10 PLUS STARS.
Popular author Marian B. Cockrell may have been inspired by MARY POPPINS(!) in writing this truly over the top story, all about an eccentric governess. She just took it to the up-teenth level, and with a wink and a nod from Hitchcock. Nothing new for Marian either, as she later became a cult figure, writing several camp episodes for BATMAN.
Who else to play this role than one of the great comediennes and stage actresses, Hermione Gingold! All of us kids grew up watching her on tv talk shows, and she was a laugh riot, if not x-rated senior citizen! She had a distinguished stage career, later jumping into movies and beginning with appearances in two classic films, GIGI (1958), singing with Maurice Chevalier and acting opposite Kim Novak in BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (1958), which probably caught Hitchcock's eye.
Hermione is the whole show, playing Charlotte Hope, a most unusal governess who enters the lives of a distinguished family (the Wellingtons) and proceeds to turn it upside down in one EZ lesson. The definition of a dark comedy. There's also the debate over the title, the Schartz Metterklune Method, which is Miss Hope's way of teaching children --an artistic, uninhibited approach at child rearing. Actually, the Method is not that unusual; experimentation. Rinse, wash and repeat!
Notable supporting cast with famous sisters Angela and Veronica Cartwright and Pat Hitchcock playing Rose, and making her dad proud. Pat was a good actress. I have said it before, watch her in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951). There are many other familiar faces here, a who's who of popular actors.
So there you have it, an unforgettable episode (perhaps ahead of its time) not to be missed. From SEASON 5 EPISODE 35 remastered Universal dvd box set.