Wed 20 Oct 2010
A TV Review by Mike Tooney: THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR “The Photographer and the Undertaker.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[4] Comments
“The Photographer and the Undertaker.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 3, Episode 21). First air date: 15 March 1965. Jack Cassidy, Harry Townes, Alfred Ryder, Jocelyn Lane. Teleplay: Alfred Hayes, based on a story by James Holding (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November 1962). Director: Alex March.
Rudolph (Alfred Ryder) works for The Corporation, otherwise known as the Mob. His job is to give his contract employees their various assignments, all of which inevitably result in somebody getting murdered.
Arthur Mannix (Jack Cassidy) is a photographer whose much more lucrative sideline is being a hitman for Rudolph. Hiram Price (Harry Townes) is a professional undertaker who also works under contract to Rudolph. Since they’ve never met, neither man knows the whole truth about the other.
But then the day arrives when The Corporation, in its infinite wisdom, decides to have Rudolph send Arthur after Hiram — and Hiram after Arthur ….
With three on-screen murders and a finale in which evil triumphs, this episode undoubtedly had the network censors in a lather, I’m sure.
A cheerful but evil cherub is how I would describe Jack Cassidy’s normal screen persona. His criminous credits include: FBI Code 98 (1963), The Eiger Sanction (1975), and 3 unforgettable appearances on Columbo: “Murder by the Book” (1971), “Publish or Perish” (1974), and “Now You See Him” (1976).
Harry Townes was another of those all-purpose bit-part actors who seemed to be everywhere in the ’50 and ’60s: Operation Manhunt (1954), 14 appearances on Kraft Television Theatre, eight on Climax!, 10 on Studio One, Cry Tough (1959), five episodes of General Electric Theater, four Kraft Suspense Theatre’s, five Perry Mason’s, five segments of The Fugitive (1963-66), three episodes of Felony Squad (1967), They Call It Murder (1971, TVM), and 4 appearances on Simon & Simon.
See “The Photographer and the Undertaker” on Hulu here.
October 20th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
James Holding wrote a long series of stories about the “Photographer,” most but not all of them for ELLERY QUEEN. An early one was “Murder’s No Bargain,†which appeared in the May 1961 issue of WEB DETECTIVE STORIES. Peter Enfantino reviewed the story here on the main M*F website:
https://mysteryfile.com/Digests/Web_Detective.html
If you follow the link, you’ll discover one other thing. In the stories The Photographer was not named Arthur Mannix, but rather one Manuel Andradas, from Brazil. He was obviously required to undergo an identity transplant before they allowed him to show up and appear on the Hitchcock Hour.
Taken from http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateMystery/authorsP.html#Ph is a full description of the character:
“[A] professional assassin for the criminal syndicate of his native Brazil, Manuel Andradas practices photography as a cover identity and hobby. The only way to hire him is to come to a little cafe where he waits, write the target’s name on the menu, and pay The Photographer 50% of his hefty fee in advance.”
I wish I had a complete checklist handy, but I don’t.
October 21st, 2010 at 1:03 am
Loved the Holding stories, but can you imagine Jack Cassidy playing anyone named Manuel Andradas? The mind boggleth. Wasn’t there a collection of the Photographer stories, or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
Despite the changes it was a good episode though.
Re Cassidy, for me he will always be the obsessed actor who played Richard Benjamin’s comic strip character on television from the too short lived sitcom HE AND SHE, with Paula Prentiss, Kenneth Mars, and Hamilton Camp.
Harry Townes literally was everywhere, he even did STAR TREK.
Alfred Ryder’s finest moment, of course, was his terrific death scene as the Treasury agent whose cover is blown in Anthony Mann’s T-MAN. One of the rare times he got to play a good guy.
October 21st, 2010 at 9:19 am
David — I agree about Ryder’s performance in T-MEN.
He was also in TREK (“Man Trap”), playing an archeologist with an interesting “companion.”
Whenever he gets hit by a phaser set on “stun,” he gets to show how a person whose nerves have been short-circuited would behave: slurred speech, slow muscle movements, inability to concentrate. As far as I know, Ryder is the only one who ever did that on TREK.
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:13 am
Ryder raised the level of almost anything he was in. I even recall a notable turn on THE WILD WILD WEST as an obcessive art gallery owner.
At the time Hollywood had a small army of European actors who enriched the small and big screen with often subtle performances in character parts. As the old line goes, they had faces then.