The Worst Episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

#1 Worst Episode
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4.0/10(562 votes)
#1 - 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
4.0/10(425 votes)
#2 - 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
4.2/10(468 votes)
#3 - 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
4.5/10(504 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
4.6/10(643 votes)
#5 - 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
4.8/10(500 votes)
#6 - 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

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5.2/10(911 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
6.7/10(836 votes)
#8 - 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
6.7/10(462 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
6.7/10(517 votes)
#10 - 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
7.0/10(903 votes)
#11 - 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
7.0/10(635 votes)
#12 - 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(613 votes)
#13 - 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(609 votes)
#14 - 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(627 votes)
#15 - 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(522 votes)
#16 - 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(614 votes)
#17 - 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(535 votes)
#18 - Terror in Northfield
S2:E310/11/1963
When his teenage son Tommy is found murdered in the town of Northfield, John Cooley sets out to avenge the boys death. John is a religious fanatic who believes he is on a mission from God. When he finds a piece of car headlight at the murder scene, he seeks out and kills the car's original owner Frency La Font and an elderly librarian who had some connection to the car. With all the murders, the residents of Northfield are unstandably shaken. They demand that Sheriff Will Pearce solve the case. Unfortunately, Pearce's girlfriend Susan Marsh falls under Cooley's suspicions since she bought the car from La Font. His attempt to kill her, however, is foiled at the last second by the timely arrival of Sheriff Pearce. Pearce explains that La Font murdered Tommy and confessed to it in his last will and testament.
Director:Harvey Hart
Writer:Leigh Brackett
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Director:Harvey Hart
Writer:Leigh Brackett
7.0/10(462 votes)
#19 - The Dividing Wall
S2:E912/6/1963
Fred Kruger, Al Norman, and Terry are three ex-convicts who are now gainfully employed as garage mechanics. One day, they decide to break into a payroll office. They are unable to open the safe, so the take it with them to the garage. Unfortunately, the safe contains, not only money, but also a lethal radioactive isotope which, if released, could poison the city.
Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Joel Murcott
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Director:Bernard Girard
Writer:Joel Murcott
7.0/10(473 votes)
#20 - The Evil of Adelaide Winters
S2:E162/7/1964
Near the end of World War II, a phony medium named Adelaide Winters cheats grieving families of soldiers killed in battle by pretending to communicate with ghosts. When she meets a wealthy widower named Edward Porter and finds out that his son was killed in battle, she insists that he join her seance. Edward reluctantly joins and begins to believe in Adelaide powers. Eventually, he proposes marriage to her so that the two of them can be with his son. Adelaide accepts the proposal but the honeymoon doesn't go as planned.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.0/10(505 votes)
#21 - Body in the Barn
S2:E327/3/1964
Bessie Carnby and her daughter Camilla have been feuding with their neighbors Henry and Samantha Wilkins. In order to patch things up Bessie invites them over for dinner. Samantha refuses to go, but Henry goes and tries to act friendly. Later, he disappears and Bessie sees Samantha digging a hole in her barn. Bessie accuses Samantha of murder and calls the police. The police dig up the hole and find a badly decomposing body. Samantha is executed for the crime, but later Henry returns claiming he went out to sea. He has inherited his wife's money and marries Camilla. Bessie realizes she has been tricked and, feeling guilty over having sent an innocent Samantha to her death, decides to bring Henry to justice by poisoning herself and making it look like he is responsible.
Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writers:Harold Swanton, Margaret Manners
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Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writers:Harold Swanton, Margaret Manners
7.0/10(480 votes)
#22 - Change of Address
S3:E210/12/1964
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.
Director:David Friedkin
Writers:Morton S. Fine, Andrew Benedict
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Director:David Friedkin
Writers:Morton S. Fine, Andrew Benedict
7.0/10(558 votes)
#23 - Memo from Purgatory
S3:E1012/21/1964
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.
Director:Joseph Pevney
Writer:Harlan Ellison
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Director:Joseph Pevney
Writer:Harlan Ellison
7.0/10(535 votes)
#24 - Consider Her Ways
S3:E1112/28/1964
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.
Director:Robert Stevens
Writers:Oscar Millard, John Wyndham
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Director:Robert Stevens
Writers:Oscar Millard, John Wyndham
7.0/10(1071 votes)
#25 - An Unlocked Window
S3:E172/15/1965
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.
Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writers:James Bridges, Ethel Lina White
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Director:Joseph M. Newman
Writers:James Bridges, Ethel Lina White