A TV Review by MIKE TOONEY:


“Death and the Joyful Woman.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 27). First air date: 12 April 1963. Gilbert Roland, Laraine Day, Don Galloway, Frank Overton, Laura Devon, Tom Lowell, Richard Bull, Raymond Greenleaf. Teleplay: James Bridges, tenuously based on the novel Death and the Joyful Woman (1961) by Ellis Peters. Director: John Brahm.

ELLIS PETERS Death and the Joyful Woman

    It’s going to be quite an evening at the Aguilar estate. Luis Aguilar (Gilbert Roland) plans to make an announcement at a big dinner party he’s throwing. He intends to publicly disown his son, Al (Don Galloway), because he won’t take on the family business (wine bottling); ironically enough, Al doesn’t even drink alcohol! For Luis, this is intolerable.

    Before this night is over, Luis will make a pass at a young woman; Al will nearly drink himself into a coma trying to win $5,000 from Luis, money that would help pay the bills for the baby that’s on the way; someone will be murdered; another will get koshed and thrown in a giant vat to drown; and a faithful servant will see her hopes dashed and attempt suicide.

    Yes, indeed, quite an evening is in store at the Aguilar estate.

    Ellis Peters (real name: Edith Pargeter, 1913-95) is most famous for her series of novels featuring the medieval monk Brother Cadfael, filmed and shown on PBS as Cadfael (13 episodes, 1994-98). This Hitchcock adaptation of her novel radically alters the story, if the description of it on the Fantastic Fiction website is accurate. (See below.)

    Gilbert Roland (1905-94) was a silent film star who successfully made the transition to the talkies. Laraine Day (1920-2007) was present in Hollywood’s Golden Age; her last screen credit was a two-parter on Murder, She Wrote (1986). And Don Galloway (1937-2009) is best remembered as Detective Sergeant Ed Brown in just about every episode of the Ironside TV series (1967-75).

    “Death and the Joyful Woman” is available on Hulu here.

    From the Fantastic Fiction website:

    “One of the George Felse mysteries. Det Sgt Felse is called in to investigate a murder at a new roadhouse, once a beautiful old inn known as ‘The Joyful Woman.’ There is no shortage of suspects, but the arrest of Kitty Norris leads Felse’s young son, who is convinced she is innocent, into danger.”