Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Murder Me Twice (1958) User Reviews

Despite the mumbo jumbo, a very good episode.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 2 April 2021]

"Murder Me Twice" is an episode that intrigued me, as I have had extensive training in hypnotherapy. At times the show seemed like a lot of mumbo jumbo instead of realistically portraying hypnosis, though this didn't harm the episode in the least!

Early in the episode, a hypnotist puts on a demonstration using Lucy (Phyllis Thaxter). Unexpectedly, this hypnosis results in Lucy becoming a long-dead murderess from the mid-19th century...and she immediately stabs her husband to death! When she's taken out of hypnosis, she claims to have no recollection of killing the guy!

When Lucy is being investigated for murder, the hypnotist offers to defend her and explain how she had no control over herself and it was some sort of past life regression....and then the twist.

The episode is most enjoyable and instead of encouraging the audience to believe ridiculous things about hypnosis, it exposes the guy as a quack...and Lucy as a most unusual lady! Well worth seeing and most entertaining.

Hidden in Plain Sight

[robinc-74959 · 7/10 · 18 June 2018]

An eerie, entertaining little story. Phyllis Thaxter gives an excellent performance as the protean young wife. The shock of the terrible deeds in the story comes from the halcyon settings in which they are placed. I confess to some pleasure at seeing a mountebank hoist with his own petard.

The Scissors...?? 🤔

[tinadubois-81009 · 26 March 2022]

....At the second hypnotism with the knowledge of knowing what happened at the first murder ..they foolishly leave a pair of scissors on the table for her to easily grab again, like how dumb is that...

A Couple Of Things

[CherCee · 10/10 · 10 January 2023]

One of the previous commenters states that Lucy Pryor's (Phyllis Thaxter's) identity under hypnosis, Dora Evans, is from the South. I don't believe that Philadelphia (where Dora says that she's from) has ever been in the South. Also, another commenter states that Dora is from 1819, but she was born in 1828 and when the 'hypnotist' first questions her, she is 9 years old. When the 'hypnotist' talks to her as an adult, she says that it's 1853. I love when the slimy 'hypnotist' Miles Farnham (Tom Helmore) gets his just rewards for trying to blackmail her, right on the witness stand! And at the end when Phyllis Thaxter says "Wouldst not thee like to know?" when she is asked if she was faking the hypnotism, then the look back when she was leaving, it was great!

"Wouldst not thee like to know."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 4 October 2021]

A real healthy suspension of disbelief is required for this episode to work, and even then it would be a long shot. The very ending when Lucy Pryor (Phyllis Thaxter) utters the statement in my summary line suggests that she had planned the whole thing all along. Meaning she had to be at the dinner party that opened the story, had to allow herself to be hypnotized, and had to have researched the life of Dora Evans in 1853, the woman who killed her own husband. Additionally, I couldn't understand the belief at the district attorney's office that Mrs. Pryor could never be found guilty of murder because she was hypnotized. I don't know what the law says about something like that but I think I'll research it now. On the face of it, it looked like Lucy Prior got away with murder, but really, I think it was the script writers.

Hypnosis for Dummies

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 8 July 2013]

Thank God that police investigations in real life aren't as ridiculous as the ones in many of these Hitchcock episodes. In this one, a woman at a cocktail party asks to be hypnotized by an expert. While in a trance, she becomes a psychotic young woman from the South in the mid 1800's. She suddenly grabs a letter opener from a table and stabs her husband to death. Well, you get it. She's not responsible because she was a different person and there's no way to prove otherwise. I have a feeling that the law would have leaned on her a lot harder than they ultimately. Meanwhile, the hypnotist, who it turns out has a few skeletons in his closet, tries for a payoff from the young woman. The police and the legal system are totally incapable of at least an investigation. Like, perhaps looking into the relationship with the husband or checking the story a bit further. One other thing that has always bothered me. The ease with which people are killed with pointed objects. I know hitting the right spot can kill a person, but most don't have the skill to find that spot and people don't really that easily. In "Dial M for Murder" Grace Kelley easily kills her assailant sent by her husband, using a pair of scissors. Yet in "Torn Curtain" there is a long painful attempt to kill a man who doesn't want to be dead. Oh, well, I'm learning to be patient although this effort just doesn't seem to rate my patience. Oh, you know there is a twist at the end, but I'll leave that to your perusal.

Deadly hypnosis

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 19 May 2023]

Was not sure what to make of the premise for "Murder Me Twice" (great title!). It did have real potential to be very creepy and intriguing, but it also had potential to be far fetched. Which for me has been the case for anything centering heavily around hypnosis. Despite being mixed on the premise, "Murder Me Twice" was still seen anyway as there are plenty of great 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and it was great to have a break from the more prolific directors. Phyllis Thaxter is also no stranger to the series, and all her previous performances for it were excellent.

She herself does not disappoint, but "Murder Me Twice" as an episode disappointed. It is not terrible and it is a much better episode than the previous episode "Safety for the Witness". It is also though one of a number of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' outings to have a lead performance that is much better than the episode itself, and also a case of starting off well but declining rapidly too early. Season 4 did have worse than "Murder Me Twice", but also a lot better.

Thaxter is the best thing about "Murder Me Twice". Her performance was excellent and had intensity, without falling into histrionics, and also enough nuance. Tom Helmore is strong too and the chemistry likewise. As said, the episode did start off with a good deal of promise. It was intriguing and it did unsettle.

Hitchcock's bookending amuses and is suitably droll humoured while there is some nice atmosphere in the production values. "Funeral March of a Marionette" is great film music.

For all those good things, "Murder Me Twice" had a lot of issues. It is too talky, with a lot of rambling mumbo jumbo that succeeded more in confusing rather than intriguing. Quite difficult to get the head round some of it, especially if not familiar with how hypnosis works beyond what is portrayed in film and television. David Swift's (in his first and only 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' directing credit) direction is slack and undistinguished.

Did feel that the story was messy. It started off very well, but too early and quickly lost any suspense and became very predictable and silly, as well as more confusing than necessary. Actually was not surprised by the ending at all and also found it beyond far fetched.

Summing up, loved Thaxter but didn't care for the episode. 5/10.

Not a good Hitchcock episode and not up to the usual quality

[brbrknndy · 5/10 · 2 August 2021]

Spoiler:

I was very disappointed in Hitchcock because it was very easy to prove the lady was lying about being hypnotized. It was given away at the beginning of the episode. The psychiatrist had said that the subject would only be able to feel his touch and hear her voice. He told her that they were both alone while under hypnosis. She would not be aware of any other people in the room. How would she know the stab-bee was there if she thought it was just her and the psychiatrist? Also if the spirit thought she was in 1819 how would she know about the pruning shears on the table or where the stab-bee was? I was fully expecting the DA to reveal a lot of things but no real gotchas like in his other episodes.