Most Likely to Succeed (8 May 1962)

Dave Sumner drops in on his old college friend Stanley Towers, whom he hasn't seen for 20 years. Dave has fallen on hard times and actually never amounted to much, even though he was ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Whorf

Writers:

Henry Slesar (story), Henry Slesar (teleplay)

Stars:

Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Carter, Joanna Moore

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Jack Carter	...	Stanley Towers
Joanna Moore	...	Louise Towers
Howard Morris	...	Dave Sumner
King Calder	...	Stanley's Attorney
Bruce Andersen	...	Stanley's Business Associate
Walter Kinsella	...	Anderson
John Zaremba	...	Tax Investigator
Mollie Glessing	...	Maid (as Molly Glessing)

Storyline

Dave Sumner drops in on his old college friend Stanley Towers, whom he hasn't seen for 20 years. Dave has fallen on hard times and actually never amounted to much, even though he was president of his class and had been voted 'most likely to succeed'. Towers on the other hand made his first million by age 32 and is very well off. As a favor, Towers offers Dave a job doing different tasks around the house, serving drinks at parties and so on. Mrs. Towers is also unhappy and confides in Dave that her husband is a workaholic and is involved in unethical deals like charging work on the house to the company and putting relatives on the payroll at inflated salaries. Towers eventually fires Dave in a jealous rage but it turns out Dave is not quite who he seems to be.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 1962 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Revue Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shamley Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

full of tension

Any regular viewer of the series will always be looking for the twist, and in this regard, the episode's plot follows one's earliest predictions. However, this doesn't detract from the oddly tense story. Top of the Class college buddy Dave, now down-and out, visits rich friend Stanley who does shady deals. Stanley appears to mean well but really wants to humiliate Dave. Our opinion of Stanley lowers as he treats his own wife like property. While the wife's emotions are on the surface, Dave doesn't show anything. Because of his blank look and the one-shots isolating the actors, what's unsaid comes across even more palpably, like watching a bomb tick. Deliciously tense. Unnecessary, though perhaps intentionally humorous, is the climactic patriotic music which signifies the act of betrayal here was justified rather than cowardly.