The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) Murder Case (1964) User Reviews

A Dirty Trick.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 7 February 2013]

In London, actress Gena Rowlands is married to the elderly Murray Matheson, a rich diamond merchant who is financing her new show. Cassavetes shows up to audition and is hired to be Rowlands' lover in the play.

An instance of art imitating life. Cassavetes and Rowlands had been previously involved and now their lust is rekindled. Fine, so far, but what about the old man she's married to? He loves his wife, and you can't just divorce him because you don't want a settlement, you want the whole ball of wax.

So Cassavetes and Rowlands plan to bump the old guy off. Their first try -- unfixing the brakes on his Rolls -- fails, but it alerts Matheson to the fact that something is going on. The guy may be old but he's not stupid. After overhearing part of a phone conversation between the conspirators, Matheson arranges things so that -- well, why give away the surprise ending that the hour-long program has been struggling towards and which the discerning viewer may have anticipated anyway.

Gena Rowlands is a beautiful woman by any measure but her epicanthic folds are really extraordinary. Somewhere in her family tree there may lurk an alien. Cassavetes has turned in first-rate performances elsewhere and is a versatile actor but in this story the director, John Brahm, should have reined him in a bit. He's a bundle of sly and nervous energy. He steals scenes. If Matheson has a line or two, Cassavetes is twirling around in front of the camera or fiddling with something.

It's an interesting tale but I think that with a little talent and effort -- rare in TV dramas -- it could have been squeezed into half an hour.

nothing all that special

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 May 2021]

This story stars real life married couple John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands as Lee and Diana. However, in "Murder Case" they are not married...though the had dated long ago...until she married a rich older man (Murray Matheson). Since then, the two haven't seen each other in some time...and he's rather bitter. They are both actors and they both are cast in the leads in a play funded by Diana's husband. Soon, sparks begin to fly between Lee and Diana, and they plan on killing the hubby in order to get his vast fortune. But he learns of their plot and ends up having the last laugh.

The story seems more normal and pedestrian than most from this show. Now this isn't saying it's bad, it isn't, but it's also not particularly special and isn't particularly memorable. An okay episode....nothing more.

There Must Be a Better Way

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 21 May 2023]

An episode like this runs on impatience. The whole plot, life after all events play out, could have been put off for a more opportune moment. The old guy is suspicious from the outset. He knows that the young actress must be up to something or else why does she prefer to be with him. But money is what sets the tone. Cassavetes is a highly unpleasant character, smug and manipulative. He always acts on impulse and that's what proves to be his undoing. Throwing the old guy out a porthole is almost laughable. This is another one of those episodes about rich people never having enough. Quite ordinary.

Solid Hitch

[dougdoepke · 4 September 2015]

Solid Hitchcock. Lee (Cassavetes) is such a smug, calculating young stage actor, he's obnoxious from the start. Once Lee starts plotting with old flame Diana (Rowlands) to bump off her rich older husband (Matheson), he becomes wicked, as well. Not a flattering role for fine actor Cassavetes, but he brings it off well. Suspense builds as the conniving couple plot against her inconvenient hubby (Matheson). Does he suspect something or not. After all, they're not exactly subtle with their relationship. The screenplay manages to fill out the hour without draggy padding, and builds to a climax I didn't see coming. Yet, all the bases are covered in good ironic fashion. Smooth direction from noir movie veteran John Brahm, though the speeding car process shots are really phony. Nonetheless, it's solid Hitch, with a fine cast. Fans should not be disappointed.

"Hey, hey, what do you say?"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 26 November 2022]

Real life married couple John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands star in this Hitchcock programmer in which they portray a pair of stage actors reuniting in London after a period of time when Diana Justin (Rowlands) dumped her former boyfriend (Cassavetes) without explanation, and married a wealthy diamond merchant, now backing her latest production. I was surprised to see how far Cassavetes overacted his role, going for obnoxious rather than subtlety, which went a long way in telegraphing the pair's relationship to Justin's husband Charles (Murray Matheson). I also thought more would have been made of Lee Griffin's identity by the customs inspector (John Banner) when Griffin's monogrammed shirt revealed his initials, discrediting the phony passport he had made to show he was Charles Justin. Not necessary though for the twist that closed out the episode, contradicting Gentleman Charlie's admonition that "I'd rather lose a fortune than lose my wife".

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, WATCH I LOVE LUCY!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 15 June 2023]

I am AMAZED at all the thumbs down for this episode. This is CLASSIC Hitch all the way. Perhaps all the nay sayers are looking for the US Army or Marines to come running into the room. Ya think?

Two of the genuinely best actors on tv at the time; Gina Rowlands and John Cassavetes (who were long married) play old acquaintances. And you know there's going to be a reunion. It turns out that Rowlands is now married to old, but wealthy theatrical producer Murray Matheson, who usually played seasoned well-to-do gents. Cassavetes is an actor, naturally down on his luck, and much to his surprise discovers that his old gal pal is in a terrible relationship --but open to suggestions? What next? You know that Hitch has a few ironic twists up his sleeve. This is very entertaining, especially the acting form both leads. TRUE, this is, by far, NOT an original plot. In fact, it's been done before on Hitch's long running half hour series, but it's so old its good again, and the master will never let you down. Also look for some well known faces here, such as John Banner, just before his famous role as Sgt. Schultz on HOGANS HEROES. Banner actually did many dramatic roles long before turning to comedy. Give this one a second look. SEASON 2 EPISODE 19 CBS dvd box set.

John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 17 April 2012]

"Murder Case" stars real life husband and wife John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, who had already been married for a decade, remaining so until his death at age 59 in 1989. Diana Justin (Rowlands) is starring in a London play financed by her diamond merchant husband Charles (Murray Matheson). Stranded American actor Lee Griffin (Cassavetes) gets himself cast as her American love interest, quite insistent since the two had a thing going back in the States before she met the wealthy Charles and promptly dumped him without a second glance. Now that she's within his grasp again, quickly falling back into old habits, Lee decides to rig a fatal accident for her husband, who survives and quickly pulls his backing out of his rival's play. The climactic twist makes this one worth watching, featuring such familiar faces as Ben Wright, David Frankham, and John Banner (HOGAN'S HEROES).

Meh

[rms125a · 5 August 2017]

The pairing of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands (married in real life) as an amoral adulterous American pair in London promised fireworks that just didn't go off. Cassavetes is amazingly obnoxious and arrogant as a struggling actor with a New York accent you could cut with a knife (although he usually projected that image anyway, which is why he was a better director than an actor), and his character's conduct throughout the episode is so unceasingly juvenile and suspect it would trigger distrust in a cloistered Tibetan monk.

Rowlands is a fine actress who brings her beauty and sensuality to the role but can't do much else as a cold, heartless, ungrateful, self- centered, two-dimensional (at best) irredeemable character, who is like a precursor to the Bridget Gregory character played by Linda Fiorentino in "The Last Seduction". The surprise at the end (in the car trunk) was satisfying, though.

long dull last ten minutes are OK

[HEFILM · 3/10 · 18 July 2013]

It took the combined true talents of writers JAMES BRIDGES and LEVINSON & LINK to create a screenplay this padded and dull. How they all three managed to use not a tiny percentage of their considerable talents to make this episode other than overlong, is something more interesting to consider than this episode. The approach seems to be, we've got a good ending now let's fill up the first 38 minutes as boringly as possible. It's such a waste of talent this episode on all levels.

Like some of Bridges other poor episodes (he of course wrote some good ones too) this show has no shape no suspense and really no murder/crime/ or suspense until about ten minutes before it's over.

Cast, writers, director all made me think this was going to be good and none of them did much to help. It's style-free on a director level and that none of the actors can do much with their total cliché roles is only a surprise because of who they are. There is just nothing interesting to play here or portray as an actor.

Only surprise is that Shultz from Hogans Heroes shows up near the end. He's quite good in a decent little suspense scene. The end itself works well enough, but what's really good about it takes up the last 15 seconds. The rest of this show you'll see coming from a mile away.

There are pointless--other than to pad running time--scenes from the REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT knock-off play to pad time. The young lovers who are the leads, and real life man and wife John and Gena, as characters are not worth liking, actually he's a jerk and a brute and she's self centered--their scenes together do nothing to make you think they "must" have one another, or that their love could redeem them as people, or that their love is what corrupts otherwise good people.

There is no real villain of the piece either. Or from Hitchcock's point of view all villains as the story is about actors. Other episodes about actors in this series usually portray them in a bad light actually. And none of those are really very good episodes either. It's like an inside joke--or not so inside as Hitchcock's public views of actors were well known--but that's not a funny enough joke to support a serious hour show.

Only the episode SIGN OF Satan has an actor in sort of a hero role, though in that show an actor is a form Satanic cult member so.... What matters though is that these characters in this episode are total cliché and a bore.

Hitchcock's intro features the semi-famous image of him with his finger in a leaking Dyke and a kind of unusual Hitchcock slapstick type gag as well. It can't redeem the show however.

You can easily skip 20 minutes of this show and not miss a thing plot-wise. You can pretty much just skip this episode, it's not the worst of the series but it's not worth the time it takes.

Incredibly grating

[Ripshin · 23 April 2024]

John Cassavetes is far too over the top in this episode. He's annoying whenever he's on screen. Scene after scene...he's just yelling sometimes.

Rowland fares much better.

What is surprising, is that actor Murray Matheson, who plays Rowland's "older" husband, was just 51 at the time!! He could pass for 75+.

The plot is dull. Many minutes pass without much happening.

The set design for the "play" is quite ugly - it should be presented as more than some "community theater" production.

I lasted about half-way, and turned it off. The first "Hitchcock Hour" that I have stopped watching.

Just skip it.