Back for Christmas (4 Mar. 1956)

Herbert Carpenter plans to murder his wife Hermione, bury her body in the basement, and then leave on a long business trip.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Francis M. Cockrell (teleplay), John Collier (story)

Stars:

Alfred Hitchcock, John Williams, Isobel Elsom

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
John Williams	...	Herbert Carpenter
Isobel Elsom	...	Hermione Carpenter (as Isabel Elsom)
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Major Sinclair (as A.E. Gould-Porter)
Lillian Kemble-Cooper	...	Mrs. Sinclair (as Lily Kemble-Cooper)
Gavin Muir	...	Mr. Wallingford
Katherine Warren	...	Mrs. Freda Wallingford
Gerald Hamer	...	Mr. Hewitt
Irene Tedrow	...	Mrs. Hewitt
Ross Ford	...	Butler
Theresa Harris	...	Elsie the Servant
Mollie Glessing	...	Maid

Storyline

Herbert is digging in his basement when his wife Hermione calls him upstairs to eat. She thinks he is making a wine cellar, but he is really planning to kill her and bury her in the basement. At lunch, Hermione goes over all the arrangements she has made for a business trip to California that they are about to take together. Several friends then come over to visit, and after they leave, Herbert looks for the opportunity to put his plan into practice.

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Plot Keywords:

basement | business trip | murder | california | wine cellar | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 1956 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Tales of the Unexpected: Back for Christmas (1980)

User Reviews

10, and probably slightly misunderstood

The first comment on this seems to miss the point. Its not that the woman is so overbearing that makes this episode so great - rather, the complexity of characters and the humorous delivery of the "final solution" that really makes this episode stand out.

Of course she's not fully overbearing, nor is he fully evil. He's rather ordinary, just like her. Hitchcock always succeeds most when making the trivial and boring very lurid and shocking. "Back for Christmas" is great. Best episode in the first season.

If you're looking for archetypal characters, there are plenty of areas of viewing with which to explore them. This director doesn't deal in archetypes but in eccentric individuals.