Alex Marrow wishes to get rid of his wife Angela so that he can marry a beautiful young model Fiona McNiece. Alex, however, does not want a divorce because he does not want his wife to get her hands on his valuable stamp collection. He hires a hitman named Richard Schustak to kill his wife. Richard sets up Angela to die in an accident in her home. Alex, however, has second thoughts. He tells Richard to call the whole thing off. Richard will only do so for more money. Alex hands over the cash and Richard skips town with Fiona who is actually his girlfriend. It was all a con and Alex was the patsy.

The World's Oldest Motive

Alfred Hitchcock

Harry Morgan

Lewis Davidson

Larry M. Harris

The Monkey's Paw - A Retelling

Power of Attorney

Verge Likens is a farmer whose father was killed by a crooked politician named Riley McGrath. Verge returns home to avenge his father's death. He manages to get close to Riley by getting hired as an assistant at a barbershop. After asking the barber to run an errand, Verge is alone with Riley and proceeds to lather up the murdering politician for a shave. Verge vividly describes how he is planning to cut Riley's throat. When the barber returns to the barbershop he finds the door locked. He gets the police who break down the door. Inside they find Verge standing over Riley's dead body. Berge has avenged his father's death and he is not guilty of a crime. Riley died of a heart attack.

The Return of Verge Likens

Over the protests of his wife Elsa, Keith Hollin rents a beach house. Elsa dislikes the house and is disturbed by her husband's digging of a gravelike hole in the basement. She is further disturbed when she finds out that Keith is seeing a local girl named Rachel. When Keith tells Elsa that he wants to buy the house, she decides to foil his plan by contacting the wife of the current owner to tell her to not to sell. Keith, however, grows angry and kills Elsa. He buries her body in the basement, but is surprised when the police arrive. The police carry shovels and want to dig up the basement. The police tell Keith that Elsa discovered the wife of the house's owner was missing. She tipped off the police and they began an investigation. They called the house's owner in for questioning and he confessed to murdering his wife. He told them that he buried his wife in the basement of the beach house. The police are at the beach house to dig up the basement so they can find the body.

Change of Address

Rusty Connors is a con man that has just been released from prison. He looks up the wife of his dead former cellmate, a robber and murderer, named Miles Krause. Before he was imprisoned, Krause stole a significant amount of money and killed his partner. The money and the body, however, never turned up. Connors talks to Krause's wife Helen and hopes that she knows where the money is. She, however, does not have a clue. Eventually, however, they are able to figure out that the money is stored in an abandoned boathouse that is now infested with rats. In the boathouse, they find the money and the dead and half-eaten body of Krause's partner. When Connors sees the money he is overcome with greed and tries to murder Helen. She manages to knock him out. When Connors awakens, he finds himself bound and gagged and being taunted by Helen. She gets up to leave with the money, but is tripped by Connors and is impaled on a hook. As she dies, the scent of her blood attracts the rats.

Water's Edge

Juan Diaz is dying and penniless. His last wish is that he can provide financial security for his family. About a year later, a gravedigger named Alejandro exhumes Juan's corpse to make room in the cemetery. He has it mummified and sotries it in a crypt with a number of other mummies. Juan wife, Maria, discovers Alejandro plan and steals Juan's body. She hangs it in the house and tells tourists that it is a authentic Mexican mummy. Money from the tourists pays for food and clothing for Maria and her three children. Eventually, however, Maria is overcome by the ghoulishness of what she has done. She begs for forgiveness, but a gleam in the eye of the corpses body reveals that Juan approves of what she has done.

The Life Work of Juan Diaz

While George is headed to see his girlfriend, he meets a mysterious limping stranger who makes George fear for his life. George learns that the stranger is his girlfriend's jealous husband and that his girlfriend arranged this meeting between them in hopes that her husband would kill George. The stranger tells George that she has done this sort of thing before and that he tried, but failed, to kill his wife's last lover. The stranger convinces George to plot revenge and tells him to tamper with the steering of his wife's car. George does as the stranger suggests and his girlfriend dies. George discovers to his dismay, however, that the limping stranger was really his girlfriend's former lover and that he used George to get his revenge on her.

See the Monkey Dance

Stella is married to a cowardly peach-farmer named Emory and takes in a passing hobo named Jesse. She hires him to help her husband harvest the peach crop. Unfortunately, Jesse's strange behavior and fascination with a knife he carries begins to frightens her. Emory, however, refuses to believe her. Stella tries to run away, but is caught by Jesse. He threatens to stab her, but she fights him off. She escapes in her husbands truck and heads home. There she awaken Emory and tells him about Jesse. Emory, however, confesses that he heard her screams, but was too afraid to do anything. Stella angrily stabs her husband and kills him. She then calls the police and blames the murder on the fleeing Jesse.

Lonely Place

During the year 1827 in Edinburgh, Scotland, John McGregor must take care od his alcoholic wife Aggie. He works for Dr. Knox and must lug large boxes of tanbark to his medical academy. When John learns that the boxes actually contain the murdered victims of two bodysnatchers Burke and Hare, he decides to get rid of his wife by getting her drunk and leaving her on the body snatcher's doorstep. The plan is successful, but John is overtaken by remorse. Unfortunately, he ends up to be Burke and Hare's next victim.

The McGregor Affair

Eva is the wife of a miserly businessman named Henry. Eva, who has been cheating on Henry, is tricked into planning a murder him by a mysterious stranger named George who gets into their house by pretending to be a gas man. The two plan the perfect crime, until the last possible moment when George decides to murder Eva and makes it look like her husband is responsible. George is really Colin the long lost brother of Henry. He framed his brother because, years ago, Henry wouldn't loan him money for his wife's expensive surgery. She died and he has been waiting for his revenge ever since.

Misadventure

Brother Thomas Fitzgibbon is a bumbling medical missionary that is living in India with his scheming wife Mary. When a new missionary Brother John Sprague and his wife Lucy arrive and disturb Mary's ambitious plans for her husband, she decides to kill them in order to protect her family's future.

Triumph

Jay Shaw is a young writer interested in writing a book on juvenile delinquency. He changes his identity and infiltrates a particularly violent gang named "The Barons". He manages to get the trust of Tiger the leader of the gang but trouble arises, when Filene, Tiger's girl friend, falls in love with him. Filene's love, however, is not the only source of tension. Other gang members grow jealous of Jay's growing power within the gang. When gang members break into his room and find his notes, they tell Tiger that Jay's an undercover cop. Jay is sentenced to death by Tiger and the gang. He manages to get away, but in the process Filene is killed. The murder is witnessed and Tiger and the rest of the gang are hauled off to jail.

Memo from Purgatory

Dr. Jane Waterleigh participates in an experiment in projected perception when she takes an experimental drug. She envision a futuristic society run by women. In this society all men have gone extinct because of a genetic accident caused by her associate Dr. Hillyer. After regaining consciousness, Dr. Waterleigh attempts to alter the future by killing Dr. Hillyer before he can progress further in his dangerous experiments. Her efforts prove futile, however, when Dr. Hillyer's son becomes determined to carry out his father's work.

Consider Her Ways

Ernest Mullett is a playboy who loses his job, his wife, and his girlfriend to his hated overachieving brother Farnum Mullett. Ernest's hatred turns to murder when he decides to reenact the biblical story of Cain and Abel.

The Crimson Witness

Nell Snyder has been taking care of her orphaned neice and has been growing more and more concerned over her neice's behavior. Her neice continually blames all the trouble she causes on an imaginary friend named Mr. Peppercorn. When the girl's grandfather Captain King Snyder gives her a Creole voodoo doll, Nell grows more and more worried. Her nieces says the doll came from Mr. Peppercorn. She names it Numa and treats as if it were a real person. Eventually, Nell becomes convinced that the doll is real and that it is trying to take her neice's soul. She follows her neice and Numa into the forest. There she frightens her away, not realizing that the switch has already occurred. She later sees the doll and discovers that it bears her neice's face.

Where the Woodbine Twineth

Cliff Allen is a television writer who is on way to Hollywood. On the way, he picks up a pretty hitchhiker named Rosie. As he is driving, Cliff is stopped by the police and Rosie accuses him of kidnapping her. Cliff denies everything, but the police make him go into town. On the way to town, Cliff's car breaks down and he is forced to stay over night in a run down hotel run by a washed-up vaudeville actor named Rudolph Bitzner who dreams of a comeback. At the motel, Cliff runs into Rosie who, not only works at the motel, but also is part of Rudolph's act. He apologizes for what she did and tells him that she only did it to get away from Rudolph who is planning to marry her. She tells Cliff that she still wants to leave and asks him to take her. He agrees and when his car is fixed he heads over to Rosie's. There he finds Rudolph who tells him that Rosie changed her mind. After cliff insists on hearing this from Rosie herself, Rudolph takes him to his rehearsal hall where Rosie sits wait

The Final Performance

After Robert Manner's attempt to kill himself is ruined by a fireman's net, he is invited to join a suicide club headquartered at the Thanatos Palace Hotel. The members of the club have agreed to kill each. The catach is that the victim never knows who the killer will be and never knows when the murder will occur. Robert joins the club, but falls in love with one of its members Ariane Shaw. He gets a new lease on life and decides to undermine the club in order to prevent his own death.

Thanatos Palace Hotel

Dexter Dailey and his wife Joyce hire a German nursemaid named Frieda to take care of their newborn infant. Dexter treats Frieda like one of the family, because long ago she was his nursemaid when he was a child. Joyce, however, doesn't feel the same way. She becomes worried when she hears about a nurse who is wanted for a child killing in San Francisco. When she calls the murdered baby's aunt she discovers that Frieda may be the baby killer and that her child may be the next victim.

One of the Family

Glendon Baker is an invalid who is being taken care of by a nurse named Stella Crosson. Stella is pleased when another nurse named Betty Ames arrives to assist her in the work. The only other people in the house are a house keeper named Maude and her handyman husband Sam. Stella becomes worried when she hears that a nurse killer is in the area. She grows more uneasy when the lights go out. When a patient's oxygen begins to run low, Stella sends the handyman out to get some. Growing paranoid, Stella locks all the windows in the house but neglects to lock the one in the basement. Later, Stella sees a man outside and panics when there is knocking at the door. She fails to notice that it is the handyman trying to get back in. She heads for the phone, but stops and heads into the lounge to help Nurse Ames who has been apparently attacked. Once in the lounge, however, Nurse Ames attacks her.

An Unlocked Window

Peg is bored with her marriage to Ted Beal, a wealthy toy manufacturer. She decides to have an affair with his young assistant John. She tells her lover to kill her husband. When John drags his feet on the murders, she decides to take matter into her own hands. She commits her crime and discovers that she was only being toyed with.

The Trap

Walter Mills is shocked when his fiancee dumps him. When she tells him he is too dull, Walter decides to change his image. He buys a wig and a beard and pretends to be Philip Marshall. As Philip he meets Noreen Kimberly. He promises to teach her how to sail. Noreen's boyfriend Curly, however, becomes angry and does some digging. He finds out that Philip is really Walter and he threatens to tell Noreen unless Walter hides some stolen jewels for him. Walter accepts and hides the jewels in sack inside his boat. Feeling guilty, Walter tells Noreen everything. She tells him that she really is in love with him. Noreen tells Walter to get rid of the jewels. As he heads to the boat the police arrive. They open the sack and find the remains of Noreen's husband. The police inform Walter that they were tipped off by Noreen and Curly. Walter realizes that it was all a set up as he is being taken away by the police.

Wally the Beard

Leo Manfred is an ambitious car mechanic who is fixing the limousine of a once famous movie director named Gavin Revere. Leo ingratiates himself to Gavin's daughter Nicky and the two are soon engaged to be married. Gavin is suspicious of Leo. He insists that he take out a life insurance policy naming Nicky as the beneficiary. Leo does so, and the two prepare to gte married. On the eve of the wedding, Leo insults Gavin by panning his famous silent film Death Scene. Gavin threatens to cancel the wedding. Leo responds by planning murder. He manipulates Gavin and Nicky to the edge of a cliff. Nicky, however, turns the tables and tosses Leo over the edge. Nicky removes her make-up and reveas herself to be Gavin's actress wife. She and Gavin manipulated Leo so that the couple could get their hands on his insurance money.

Death Scene

Arthur Mannix is a photographer and Hiram Price is an undertaker. Both hide behind their respective professors to conceal another profession: hired killer. Each man has the same boss who gives each an order to eliminate the other.

The Photographer and the Undertaker

On a transatlantic cruise Sally Benner falls in love with a London policeman named Tommy Bonn. On the eve of their wedding, Sally gets cold feet and takes a walk in the London fog. Tommy grows worried because there has recently been a number of stranglings in London. He and his partner Stephen Leslie go looking for her. The find a man named Clarke and suspect that he is the strangler. Clarke tells them that he has just murdered a woman that matches Sally's descriptions. He tells them that he dumped the body into a river. Tommy returns to tells is family, but is shocked when he finds Sally alive and well. Sally tells him that the wedding is back on. Clarke, however, was the strangler and the body of his victim is dredged out of the water.

Thou Still Unravished Bride

Joe Brisson is a crooked land developer who is shocked when his wife Lisa informs him that she wants a divorce. Lisa tells him that she wants three-fourths of his extensive holdings or she will go to the police with evidence of his shady land deals. Joe refuses to pay and convinces his wife's boyfriend, Bobby Davenport, to kill her in return for the cancellation of a large debt. Joe heads off to Europe on a cruise ship. Before leaving he tells Bobby that he will call Lisa from the ship at a certain time. When Lisa goes to answer the phone, Bobby will kill her. Everything goes according to plan, but when Joe is hanging up the phone a man enters his cabin. He shoots and kills Joe after telling him that he was hired by Lisa.

Completely Foolproof

James Jarvis is a con man that is posing as a expert in the stock market. Things begin to look good for James when he gets in good with the wealthy Mary Crawford and her friend Agatha. He begins to control all of Mary's money and claims that he lost it all in bad investments. When she hears the news, Mary is shocked and commits suicide. Agatha, however, wants revenge. She conceals any evidence of suicide and invites James over. She gets James's figerprints on the suicide weapon and locks him in the room with Mary's body. She, then, calls the police and tells them that James killed Mary. When James's is killed in a shootout with police, Agatha gets her revenge.

Paul and Anne White visit the Bahamas when their son Howard is scheduled to race in the local Grand Prix. Before the race a Gypsy woman gives Paul a moneky's paw whcih according to legend can grant its bearer three wishes. Paul is desperate for money and makes a wish for money. Unfortunately, he gets the money in the form of a insurance settlement when his son is killed in a fiery crash during the race. Anne is struck with grief and forces Paul to wish his son back to life. Paul does so, but soon regrets it when he realizes what condition his son will be in. He uses the third wish to send his son back to his grave.

Martha Hunter is a mail order bride who has just moved into the rundown and not well-heated home of her new husband Luke. Martha is Luke's second wife and she becomes worried when she discovers that Luke's previous wife, who was also a mail order bride, died under mysterious circumstances on a vacation to Luke's relatives. Martha grows more fearful when she finds a offin like box and sees her husband digging in the cellar. When Luke suggests that they go one vacation she grows even more nervous. Prior to their departure, Luke insists that Martha go down to the cellar. Martha becomes terrified. She pulls a gun and kills Luke. After he is dead, she takes a look into the cellar and discovers that her husband installed a new furnace as a belated wedding gift.

The Second Wife

Jerry Walsh is a criminal cop killer who is hospitalized after a shootout with the police. He convinces a kind nurse named Ellen Hatch to help him escape. Ellen's true motives come to light when, however, when she leads Jerry to an escape route that leads to a dead end.

Night Fever

Johnny Kendall is a trigger-happy cop who is fired from the police and is forced to take a job checking vacant summer homes during the off-season. His girlfriend Sandy gets a job as a waitress to try to help them make ends meet. At work, Johnny discovers that the previous deputy was fired from the job for having an affair with an unidentified woman in one of the vacant summer homes. Later, when Johnny sees the ex-deputy hanging around Sandy he becomes jealous and paranoid. One night, when he believes the two are together, he takes his gun and begins to look for them. He heads for the empty summer houses and finds one broken into. Inside he hears the former deputy and a woman. He shoots them both in the dark and kills them. He turns on the lights and discovers that the woman was not Sandy, but the sheriff's wife.

Off Season

A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries.

The World's Oldest Motive

Seasons3

Season 3 Episodes29

Cast1

Crew3

Discussion

Episode Summary