Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1.19

The Derelicts

starring Robert Newton, Phillip Reed

written by Robert C. Dennis, Terence Maples

directed by Robert Stevenson

Inventor Ralph Cowell (Phillip Reed) murders the eccentric Alfred J. Sloane, his business partner, to whom he owes $10,000 and 50% of the profits he has made for the sale of his invention. Cowell leaves Sloane's body in the park where they met to talk business, thinking that no one will know that it was he who did it. Peter J. Goodfellow (Robert Newton), a person of no fixed abode, sees Ralph murder Sloane and finds the IOU that Cowell signed.

Goodfellow and Fenton Shanks, his business partner, blackmail Cowell. They pawn Cowell's possessions including his wife Herta's fur coats when Ralph can't deliver the kind of money they demand. Ralph is going crazy until by chance he finds the IOU. He burns it, thinking his troubles are over only to discover that they are not.

Thoughts

This was a very good episode. It is the kind of fare that I hoped for and expected when I started watching this show. It keeps moving at a brisk pace and kept me wondering how it would all end. I was not disappointed by the twist ending.

Notes

This is the only episode of this show in which Robert Newton appeared. He is best known for playing Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950) which I'm pretty sure I saw when I was fairly young. I saw him a couple years back in Odd Man Out (1947).

This is the second of four episodes of this show in which Phillip Reed appeared. The first was 1.14 A Bullet for Baldwin. He was also in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Peggy Knudsen played the part of Herta Cowell. This is the only episode of this show in which she appeared. She had a small part in The Big Sleep (1946).

Johnny Silver played the part of Fenton Shanks. This is the first of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. He was in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Cyril Delevanti played the part of Alfred J. Sloane. This is the first of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. He appeared in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959).

Terence Maples wrote the story upon which the teleplay for this episode was based. It is the only episode of this show that he had a hand in writing. Robert C. Dennis wrote the teleplay for this episode. It is the fifth of 30 episodes of this show that he hand a hand in writing. The second episode he wrote the teleplay for was 1.08 Out Cook's a Treasure. He also wrote episodes of The Outer Limits (1963) and The Six Million Dollar Man. 

This is the third of seven episodes of this show that Robert Stevenson directed. The previous one he directed was 1.09 The Long Shot.