One for the Road

There are problems with this episode in both script and technical aspects. The technical problem occurs when Marsha Hendricks makes one phone call and then another. When she speaks with her husband's secretary, we only hear Marsha's voice. Then she calls the woman she eventually realizes is her husband's girlfriend and we hear both sides of the conversation clearly. When Marsha learns her husband, on whom she dotes, is having an affair, her reaction is rather dull and his reaction is bizarre in its lack of sensitivity. "So I see another woman?" he brusquely asks. "What of it?" There are positives. The actress who plays girlfriend Beryl is needy, almost pitiful in her neediness. Louise Platt as Marsha Hendricks takes time to size up the competition and she is believably warped enough when she turns murderous, not out of jealousy, but out of the believe the other woman threatened husband Charles. The husband is handsome and completely selfish. It also has a twist that fits together with the whole story and is quite chilling.

Charles (John Baragrey) divides his time between his wife and his mistress. An arrangement that suits only one of the three...

Louise Platt plays the devoted wife, who would do anything for her husband, whilst Georgann Johnson is the attractive other woman, who naturally wants more - her second "tug of love" role in this series (see "Jonathan").

Charles is completely self-absorbed - he is not at all concerned with the feelings of either woman, and the fact that he provokes strong feelings in both (how strong we find out) is further evidence of his ability to deceive.

There are some great moments of suspense in this episode. The pace never lets up, and all three actors are excellent. Definitely worth a look.

Another Robert C. Dennis gem, author of 30 tv episodes for Hitchcock, later 22 episodes for PERRY MASON, and countless cop shows. This may be one of his best dark comedies, and with a fitting ending.

John Baragrey plays Charles, an everyday Hitchcock gentleman who just happens to be cheating on his wife. Louise Platt is Marsha, the wife who suspects something's not quite right, ya know? The hilarious take-away from all this is the fact Charles is yet another character without any shame. He's out and about everyday, and what ensues is tough luck for his wife.

Marsha does, however, take matters in her own hands and goes so far as to pay a visit to the "other" woman (which shifts things in gear), played by Georgann Johnson. Johnson was a versatile actress who did many memorable roles.

A wonderful game of cat and mouse because both women keep you guessing --due to the fact the man in their life is a work of art. This guy has been walking on thin ice for a long, long time.

I agree with the last reviewer, and its a good point; many of Hitchcock's tv plots employed poison. There's some truth to that because (statistically) there were less red flags in the 50s, as compared today, concerning what you could purchase. Indeed, you probably would have had more success poisoning someone than shooting them. All this must have impressed the master of suspense and his writers.

Superb late night entertainment. SEASON 2 EPISODE 23 remastered Universal dvd box set. 2006. Running time, 16 hrs, 52 min. All 7 seasons are now on dvd in a single box set. Released 2022.

When the story begins, Charles and Marsha Hendricks seem to have a lovely marriage and they seem to dote on each other. However, very soon you realize that Charles is a piece of garbage...and has a mistress on the side. When Marsha realizes this, instead of being furious with her cheating husband, she channels all her rage towards the other woman (something that inexplicably happens sometimes in real life). In fact, she is so angry she plans on poisoning the mistress! But, after leaving the poison, she realizes that her husband might ingest it (so??) and she runs to the woman's apartment and divulges what she's done. But this is NOT the end of the story.

I was all prepared to give this one a 7 or 8. But one thing that annoys me is that in several episodes where the perfect crime seems to have occurred, Hitchcock in the epilogue announces that the perpetrator was caught and justice was served! This is bad because there really is no reason to believe she would ever be caught and also because it makes the series moralistic and dopey.

I couldn't stand any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to any of them. The husband is about as insensitive and smug as anyone can be under the circumstances. The wife is neurotic and fragile and should enlist our sympathy. I guess as the wronged woman, she is the most sympathetic. The "other" woman is pretty and needy. She fails to see what a jackass she has hooked up with. Anyway, the formula has been set and the events play themselves out. Poison must have been readily available in the fifties because those plotting murder don't seem to have much trouble getting their hands on it. Nevertheless, what is somewhat engaging is the dramatic irony involved in watching the guy confidently manipulate his situation to the exclusion of the two women in his life. Our disgust for him sort of keeps us involved.