was out of town, then he meets his Doctor to discuss such madness, the Doctor suggest some advices, however every day is getting worst, the results is unpredictable at least, nice episode!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Brilliant story, new to me. I love this episode. Its one of alfreds best directions.

Albert Pelham (Tom Ewell) discovers that someone has been impersonating him. Fearing his life is being taken away from him, Pelham confronts his double, only to begin doubting his own sanity.

Hitchcock returns again for his 3rd directing credit, taking on another familiar story that much like "Breakdown" has been done about a zillion times since this. The tale of a man who discovers he has a double trying to take over his life and slowly push him out or is he slowly going mad. The out come is usual always the same conclusion and the one here is no different, that's maybe why the impact of this one really didn't hit me to hard because I pretty much knew where this was going after the two Pelham's finally meet. As said before Hitch does his usual great job behind the camera and the cast is excellent here, I could defiantly see how in 1956 this was damn good television as Hitch was apparently nominated for a prime time Emmy for best directing. Not to sound harsh on this episode as it seems to be a favorite among fans of the series, and it is a very fine episode, but, I guess the fact that the story being done to death and seeing this a hundred times on other movies and series since really hurt the out come for me, and personally I believe Hitch should have got the Emmy nod for either "Revenge" or "Breakdown" as I believe those two episodes to be superior to this one. Closing note: Hitchcock's closing narration is the greatest!.