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The Worst Episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Every episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour!

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

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#1 Worst Episode
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3.0/10(3 votes)
#1 - A Nice Touch
S2:E210/4/1963
Larry Duke is an actor making his motion picture debut in Hollwood when he gets a phone call from his New York girlfriend Janice Brandt. Janice is an olderwoman who sacraficed her marriage and Hollywood career in order to advance Larry's career. She informs Larry that her husband Ed followed her to New York showed up drunk at her apartment and was knocked unconscious in a scuffle. Larry convinces Janice to smother Ed with a pillow so that she can come back to Hollywood. She agrees and reluctantly commits murder. In Hollywood, Larry calls the police and tells them about the murder in New York. He then head upstairs where he joins his new bride who he married to further advance his Hollywood career.
Director:Joseph Pevney
Writer:Mann Rubin
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Director:Joseph Pevney
Writer:Mann Rubin
3.0/10(3 votes)
#2 - Night Caller
S2:E151/31/1964
Marcia Fowler accuses a neighborhood boy named Roy Bullock of being a peeping Tom. Roy denies it and manages to ingratiate himself with Marcia's husband, Jack, and her lonely stepson. When Marcia gets an obscene phone call she tells Jack that it was Roy, but he denies it. Later, after Jack goes away on a business trip, Marcia confronts Roy after receiving another obscene phone call and becomes fearful that Roy is crazy when he tells her that his mother was just like her.
Director:Alf Kjellin
Writers:Gabrielle Upton, Robert Westerby
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Director:Alf Kjellin
Writers:Gabrielle Upton, Robert Westerby
3.0/10(3 votes)
#3 - Anyone for Murder?
S2:E203/13/1964
James Parkerson is a psychology professor who places an ad in the newspaper offering advice on how to murder one's spouse. He gets a response from the police, but manages to convince them that he is merely gathering research for an experiment. Later, he is contacted by a man named Robert Johnson who is searching for a way to kill his lover's husband. From Johnson's description of his lover and her husband, Parkerson realizes that Johnson is talking about his wife Doris and himself. Johnson is planning to kill him, but doesn't seem to realize that his target and the man on the phone are one and the same. Parkerson hires a hitman named Bingham to kill Johnson. Unfortunately, Johnson kills the hitman. Johnson realizes that Parkerson knows about him so he contacts Doris. He tells her that they should kill Parkerson and then make it look like the hitman did it. Unfortunately, Doris still loves her husband and has no plans to kill him.
Director:Leo Penn
Writers:Arthur A. Ross, Jack Ritchie
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Director:Leo Penn
Writers:Arthur A. Ross, Jack Ritchie
3.0/10(3 votes)
#4 - A Matter of Murder
S2:E234/3/1964
Sheridan Westcott kills his wife, hides it in his Rolls Royce, and heads to a nearby lake to dispose of it. While he is checking the water level in the lake, his car is stolen by a car thief named Philadelphia Harry.
Director:David Lowell Rich
Writer:Boris Sobelman
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Director:David Lowell Rich
Writer:Boris Sobelman
3.0/10(3 votes)
#5 - See the Monkey Dance
S3:E511/9/1964
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.
Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writer:Lewis Davidson
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Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writer:Lewis Davidson
3.8/10(4 votes)
#6 - Annabel
S1:E711/1/1962
David Kelsey, a research chemist, is in love with Annabel. He assumes another identity so that they can share their moments together in complete privacy. He even builds a beautiful dream home for the two of them. David is hopelessly infatuated with her. Unfortunately, Annabel wants no part of him. She's married and both she and her husband wonder when David will get the hint. He does not and eventually murders the couple. He installs her corpse in the bedroom of their dreamhouse so that she can be by his side for the rest of his life.
Director:Paul Henreid
Writer:Robert Bloch
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Director:Paul Henreid
Writer:Robert Bloch

The 20 BEST Episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

4.2/10(4 votes)
#7 - The Jar
S2:E172/14/1964
At a carnival sideshow, a farmer named Charlie Hill buys a strange jar, which brings him notoriety and respect in the community because people travel for miles to gather in his parlor and look at the jar and it's obscure content. But his young wife, Thedy Sue, is frightened of it and insists that he throw it out.
Director:Norman Lloyd
Writer:James Bridges
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Director:Norman Lloyd
Writer:James Bridges
5.5/10(2 votes)
#8 - Water's Edge
S3:E310/19/1964
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.
Director:Bernard Girard
Writers:Alfred Hayes, Robert Bloch
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Director:Bernard Girard
Writers:Alfred Hayes, Robert Bloch
6.0/10(2 votes)
#9 - Death and the Joyful Woman
S1:E274/12/1963
Luis Aguilar is a rich wine merchant who disowns his son when he refuses to marry beautiful vineyard owner Kitty Norris. At a party, however, Luis agrees to give his destitute son $5000 if boy can drink him under the table. Drinking his own wine called "Joyful Woman" Luis humiliates his son by outdrinking him. After the contest, Luis hits on Kitty who resists and pushes him down the stairs. When Luis's secretary Ruth witnesses the event she jealously kills Luis in the hope that Kitty will be blamed. Ruth wanted Luis all for herself. Unfortunately for Ruth, a waiter discovers the body and figures out that Luis did not die in a fall. Ruth knocks him unconscious and puts his body into a wine vat. She begins to fill the vat slowly with water. Later the police find Luis's body and begin the search for the waiter who was also the son of George Felse, an investigating police officer. The police can't locate the waiter but discoverd a now guilt-ridden Ruth who has tried to commit suicide...
Director:John Brahm
Writer:James Bridges
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Director:John Brahm
Writer:James Bridges
6.3/10(3 votes)
#10 - A Piece of the Action
S1:E19/20/1962
Duke Marsden is an inveterate gambler who's about to lose his wife because of his habit. She gives him an ultimatum to either give up poker or else she's gone. He agrees, but there's one last thing he has to do first.
Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Alfred Hayes
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Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Alfred Hayes
6.5/10(2 votes)
#11 - Don't Look Behind You
S1:E29/27/1962
At a college campus, two young girls are killed while strolling through a nearby forest. Suspicion falls on a chemistry professor and an intense and brooding music professor named Edwin Volck. Harold, a psychology professor, convinces his fiancee Daphne to act as bait to help trap the killer. The trap succeeds and Volck is revealed as the killer. Harold, however, becomes worried. He believes that the killers bloodlust may have inspired other less obvious psychos on campus. Daphne realizes that Harold has been speculating about himself when he suddenly attacks her. She is rescued by the chemistry professor. The chemistry professor had been watching Harold's behavior since the beginning believing that he was a possible psychopath.
Director:John Brahm
Writer:Barré Lyndon
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Director:John Brahm
Writer:Barré Lyndon
6.5/10(2 votes)
#12 - You'll Be the Death of Me
S2:E410/18/1963
During a lovers' quarrel Dandy Arthur kills his ex-girlfriend. Unfortunately, a button torn from her coats lands in his pocket during the struggle. His wife finds the button and Dandy sets out to kill her as well. Eventually, however, Dandy gives himself away by talking too much and is arrested by the police.
Director:Robert Douglas
Writer:William D. Gordon
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Director:Robert Douglas
Writer:William D. Gordon
6.5/10(2 votes)
#13 - Final Escape
S2:E182/21/1964
A convicted bank robber John Perry is sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a state prison lumber camp. Determined to get out, James befriend an alcoholic inmate named Doc. Doc is in charge of the prison infirmary as well as burials for the dead. Doc makes an offer to John: if John will fincance an operation for Doc's granddaughter, he will get him out of prison. Doc's plan is to hide Perry inside the coffin of the next inmate who dies. The coffin will then be buried and dug up after the gravediggers and guards leave. Perry will then make his escape. All goes according to plan, until Doc fails to dig Perry up. Perry then learns why when the shroud slips from the face of the corpse sharing the coffin with him. Its Doc who died of a heart attack the night before.
Director:William Witney
Writer:John Resko
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Director:William Witney
Writer:John Resko
6.5/10(2 votes)
#14 - The Sign of Satan
S2:E275/8/1964
Karl Jorla is a European horror movie star that is contracted by a Hollywood studio to appear in his first American film. The producers of the film watch a demo film of Jorla as the leader of a satanic cult and feel that he will be perfect for their new film. After he comes to America, Jorla becomes worried that real satanists are after him. He thinks they may want to kill him for allowing his demo film to be shown. Jorla is given around the clock protection by the studio, but he is almost killed anyway. Jorla manages to convince the studio to allow him to stay at a secret location unknown to anyone but him. The studio agrees, but later become worried when he doesn't show up for the first day of filming. The director begins to film scenes around him, until Jorla suddenly appears on the set. He moans an address in Topanga Canyon and disappears. The police are called and everyone goes to the address where the find Jorla beaten to death.
Director:Robert Douglas
Writers:Robert Bloch, Barré Lyndon
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Director:Robert Douglas
Writers:Robert Bloch, Barré Lyndon
6.5/10(2 votes)
#15 - Completely Foolproof
S3:E233/29/1965
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.
Director:Alf Kjellin
Writers:Anthony Terpiloff, Andrew Benedict
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Director:Alf Kjellin
Writers:Anthony Terpiloff, Andrew Benedict
7.0/10(2 votes)
#16 - Night of the Owl
S1:E310/4/1962
Jim Mallory is a forest ranger who along with his wife Linda, have adopted a girl named Anne. The couple have never told Anne that her parents died in a bizarre murder-suicide for fear that the news might disturb her. A blackmailer contacts Jim and demands money. He says that he will tell Anne the secret of her past if Jim doesn't pay up. Jim agrees to pay, but informs the police. The blackmailers figure out that something is up and change the site of the money drop. Later the blackmailers get into an argument and one of them is killed. When the police find the body, they suspect Jim Mallory. Jim manages to catch the blackmailer to clear his name, but he doesn't get to him in time to stop her from telling Anne the secret about her parents. Anne is troubled by the news, but manages to take it in stride. She tells the Mallorys that she loves them and has always considered them her real parents.
Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writer:Richard Fielder
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Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writer:Richard Fielder
7.0/10(2 votes)
#17 - Final Vow
S1:E610/25/1962
Sister Pamela suffers a crisis of conscience just as she is about to take her final vows. Is her belief real or is she just hiding from the rest of the world? The sisters in the convent give her time to think everything over by letting her pick up a valuable statue from a reformed gangster. As she is returning, however, the statue is stolen by a young criminal named Jimmy Bresson. In order to get the statue back she leaves the convent and hunts Jimmy down. She arranges to have a date with him to get into his apartment. Unfortunately, she discovers that he has pawned the statue. She takes the pawn ticket and heads for the pawn shop. As she is about to get it back, Jimmy catches her. Jimmy and the dishonest pawn shop owner want to kill Pamela, but they want to have the statue appraised first. They call an appraiser, but it turns out to be the man who originally offered the statue to the convent. He tells them that the statue is worthless and convinces them to let Pamela go. Having confr
Director:Norman Lloyd
Writer:Henry Slesar
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Director:Norman Lloyd
Writer:Henry Slesar
7.0/10(3 votes)
#18 - House Guest
S1:E811/8/1962
John and Sally Mitchell offer a stranger named Ray Roscoe a place to stay after Roscoe saves the life of their son Tony. When Roscoe turns out to be a womanizing freeloader, they begin to believe that they made a terrible mistake. One night Roscoe wrecks their car and hits on a camper's wife. Angry, John punches him and knocks him to the ground. John is shocked, however, when the camper examines Roscoe's body and declares that Roscoe is dead. The camper suggests that they bury the body in the woods and forget the whole thing. John agrees and lets the camper deal with the body. Later, John is disturbed to discover that the woods are going to be excavated as a part of a new highway construction. Since he doesn't know exactly where the body is, he calls the camper and tells him that they must move the corpse. The camper agrees, but demands $20,000. He tells John that he will go to the police if he does not pay the money.
Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writers:Marc Brandel, Henry Slesar
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Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writers:Marc Brandel, Henry Slesar
7.0/10(2 votes)
#19 - The Black Curtain
S1:E911/11/1962
Phil Townsend suffers amnesia after he is mugged outside his drug store. All he remembers is that he is about to get married. A taxi driver takes him to his fiancée's house, but he discovers that she is already married and has been married for three years. Later, Townsend discovers that he has been living under the name David Webber for three years. He discovers that Webber was once the bodyguard of a rich criminal attorney and is suspected of murdering the attorney's wife. Townsend eventually manages to clear his name. Later, he checks into a hospital for treatment.
Director:Sydney Pollack
Writers:Cornell Woolrich, Joel Murcott
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Director:Sydney Pollack
Writers:Cornell Woolrich, Joel Murcott
7.0/10(3 votes)
#20 - Hangover
S1:E1212/6/1962
Hadley Purvis is an alcoholic advertising executive whose wife Sandra tells him that she will leave him if he takes another drink. Unfortunately, he drinks himself into a stupor. When he awakens he cannot remember anything that happened to him while he was drunk. He can't remember losing his job for being drunk during a presentation and he can't remember buying his wife a new scarf to prove that he had not been drinking. Ultimately, he discovers his wife's strangled body in his basement. Though he cannot remember, he realizes that, while he was drunk, he strangled her to death with the scarf he bought for her.
Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Lou Rambeau
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Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Lou Rambeau
7.0/10(3 votes)
#21 - Bonfire
S1:E1312/13/1962
Robert Evans is a revivalist preacher who is desperate for money to build his own church. He romances a rich woman named Naomi Freshwater and kills her. Some time later, Robert meets Naomi's neice Laura. He tries to romance her as well, but she is not interested. When Laura discovers that Robert killed her aunt, the preacher kills her and stuffs her body in a trunk. He drags the trunk to a pit and sets it on fire. Later, as Robert is delivering a sermon, it begins to rain. The rain puts out the fire and the contents of the burned trunk are revealed. Robert is promptly arrested and charged with murder.
Director:Joseph Pevney
Writers:Alfred Hayes, William D. Gordon
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Director:Joseph Pevney
Writers:Alfred Hayes, William D. Gordon
7.0/10(1 votes)
#22 - What Really Happened
S1:E161/11/1963
Over the protests of his wife Eve, Howard Raydon fires Addie the family maid when her son breaks a valuable antique. Unwilling to leave, she poisons Howard's milk and kills him. An autopsy reveals the poison, but Eve is the chief suspect after she is fingered by Howard's mother. Believing that Eve's innocence will come out in trial, Addie remains silent about any wrong doing. Unfortunately, the prosecution reveals that Addie's 'son' is really Eve's son from a previous marriage. They claim that Eve killed her husband to prevent being seperated from the boy. As things begin to look worse for Eve, Addie confesses her guilt in a note and attempts suicide. Her suicide attempt is stopped in time and she is forced to stand trial.
Director:Jack Smight
Writer:Henry Slesar
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Director:Jack Smight
Writer:Henry Slesar
7.0/10(2 votes)
#23 - Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog
S1:E171/18/1963
Dan O'Herlihy (as Simon Carter) Inger Stevens (as Karen Wilson) Christopher Dark (as Manuel Sanchez) Chris Robinson (as Ricky) Richard Jaeckel (as Tom) One night when her husband is away, Karen Wilson is frightened when a man named Manuel Sanchez comes pounding on her door. He claims to be out of gas. Karen refuses to let him in and he must walk to a gas station. Later Karen hears a scream. She is told by the police that Sanchez's girlfriend who was waiting in the car was murdered while he was walking to the gas station. Karen suspects a neighboring writer named Simon Carter. The next evening Simon comes to Karen's home. She is rescued by her three surfing friends. Karen, however, is shocked to discover that her three friends are in fact the murderer's of Sanchez's girlfriend. They have her trapped, but she is rescued by Sanchez. He was returning to get even with her for contributing to the death of his girlfriend, but he manages to save her life instead.
Director:Charles F. Haas
Writer:Lee Erwin
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Director:Charles F. Haas
Writer:Lee Erwin
7.0/10(1 votes)
#24 - A Tangled Web
S1:E181/25/1963
David Chesterman is a thief whose girlfriend Maria is cheating on him with his partner Carl Gault. Carl has fallen in love with Maria and plans to get rid of David. He tells David about the body of rich man who is loaded with jewelry. David goes to rob the corpse, but is discovered by a guard. Later, the guard is found dead by the police. David tells Maria that he is innovent, but he decides to hide out for a while and leaves Maria with Carl. Carl informs the police of David's location and he is arrested for murder. As David is about to be sentence Maria gets away from Carl by stabbing him. She heads to the court building convinced that David is innocent. In the court building she climbs out on a ledge and threatens to jump unless David is brought to her and is allowed to tell the truth about the entire robbery. David is brought to her, but he reveals that he did kill the guard. Knowing that he will go to prison, David begs her for forgiveness.
Director:Alf Kjellin
Writer:James Bridges
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Director:Alf Kjellin
Writer:James Bridges
7.0/10(1 votes)
#25 - To Catch a Butterfly
S1:E192/2/1963
Bill and Janet Nelson move into a new home next door to a family named Stander. Unfortunately, the Stander's son Eddie is a homicidal monster. Eddie kills the Nelson's dog and then runs a trip wire across the cellar stairs that almost causes Janet to break her neck. Bill knows that Eddie is responsible, but Eddie's father Jack Stander won't do anything. Jack controls the boy's life with an iron hand. It is later revealed that Eddie is not the source of the problems. Eddie, himself, is a victim of parental misunderstanding.
Director:David Lowell Rich
Writer:Richard Fielder
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Director:David Lowell Rich
Writer:Richard Fielder

Worst Episodes Summary

"A Nice Touch" is the worst rated episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour". It scored 3/10 based on 3 votes. Directed by Joseph Pevney and written by Mann Rubin, it aired on 10/4/1963. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Night Caller".