"The Schartz-Metterklume Method" for teaching history was the title of a famous H.H. Munro (pen name "Saki") story and it gets a worthy dramatization here, or rather, "comic" treatment. This very hilarious entry into the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" series serves mainly as a tour-de-force for the great Hermione Gingold, the famous British star of stage and screen. Ms. Gingold plays the aristocratic Lady Charlotte who is mistaken at a train station for Miss Hope, a newly-arriving governess for a strict Victorian family. To gratify her eccentric sense of humor, Lady Charlotte nonchalantly assumes the role of the governess and she soon subjects her very "liberal" views on the unsuspecting family. After a bizarre Biology class, Lady Charlotte decides it's time for some "living" history for the children. Her "Schartz-Metterklume" method for teaching this class involves having the students play out the roles of the characters themselves. Of course, this "method" is entirely the work of Lady Charlotte's vivid imagination and rebellious streak. Now playing the governess with a devil-may-care attitude that's irritating the heck out of the stern and totally perplexed mother, she has her young charges acting out "The Rape of the Sabine Women" of ancient Rome. It doesn't take long before Lady Charlotte is summarily fired and sent packing. As she leaves the train station, the REAL Miss Hope finally arrives on the scene. Lady Charlotte is soon back on her expansive estate and playing a rousing game of crochet while sipping her afternoon tea. Her friends and associates are delighted to hear that she's been quite occupied the last few days after wondering and worrying about her whereabouts. Directed by Richard Dunlap, this entry is also noted for the uncredited appearances of two well-known child actors, sisters Veronica and Angela Cartwright. Both of them went on to very productive and long-lasting Hollywood careers. As for Ms. Gingold, she must've had a blast performing the character of Lady Charlotte/Miss Hope. She was one of the few actresses of her day that could have pulled this one off convincingly with a twinkle in her eye and without missing a beat. She was one of a kind, to say the least. Patricia Hitchcock also appears in a small role as one of the Victorian household maids.
Review of The Schartz-Metterklume Method
