This episode is recommended, if only to those avid for plays with characters named Marcia, Beryl and Charles
.
In this quite special, quite apart episode, daddy Hitchcock amused himself, gently, by setting a rehearsal of a scene he directed with full brio more than 15 yrs before
.
Add to this that daddy Hitchcock was our chief toxicologist. (As a medical student, I gave a pretty mediocre exam of toxicology, a pretty messed one, but I cherish this science notwithstanding
.) I leave for a future entry the inquiry as to how many Hitchcock characters get it by poisons
. ONE FOR THE ROAD is a rehearsal of the famous SUSPICION climax, when Grant brings the glass of poisoned milk
. That fatal glass, that deadly milk, those dreaded steps
. Another play of three performers, the actors being John Baragrey, Georgann Johnson and Louise Platt; poor Baragrey is enormously dis-likable, his character behaves like an oily jerk. In Hitchcock's collection of crooked jokes and pranks, this is straight romance.
Charles Hendrix cheats his wife Marcia with his lover Beryl Abbott; both women are rather bland and homely, with Beryl, the blonde, being a bit cuter.
Now Hendrix is a good name for a family; Marcia, for a bland wife, and Beryl—for a blonde, slightly slutty mistress.
The role of the finally betrayed mistress, Beryl Abbott, is interesting; and the blonde babe delivers a nice performance. Perhaps her beauty, and the sharp cinematography, give this episode some nasty romance, make it more touching than usually. A jealous wife, Marcia Hendrix, tries to poison her rival, Beryl, by mixing the sugar with poison; then she finds out that her husband dropped by his mistress sooner than she expected, and so she goes to warn the lovers or check the results. Adultery, deceit and lies are poison. But we like Beryl.
On the pretty intro, daddy Hitchcock plays the captive audience, in an allegorical posture.
Dear pals, this addictive TV series amazes me on and on, it's so sharp and straight likable. I like both its sharp, polished look, and its aspect of laboratory, a toxicology laboratory where daddy Hitchcock could freely experiment and test his poisons.
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