Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1.08

Our Cook's a Treasure

starring Everett Sloane, Beulah Bondi

directed by Robert Stevens

Ralph Montgomery (Everett Sloane) starts to suspect that Mrs. Sutton (Beulah Bondi), his housekeeper, might be trying to poison Ethel, his wife. He also thinks that Mrs. Sutton is really Mrs. Andrews, the housekeeper for whom the police are searching in connection with the poisoning of a few women.

Ralph gathers evidence and decides that Mrs. Sutton is Mrs. Andrews. He fires her just before learning that Mrs. Andrews has been apprehended by the police. He tries apologizing to Mrs. Sutton but she decides that she's had enough and then drops a bombshell in his lap on the way out the door.

Thoughts

I thought this was quite good. It is very well paced. I love the ending. It's not just how it ends but also the final shot. The performances were all very good.

Notes

This is the first of three episodes of this show in which Everett Sloane appeared. He also appeared in one episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) as well as a few episodes other anthology shows. The only movie he was in that I have seen in Citizen Kane (1941).

This is the only episode of this show in which Beulah Bondi appeared. I have seen her in at least a couple films: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Janet Ward played the part of Ethel Montgomery. This is the only episode of this show in which she appeared. She has been in two movies that I have seen, Night Moves (1975) and Fail Safe (1964).

This episode was based on a story by Dorothy L. Sayers. It is the only episode of this show that was based on one of her stories. The story was called Suspicion but it should not be confused with Suspicion (1941) which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was not based on anything that Dorothy L Sayers wrote.

This is the second of 44 episodes of this show that Robert Stevens directed. The previous one he directed was 1.02 Premonition. He directed five episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959): 1.01 Where Is Everybody? and 1.05 Walking Distance.