The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby

If this weren't so blatantly tongue-in-cheek, this would be a terrible episode. I'm always amazed how easily people die in television shows. What is odd is that Hitchcock, in his movies, never made dying a routine thing. Oh well, he was just the host here. The man in question kills his wife by luring her to a rug and then pulling it violently out from under her. I have to be quite honest. If I did this, they would most likely fall on their rear and get up and punch me in the nose. There is a subplot of the man trying to hang on to treasures in an antique/curio shop; an obsession not shared by his spouse. He needs money to continue buying all this junk and this becomes a sore point. Eventually, he hooks up with a woman who is obviously his equal and the sparks fly. Take this for what it is. Far fetched. If you accept it on those terms it's not so bad.

After making quite a good first impression with his debuting 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode "Help Wanted", James Neilsen returns for his second (of twelve) with "The Orderly World of Mr Appleby". The premise wasn't too exciting, but 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' did more than once prove that it could make something interesting out of premises that are nothing special so hopes were almost certainly not dashed by any stretch.

"The Orderly World of Mr Appleby" turned out to be quite decent, but not great let alone exceptional. It could have done more with the premise and not much wows, but it still turned out to be worth watching and has enough to like. "The Orderly World of Appleby" is not one of the best episodes of Season 1 or 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' in general. At the same time, it is also not one of the worst. Personally put it somewhere in the middle.

Good things are certainly here. Robert H. Harris does a great job in the lead role and is the main reason to see "The Orderly World of Mr Appleby", suitably fidgety but also suitably easy to hate. Perfect for his jerk-ish character. The ending is another strength and elevates what is otherwise not the greatest of stories to a better level, it's plausible and surprising.

Supporting cast are pretty good if never outstanding. Hitchcock is wonderfully droll as is the humour and irony in the bookending. Neilsen directs with competence if not with complete distinction, while the episode is well made visually. Especially the photography. Still love the main theme.

However, the story didn't strike me as too great. It came over as on the far-fetched and thin side, and really could have done with a tighter pace and more suspense. Without those it did come over as bland. The script also could have been tighter.

Despite the supporting cast being pretty good, the supporting characters are not particularly well written with them not being gone into more depth.

Overall, quite decent but there was something missing. 6/10.

Mr. Appleby owns an antique store. But he really shouldn't, as he;s obsessed with the items in his store...so much that he refuses to sell many of them...and there's no way you can stay in business that way. When one of his consignors threatens to remove their items from his shop since they aren't being sold, Applyby comes up with a novel solution....he murders his wife and uses her small fortune to pay for the items in question. But this won't last long, not if he wants to keep most everything, and soon he's looking for a rich wife...in case he needs to arrange an 'accident' once again in order to keep his things.

This is an interesting show about a truly awful person. And, like in most of these tales from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", he gets his in the end...making for a wonderful and fitting finale.

Robert H. Harris may not have had the most memorable career in screen history, but he is just about perfect in this episode (as he is in "The Safe Place" from Season 3) as the frumpy, balding, middle-aged pseudo-sophisticate who thinks he's irresistible to women, a schtick that Paul Bartel later specialized in. Here, he's a pompous oaf trying to rip off his various wives of their life savings to prop up his failing antique shop. It's both sinister and funny, in the Hitchcock black humor tradition. Also, the double surprise ending is completely satisfying. One of the best.

Again, there is nothing extraordinary in this good and however solid plot, just in the tradition of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS anthology show. The scheme of a man killing his wife and also having money problems. You see, nothing really new, and only the ending is really worth the watch, though it was used before in many anthology series episodes, and also after. To summarize, a pretty good entertainment for AH PRESENTS goers. And allso an episode that you will rapidly forget. Now, that's up to you to decide, you have been warned. That's the name of the game with such overlong anthology shows. Similar plots.