User reviews

The setup is familiar: An oafish but good-natured slob of a toy magnate (Robert Strauss), married to beautiful and bored young Anne Francis, hires handsome Donelly Rhodes as his new confidential secretary.

Not only does Rhodes soon prove himself indispensable, he earns Strauss' gratitude by saving him from making a costly mistake with a proposed new toy line. Although initially cool (if not outright hostile) to Rhodes, Francis soon warms up to him, too. Really warms up. The feeling is mutual, and the results will be deadly.

What makes this somewhat conventional story work are some finely-drawn characters and excellent ensemble acting, especially by the three principal leads. Plus there's an appropriately brooding score from Bernard Herrmann. And of course, the final twist.

Well worth watching, even if you think you've heard this one before.

Pretty typical Hitchcock TV episode. We know from the start that things are not going to work out for the conspirators. Anne Francis is a beautiful woman who appeared in several of these offerings. Here she married this creep for his money and his toy empire. But she got bored with him big time. So along comes the handsome male secretary and they are off to the races. He is caught between his feelings for her and the love of his job and his future. Hubby is aware of this but doesn't show it. So things don't go so well for the promiscuous twosome. I do appreciate the ending which allowed people to cook their own gooses. Geese? It's a really well executed "Hitchcock Ending," which we called these when I was young.

Hitch decided to have a little fun with everybody, and it's worth a look. Wait and see...

One of the best gangsters, Robert Strauss (a bit more on the comedic side) plays a fabulously wealthy toy manufacturer who hires on a young and handsome college grad (Donelly Rhodes) to be his executive assistant. Strauss also has a beautiful wife, played by Anne Francis. Take a wild guess what happens? OR does it happen the way you think?

Outstanding acting on all parts, particularly Oscar nominee Robert Strauss. He also holds the distinction of being the "first" mortal who discovered Samantha was a witch on the BEWITCHED tv series. Another role that made him famous. Hitch had to have him on the show.

Anne Francis is a natural here, as always, who at the time had her own brief tv adventure series, HONEY WEST.

Of course, Hitch has the LAST laugh, who seemed to enjoy stories about quirky marriages. And catch his hilarious opening monologue. The Tops. SEASON 3 EPISODE 18 CBS dvd box set. According to Amazon, seasons 1 through 3 were remastered in Europe and may not play on American made dvd players. Best to check with the seller.

A boisterous toy manufacturer hires a handsome male secretary who proceeds to carry on with the rich man's philandering wife.

This is another hour-entry that would have worked better as a half-hour. It's a neat climax, but getting there takes a lot of filler. For example, the illicit love affair between Rhodes and Francis is dragged out unnecessarily, and as reviewer sneedsnood points out, the business with the fuse is over-emphasized and too revealing. Nonetheless, there are two highlights. The paddle-ball contest between Rhodes and Strauss reaches a rare level of intensity and also reveals a covert side of the toy manufacturer. I expect this departure was inserted to pep up the dawdling narrative. The other is the very last shot, which sneakily puts a very different slant on what's gone before—don't let it slip by. Anyhow, despite Rhodes' dull blandness, Strauss' over-compensating bravado, plus an oddly detached Francis, the entry does have its positives. Still, a half-hour format I think would have provided more punch.

John (Donelly Rhodes) is a new secretary for an odd toy manufacturer, Ted Beale (Robert Strauss). I say odd because Ted is a very jovial and almost childlike guy and it's easy to like him. As for Ted's wife, Peg (Anne Francis) is obviously bored with him and has been cheating on him. Eventually, she and John begin cheating....and plotting Ted's demise. But since Ted is a real joker, he ends up having the last laugh.

This is a decent episode with a nice (though not too unexpected) twist. However, like way too many episodes, in his epilogue, once again, Hitchcock tacks on a crime doesn't pay comment that really is NOT appropriate for the show...especially since it's debatable what sort of crime actually occurred. It also suffers from being over-long, as a half hour's worth of story is in the show....a common problem with hour-long anthology episodes. Overall, decent watching but flawed.

A rich, unappealing husband and a young, attractive wife live in a big, luxurious house. Hm. Where will this go? When the husband hires an attractive young male assistant played by too-perfectly-1960's handsome Donnelly Rhodes, we think we know. She flirts with other men. He is stern and disapproving until she flirts with him and the expected passion flares. The house features an unusual device, and the minute its function and faults are overly explained -- really, really overly explained -- we know exactly how this is going to end. Surprise ending? Hardly. Robert Strauss is too goofy and unappealing to make a likely husband for lovely Anne Francis. Their marriage never seems remotely plausible to begin with, and everyone behaves like a dimwit in the interests of furthering the unlikely plot.