Wet Saturday

AH Presents has a handful of settings it rotated through, and this is one of them: upper class twits on the prowl. It becomes apparent early on that a Father is coaching his family on how to cover up a socially-inconvenient murder. The daughter is an irritating pool of tears. IMDb shows the actress as having only about half a dozen jobs in her life. Understandable.

But Cedric Hardwicke isn't bad as faah-ther (AH used him in Rope), and the great John Williams appears. I kind of like the calculating mendacity of the dad. I didn't get the ending at first as my attention was drifting.

Not a good start to Season 2.

The episode begins with learning that Millicent Princey has murdered someone. Her father (Cedric Hardwicke) insists that for the sake of the family name they MUST hide the murder. However, considering how much Millicent simpers and overacts, I was surprised he wanted to cover up the killing. So, he decides to pin it on a convenient scapegoat, Captain Smollet (John Williams).

Considering that "Wet Saturday" was the premier episode of season two, you'd think it would be a particularly good show. Well, it wasn't. Most of the problem was that Tita Purdom (who played Millicent) was just awful--overacting horribly. You cannot entirely blame her, as the director SHOULD have elicited a different sort of performance with at least SOME subtlety. And, considering that Hitchcock himself directed it, I certainly expected more. A HUGE disappointment.

This isn't a very good Hitchcock episode. I do like the aftermath scene and Hitchcock's description of what Millicent does. I guess the father wasn't hard headed after all.

HITCHCOCK directed this mess???????

Ok, the performance of "Millicent" is one of the worst for I've seen in this series. It is cartoonish, ridiculous, and obnoxious. How did this even happen?

Unfortunately, I now must think of more to say. 400+ more characters?

OK, how is it possible that Hitchcock headlined this slop?

My parents used to watch this series, after they got married in 1958. It was apparently a ritual. I wonder what they thought of this particular episode. The problem with this show, is that it is so inconsistent. An occasional great episode, surrounded by many that are barely tolerated.

Very rarely do I feel uncomfortable. But this episode made me really uncomfortable watching it. Too loud and unattractive for a good series like Alfred Hitchcock Presents :(