Sat 17 Apr 2010
A TV Review by Mike Tooney: THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR “The Thirty-First of February.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
“The Thirty-First of February.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 15). First air date: 4 January 1963. David Wayne, William Conrad, Elizabeth Allen, Staats Cotsworth, William Sargent, Bob Crane, King Calder, Bernadette Hale, Kathleen O’Malley, Robert Carson. Teleplay: Richard Matheson, based on the novel The Thirty-First of February (1950) by Julian Symons. Director: Alf Kjellin.
As the play opens, an inquest is being held into the death of Valerie Anderson (Kathleen O’Malley), who evidently tried to walk down a flight of steps to her cellar, despite a burned-out light bulb, stumbled, and broke her neck in the fall. Everything seems to point to accidental death, and the coroner rules it that way.
Val’s husband Andrew (David Wayne) decides the best thing to do would be to go immediately back to work. But it’s there among his colleagues that things begin to deteriorate.
Little items which would ordinarily be minor annoyances begin to crop up and incrementally erode Andrew’s sangfroid: a desk calendar marking the date of Val’s death, an unsigned poisoned pen letter implying Val was having an affair with someone at the firm, two interoffice memos that get mixed up and sent to the wrong people, a new employee who seems to be following Andrew around, another desk calendar with the nonsensical date of “February 31st” inscribed on it, and even having his house ransacked.
And then there’s that police sergeant (William Conrad), who on every occasion they meet keeps insinuating that Andrew murdered Valerie but insists he isn’t implying any such thing.
Not only is Andrew’s emotional composure slowly cracking, but his vulnerabilities are also becoming more obvious. You see, Andrew never loved Val; he admits as much to the woman he really loves, Molly O’Rourke (Elizabeth Allen) — but he does so just before he tries to choke her. He also comes to believe that several of his colleagues, as per the letter, were having an affair with Valerie and irrationally accuses them to their faces, making him look even more paranoid.
One thing’s for sure: If Andrew did kill Val, then his guilty conscience is tearing him apart — but, if he didn’t kill her, then he’s in the crosshairs of a plot not just to put him in prison but also to drive him insane ….
David Wayne’s criminous credits include Hell and High Water (1954), as The Mad Hatter on four episodes of TV’s Batman (1966-67), Arsenic and Old Lace (TVM, 1969), one Banacek (1973), as Inspector Richard Queen (sans moustache) in 23 episodes of Ellery Queen on TV (1975-76), and an appearance on Murder, She Wrote in a clever locked-room mystery, “Murder Takes the Bus” (1985).
William Conrad was always playing heavies, both figuratively and literally. Credits include The Killers (1946), Body and Soul (1947), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Tension (1949), East Side, West Side (1949), One Way Street (1950), Dial 1119 (1950), Cry Danger (1951), The Racket (1951), Cry of the Hunted (1953), The Brotherhood of the Bell (TVM, 1970), as Nero Wolfe on TV (14 episodes, 1981), and in the series Jake and the Fatman (104 episodes, 1987-92).
Hulu: http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi853016601/
April 17th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I most certainly can picture William Conrad in this. He played essentially the same role in TENSION and EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE, and probably many more times than I can remember — that of the semi-sleazy but essentially honest cop who believes everything you say but you can feel him sneering up his sleeve at you — assuming you ever had the occasion of a run-in with him.
He was also, of course, Matt Dillon, but only on the radio version of GUNSMOKE. As I understand it, he was sorely disappointed that he wasn’t considered more seriously for the TV role than he was. It certainly would have changed the whole nature of the program if it were he on TV instead of James Arness. Nor would it have lasted as long, I also have to admit, as much of a fan of Conrad as I am.
An actor who I can’t quite picture, is Staats Cotsworth, though I must have seen him dozens of times. On the other hand, I’ve heard his voice hundreds of times, since he was one of the highest paid actors in radio. Most notable among his regular roles was that of Casey on CASEY CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I’m a fan of William Conrad also, especially in the role that he excelled in as Frank Cannon, private eye, in the TV series CANNON. In many private eye movies and series I often have to put up with the love life of the PI, but not in CANNON. Conrad plays an overweight, sort of homely professional who solves his cases without the usual subplot involving flirting and chasing women. Not quite like Hammett’s Continental Op because he has a nice apartment and is a gourmet, but close enough.
April 18th, 2010 at 3:50 am
CANNON was very popular in the UK during the 70s. At the time there were quite a number of rather oddball detective types on TV (McCLOUD/COLUMBO/KOJAK and the like), and Frank Cannon fitted right in. Nowadays I imagine that there would be a subplot about his doctor trying to get him to diet, but I always liked the idea of a ‘tec who wasn’t some sort of Adonis.
April 18th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Ed Asner told the story why William Conrad didn’t end up playing Matt Dillon on GUNSMOKE when it came to television and true or not it’s a great story.
If you recall the series, Matt Dillon had a very distinctive captains chair in his office, a round chair with a low back that sweeps around to the arms.
In Conrad’s test for the role he was to sit in the chair, a bad guy would come in, and Conrad was to leap from the chair and draw his gun.
Fine, save with Conrad’s ample size when he leaped from his chair his gun hung up on the chair arm — every time.
Finally Conrad simply swore and walked off the set.
Likely though no one but Arness was ever seriously considered for the role since John Wayne sold his contract to get him to play the role.
It’s pretty easy to find, but if you have never heard it listen to the infamous gag episode of radio’s GUNSMOKE. Supposedly Conrad didn’t know what they rest of the cast were doing and it was a riot listening to him trying to keep his cool — especially in those scenes set in the Long Branch saloon where you can hear some of Miss Kitty’s dance hall girls haggling with their client upstairs.
His notable radio career included not only being one of the most recognizable voices in the medium, but also one of the most innovative directors on SUSPENSE and ESCAPE. He’s also the famous voice at the end of “Sorry, Wrong Number,” as well as being in the film.
CANNON largely existed only because of Conrad’s charm on screen — the plots were so tired and so mechanical that the bad guy showed up to the minute at the same time every week.
His NERO WOLFE was badly thought out though, and never seemed vaguely Wolfian. I think it jumped the shark for me when they adapted THE MOTHER HUNT and at the end of the episode Wolfe slips into the little boys hospital room to take him an orchid! It was annoying enough to have the victim survive the hit and run, much less turn Wolfe into a sentimental idiot.
Still, there were some good things about the series if only the producers had trusted the material.
Conrad remains a favorite, and it is impossible to think of THE FUGITIVE or THE FBI and not hear that voice. One of my favorite roles for him is Sgt. Turk in THE RACKET, where is a crooked cop for crooked prosecutor Ray Collins set up by honest cop Robert Mitchum to stop brutal racketeer Robert Ryan, and the Colonial official in THE NAKED JUNGLE which he had starred in on radio as “Leinigen vs the Ants”.
April 18th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Walker — Thanks for mentioning CANNON. Somehow it got dropped from the final draft.
David — Your observations about the formula followed in CANNON are so true. As David Gerrold has noted, in TV series FORMAT almost inevitably deteriorates into FORMULA. When that happens, stick a fork in it; it’s done. The problem with CANNON, as you say, was that it was FORMULA from the get go. Only William Conrad made it worth watching.
April 18th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Conrad was also the narrator of both THE FUGITIVE and ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE adventures.