Peter Gunn (TV Series) Love Me to Death (1959) User Reviews

Very Good Episode In Which You Knew Something Wasn't At It Seemed

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 7 August 2006]

You just knew things weren't as they looked....and sure enough, they weren't. This was a neat ending, a nice twist to an interesting story filled with action and suspense. Well, at least more than normal.

The introduction gets your attention right away as a woman is electrocuted in her basement, thanks to her husband. As the story starts - apparently some years after that incident - a couple of old biddies come to "Mother's" looking to hire Peter Gunn. Their pathetic sister has married some guy they think is a crook. Well, it turns out to be that guy who electrocuted his former wife. The man does have quite a background, Pete discovers, leaving a number of dead wives, and has spent time in jail for other things. All of this is unknown to the wallflower who married him, a 50-year-old in love for the first time and who doesn't care so long as she has someone.

The sisters get knocked off and someone throws a Molotov cocktail at Gunn. Pete knows the wife is going to be next, giving the man the money he's looking when this latest wife dies..

A showdown ensues and a real surprise happens. Not wanting to use spoilers, I'll leave it there.

Murder in the Family

[gordonl56 · 8/10 · 16 August 2013]

PETER GUNN – Love Me to Death – 1959

Private investigator Peter Gunn (Craig Steven) is hired by a pair of elderly women. The women, Helen Wallace and Ellen Corby want Stevens to dig up some dirt on a man. The man, Robert Harris has just married the women's sister, Jeanette Nolan. They are sure the man, Harris, is after the family cash.

Stevens roots around and finds that Harris has had five other wealthy wives who have died in various accidents. Gunn reports this to the two sisters, Wallace and Corby. They have their lawyer, Lucien Littlefield, cut off the money to their sister, Nolan. Within two days the two, Wallace and Corby are dead in mysterious accidents. This of course leaves the family loot to Nolan and her new husband, Harris.

Stevens does his best to explain to Nolan that her husband is a murderer and her life is in great danger. Nolan is however a woman in love and does not believe Stevens.

The curve thrown in here is that it was Nolan who killed off her sisters for getting in the way. Stevens soon puts all right with Harris biting the dirt and Nolan going on a trip up river. The episode is played in a comic tone with several nice twists at the end.

The episode was directed by Jack Arnold. Arnold helmed several of the best low-budget Sci-Fi films of the 1950's. These include, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and TARANTULA. He also touched on film-noir and westerns with, THE TATTERED DRESS, OUT THE LAW. THE GLASS WEB, GIRLS IN THE NIGHT, NO NAME ON THE BULLET, RED SUNDOWN and THE MAN FROM BITTER RIDGE.

A Real Mystery

[biorngm · 10/10 · 9 October 2017]

Review Love Me to Death This is the best episode yet with plenty of characters intermixed to keep us guessing, even though we thought we knew. Our intrepid PI touches all bases as victims keep dropping and fingers are pointing, but an outcome to thrill us all. Watch how the characters go about their business only to fall victim, and even with help of James Bond! The regular cast is there but a limited Jacoby yet Pete handles the crimes in the usual professional manner. Do not want to give away much of anything, but highly recommend.

Mixed, At Best

[dougdoepke · 31 October 2017]

More of an exercise in perverse psychology than the usual Gunn trackdown. In fact, Jacoby makes only a brief cameo. The episode's hook is okay as fortune hunter Bowers (Harris) sets up an electrocution trap for his rich, unwanted wife. Seems like he's already murdered 4 or 5 wives before this, all of which were deemed accidents. Now he's got poor love-starved Maggie (Nolan) in his sights, except her ritzy sister Wilma (Wallace) smells a rat and hires Pete to check him out. So, can Pete make a difference before Bowers strikes again. All in all, I think the story would have had more suspense had we not been tipped off to Bowers guilt by the hook.

Anyhow, the short pudgy, rather charmless Harris makes an unlikely Romeo. But then Maggie is tragically love-lorn. Stealing the show however is that great old vet of a thousand house maids, Ellen Corby, as the third sister, Irma. Her ditzy remarks are a hoot. Then there's that surprise if pretty unbelievable ending that, in my view, flops as a twist. Anyway, Edie gets a brief appearance for us guys. Otherwise, it's a mixed 30-minutes of the usually stylish Peter Gunn.