The Case of Mr. Pelham is the 10th episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the third directed by Hitch himself.
In this episode, a man named Mr. Pelham (Tom Ewell) believes that he has a double who looks exactly like him and who is impersonating him.
This is a truly wonderful episode. From the start it has an odd and uneasy feel to it. As it goes on the sense of mystery and dread is built up perfectly keeping its audience is suspense in a way only Hitch can. With a smart and compelling script, we are made to doubt everything we feel. This is increased by the fact that we never know anything more than our main character does at any time. This easily puts us into his shoes and makes us feel the same puzzlement and horror that he does. While the story is incredibly implausible, in true Hitchcock fashion we are made to believe everything. However, the main reason this episode works is Tom Ewell's (in his only role in this series) incredibly performance. He is truly magnetic here and conveys the dread and emotional uneasy of the character perfectly.
The episode also benefits from a truly terrifying ending that perfectly lives up to the wonderful build up. Since this implausible story feels so real to us, we begin to believe that such a thing could actually happen to any of us. This makes the ending just as horrifying and frightening as anything in a great horror movie.
The episode also truly benefits from great cinematography John L. Russell (a regular cinematographer on this series and later the cinematographer for Hitch's cinematic masterpiece Psycho). It gives this episode a film-noir type feel that fits the story perfectly.
The outro with two Alfred Hitchcocks is truly hilarious and presents Hitch's dry but absurd sense of humor in a wonderful fashion.
This is the third out of 18 episodes to be written by Francis M. Cockrell. Interestingly the two previous episodes that Cockrell wrote were also the two previous episodes that Hitch directed.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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