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"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" What Really Happened (1963)
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What Really Happened (1963)
Overview
TV Series:
"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1962)Original Air Date:
11 January 1963 (Season 1, Episode 16)Plot:
A woman stands trial for her wealthy husband's murder. Her vengeful mother-in-law is convinced that she did it, but a family servant knows the key to what really happened. | add synopsisPlot Keywords:
User Comments:
Poison in the milk moreCast
(Episode Credited cast)| Alfred Hitchcock | ... | Himself - Host | |
| Anne Francis | ... | Eve Raydon | |
| Ruth Roman | ... | Adelaide 'Addie' Strain | |
| Gladys Cooper | ... | Mrs. Raydon | |
| Stephen Dunne | ... | Jack Wentworth (as Steve Dunn) | |
| Michael Strong | ... | Defense Attorney Mr. Molloy | |
| Tim O'Connor | ... | Prosecutor Mr. Halstead | |
| Gene Lyons | ... | Howard Raydon | |
| Charles Irving | ... | The Judge | |
| Theodore Newton | ... | Doctor Borgman | |
| Fern Barry | ... | Sarah, the Maid | |
| Michael Crisalli | ... | Gilly Strain |
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*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
The structure presents this as incident and trial with contradictory evidence given as flashbacks from two viewpoints.
A woman is married and widowed at 17, left with child, studies fashion modeling, puts the boy in care of a friend and widow, is married again, this time to her former husband's employer, takes the friend with her as housekeeper and mother of the boy.
The husband is wealthy but the wife is extravagant. The boy is something of a nuisance to him. The housekeeper is fired, and poisons the husband's nightly glass of warm milk. The wife is tried for murder.
The mother-in-law testifies against her as frivolous and adulterous, but the general tenor of Smight's direction supports the defense. Two scenes are played twice, the wife confronted with bills she either scoffs at or modestly acknowledges, and an old romantic interest (who has made a fortune mining South American tin) whom she either encourages in his lecherous advances or whose kindness she relies on for a loan.
The dramatic conclusion leads to a wry and fleeting consideration of justice in its course. The housekeeper, Hitchcock explains, was arrested and tried for murder. "She hoped for a suspended sentence," but what really happened was, "they suspended her."