Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1.33

The Belfry

starring Jack Mullaney, Patricia Hitchcock

written by Robert C. Dennis

directed by Herschel Daugherty

Clint Ringle (Jack Mullaney) has his heart set on marrying school teacher Ellie Marsh (Patricia Hitchcock). He kills her fiancé when he finds out she won't call off their wedding plans. Clint runs off and goes into hiding while the people of the small town search for him.

Clint hides in the Belfry above the school room where Ellie teaches. He manages to stay hidden despite a couple moments when it looks like one of the boys in Ellie's class is going to climb up to the Belfry. His plan finally comes apart when one of the men unexpectedly decides to ring the bell. Clint isn't prepared and is killed when he gets hit in the forehead by the bell.

Thoughts

The way that Clint kills Ellie's fiancé with a hatchet that he just happened to be carrying around was a bit much.

This is Jack Mullaney's episode. He played Clint as unhinged. He seemed to commit himself to the role and I liked his performance. I didn't feel that he was playing Clint as wacky or silly. He was scary.

There was a moment in this episode when Ellie discovered something that Clint wrote on the chalkboard. I understand why they handled it the way they did but at the same time I thought it was kind of silly that she didn't notice the writing until that moment.

I rolled by eyes a bit after I saw the first couple scenes of this story but in the end I was kind of impressed by it. It wasn't hard for me to see how it was going to end. It isn't perfect but I like the way it is paced, shot, and edited together. There is real tension in a couple scenes when Clint was almost discovered. It isn't a favorite of mine but I think that it is an upper tier episode.

I recently bought Sources of Suspense, Jack Seabrook's book about Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His essay on this episode can be found here. He didn't like this episode. He compared it to the source material and found the episode to be subpar. To each their own. I don't think this episode is brilliant but I enjoyed it enough to consider it to be better than average.

Notes

This is the second of four episodes of this show in which Jack Mullaney appeared. The first episode was 1.30 Never Again.

This is the third of 10 episodes of this show in which Patricia Hitchcock appeared. The second was 1.17 The Older Sister.

Dabbs Greer played the part of the sheriff. This is the second of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. The first was 1.25 There Was an Old Woman.

This is the ninth of 30 episodes of this show that was written by Robert C. Dennis. The eighth episode he wrote was 1.29 The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby. The script was based on a story by Allan Vaughan Elston. It was the second of two episodes of this show that was based on one of his stories. The first was 1.03 Triggers in Leash.

This is the first of 24 episodes of this show that was directed by Herschel Daugherty. He directed two episodes of Star Trek (1966), the first of which was 1.29 Operation -- Annihilate!. He also directed three episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.