A Personal Matter

What is very strange about this episode the situation these men find themselves in. They are building a mining tunnel through the side of a hill in some remote place that is nearly inaccessible. It is dangerous, unpredictable work. Because of a lack of proper equipment and poor quality workmen, the head engineer has had enough and decides to quite the project. At one point he is nearly killed when all the men run away. One day, the boss arrives, bringing with him a man who is supposedly skilled in this kind of work. The boss takes off while our hero is in the mine, leaving him there for several weeks. He decides he would rather continue to work on the project rather than sit around. A suspicious relationship develops between the two men. Also, a radio announcement makes it clear that the new guy may be a wanted murder suspect. There are guns involved and lots of distrust. The story has the usual Hitchcock, O. Henry kind of conclusion.

One of the stranger thing about the episode is the fact that they have frequent parties on the beach. There is one woman, a beautiful young nurse, who dances as they play their instruments. I can't imagine a more dangerous place for such a person. She seems totally out of place. She does, however, provide medical attention for the men. Strange.

Two engineers quarrel over a Mexican tunnel project.

The real star of this entry is the special effects. Since most of the action takes place in a rickety tunnel, mishaps happen and are very well staged. We know something is unrevealed about the two rival engineers, so things are not as straightforward as they seem. But what is it.

Rather sad to see authentic war hero Wayne Morris (Bret), knowing he would die prematurely within a year. Still, he and Joe Maross (Joe) play off one another very convincingly, carrying a show that otherwise seems better suited to an action series than to Hitchcock. It's a decent half-hour, more a tribute to its two leads than to the rather tepid payoff.

(In passing—if Anna Navarro (Marie) is still a nurse down there, then I've got a bad cold and am heading south right away!)

Paul Henreid was the second most prolific director for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', the most being Robert Stevens. None of the regular directors for the series were consistent, with pretty much all of them having a mix of very good and more and not particularly good episodes. As well as the second most prolific director, Henreid was also one of the more variable in terms of episode quality. He didn't really direct any real misfires, but not many of his episodes were great at the same time (instead ranging between average and very good).

"A Personal Matter" is one of the a little above average episodes. Also absolutely agree about it being more like an episode of an adventure series, which is not necessarily a bad thing taking it on its own terms but there is not much 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' here. It's decent enough escapism, though there is a personal preference for the darker, creepier, more suspenseful episodes that 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' often did so wonderfully. Changes of pace have been done well many times though on the show, and "A Personal Matter" fares fairly decently here.

The best aspects are the special effects and the acting. The effects are some of the series' most elaborate and are pretty impressive for 50s television and for a series where the budget was not massive. They were also well used, not excessive or gimmicky. The acting is very good, with Wayne Morris and Joe Maross giving engaging performances and their rapport has a good amount of tension and at times playfulness. Henreid does keep things moving quite well and fares more than competently.

Furthermore, the production values are slick and atmospheric, neither overblown or cheap, with good use of the suitably claustrophobic mine setting. The theme music is still a classic. The dialogue mostly entertains and probes thought. The story is fun on the most part and has some well staged mishaps.

However, the second half isn't always as strong, where the story loses excitement and becomes a little thin on the ground. Did find some of the quarrelling overdone and overwritten and some of the episode a little too talk heavy.

Weakest aspect of "A Personal Matter" is the ending, which comes too out of nowhere and staged rather indifferently, so it all comes over as tepid. It is another episode where this reviewer forgot how it ended, that's how bland the ending was. Shame because an episode that started off so intriguingly did deserve a much stronger finish.

Overall, pretty decent but not great. 6/10.