List of Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes

While Carl (Meeker) is at work, his wife Elsa (Miles) is apparently attacked and left traumatized by an intruder in their trailer park home. After reporting it to the police and talking to Elsa's doctor, Carl decides to take Elsa on a vacation. Later, while driving in town, Elsa points out a man as her attacker. Seeking revenge, an enraged Carl follows the man and kills him in his hotel room. But a little later, Elsa, still mentally disturbed, identifies another man as her attacker, leading Carl to realize, too late, that he might have killed an innocent man as the police close in on them. Elsa is taken away to a mental hospital while Carl is tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for taking the law into his own hands.

Kim (Forsythe) returns home to the U.S. after four years in Paris, hoping to reunite with his estranged father. He learns that his father died four years ago, a fact that his brother and sister-in-law did not tell him. Kim suspects foul play, but eventually learns that he is the one who killed his father, and he has been in a mental hospital for four years; his memories of Paris are just a delusion.

Cowboys Red (McGavin) and Dell (Barry) meet in old Maggie (Corby)'s roadhouse and threaten a shoot-out. Maggie does her best to negotiate a peace, eventually convincing them to only shoot each other when the clock strikes. When the clock mysteriously stops, the men take it to be a sign from God and leave peacefully. The light-hearted ending is enhanced by an explanation of why the clock stops.

Financially strapped couple Frank (Blackmer) and Mildred Partridge (Gregg) scheme to have Mildred "disappear" for seven years and declared legally dead in order to collect Frank's insurance pay-off. Insurance investigator Mr. Kettle (Emhardt) suspects that Frank killed Mildred, and his constant hounding of Frank means that the couple cannot be in contact with each other. The night before the seven years is up, Frank is visited by Mildred, who has moved on with life, and she declares that she wants a divorce and an end to the scheme. In a rage, Frank bludgeons her to death with a figurine and buries her in his garden. The next day Kettle apologizes to Frank for his assumption, and offers to help him with his garden.

Paris, 1899. British Mrs. Winthrop (Forbes) and her daughter Diana (Hitchcock) are on their way home via France, and check into a Paris hotel. Mrs. Winthrop is suddenly ill, and the hotel doctor (Mylong) sends Diana to his home for medicine. When Diana returns, the front-desk clerk (Marsac) and other hotel employees claim to have no recollection of her, nor is there any record that the Winthrops were ever there. Diana goes to the embassy, where her story is believed only by Basil Farnham (Toone). Diana and Basil demand to see the room, which is very different from Diana's description, but Diana rips off the wallpaper, proving that there is a conspiracy at hand. The cover-up is revealed to have been set in place by the French government, because Mrs. Winthrop, who is now dead, had the bubonic plague. Based on the Legend of the Vanishing Lady.

Lois (Gates) expects ex-con Dan (Barry) to kill her as revenge for her causing his brother's death. Dan is surprised when Lois refuses to put up a fight. He seemingly has a change of heart and offers her a business deal. Lois sets up a boutique, which after months of hard work is launched successfully. Dan also convinces Lois's ex-boyfriend, Tim, to reconcile with her. Lois, now happy and full of life, expresses her gratitude, but Dan reveals that he did all of it so that Lois would not want to die, and that now he can kill her with satisfaction, which he does by shooting her to death the moment he's done talking.

Cynical movie producer Mr. Callew (Cotten) fires a long-time employee on the phone and scoffs at his crying. Callew later gets into a car accident and is completely paralyzed. He is robbed and left for dead and ignored by everyone. Just when Callew is about to be declared legally dead, he saves himself at the last minute by getting the mortician's attentions with his tears.

With a serial-murderer maid on the loose in the city, Ralph (Sloane) becomes suspicious of his and his wife Ethel (Ward)'s housemaid, Mrs. Sutton (Bondi). When Ralph gets violent cramps at work, he has his home cocoa analyzed, and it turns out to contain arsenic. Ralph initially blames Mrs. Sutton, until he learns that the serial murderer has been caught. However, Mrs. Sutton confesses to him her unhappiness at having had to lie for Ethel, who is having an affair. Ethel, unaware of what Ralph has learned, offers him a cup of cocoa that she made for him.

Heavily indebted Charlie Raymond (Lawford) answers a newspaper ad placed by Walker Hendricks (Williams), who wants a companion for his road trip to San Francisco. During their journey, Charlie learns that Walker is on his way to claim an inheritance from a family that he has never met. Charlie kills Walker and takes his identity to present himself at the lawyer's office. There he is met by a police officer, who informs him that the real Walker Hendricks was killed much earlier, and the man that he had killed was English Jim, another con man who had also been after the inheritance.

Supporting cast: Gertrude Hoffman as Margaret Stoddard, Robert Warwick as Matthew Kelson, Frank Gerstle as Police Sergeant Mack, Charlie Cantor as Tommy DeWitt, Tim Graham as Bartender, Virginia Christine as Secretary

Albert Pelham (Ewell) is a businessman who has a paranoid suspicion that he has a double who is slowly taking over his life, and is better at it. Pelham varies his schedule and buys a one-of-a-kind neck tie in the hopes of catching his double off-guard. When Pelham returns home, his double is already there, and they are seen together by Pelham's manservant Peterson (Watson). The impassive double points out that Pelham is the imposter by showing that he is wearing an unusual tie, and when Peterson believes him and thinks that Pelham is the impostor, Pelham has a mental breakdown. The impostor Pelham takes over Pelham's life, while the real Pelham is taken away to a lunatic asylum.

Stanley (Mantell) and Dorothy (Maguire) Crane live in the apartment below volatile couple Amelia (Evelyn) and Ben (Kemmer) Verber, and often hear them fighting. After a particularly loud fight, Ben mysteriously vanishes, and Dorothy pushes Stanley to find out more. Despite his skepticism, Stanley helps Sgt. Halloran's (Simon) investigation. They eventually discover that Amelia killed and hid Ben's body in the basement, and the reason the fight got so out of hand was because Ben was about to leave Amelia — for Dorothy.

Disgruntled ex-con Harold Sears (Fitzgerald) is hired as a department store Santa thanks to his parole officer, Clementine Webster (Gregg). Sears loathes the job, but his attention is caught by a cynical poor boy who wants an expensive toy and believes that Santa is unable to give it to him. Sears steals the toy to give it to the boy for Christmas. Sears is caught by the police, but Webster understands Sears' intent and has the charges dropped.

Lyle Endicott (McGavin) worms his way into the good graces of Martha Cheney (Collinge), a rich, invalid woman with a penchant for sculpture. Lyle hopes to obtain her Cheney vase, which will fetch a high price on the market. Lyle methodically cuts Martha off from the world in the hopes that she will die. When Lyle's girlfriend warns the authorities about his plan, Lyle rushes to Martha's gallery to take the vase, but discovers that Martha has been working on dozens of copies of the vase, and now he is unable to identify the correct one.

When middle-aged Mr. Stepp (Qualen) is suddenly fired, he shoots his boss Baldwin (Cabot). Stepp is surprised when Baldwin is at work the next day as though nothing happened. Baldwin's partner, King (Reed), convinces Stepp that he hallucinated the shooting, but King has actually hired a look-alike actor named Davidson to take Baldwin's place in order to close an important deal. King and Davidson agree to stage Baldwin's "death" later, and in order to close all possible leaks, King forces Stepp to retire. In retaliation, Stepp shoots and kills King.

Gangster Sam Dunleavy (Mathews) wants to murder his ex-girlfriend, Goldie (Michaels), so he has his friend Barney (Stone) arrange for him the perfect alibi. Barney has it staged as though he and Sam are playing a game of poker in Barney's back room. Sam sneaks out successfully, but is unable to kill Goldie when she claims that she is pregnant. When Sam returns to Barney's backroom, Barney has accidentally shot himself, and Sam is arrested for murder.

Sam Cobbett (Cassavetes) has just broken out of prison and enters the house of Mary Schaffner (Pavan) while her husband is away. Cobbett makes Mary cook for him, dismiss her neighbors when they come by, and pretend that everything is okay over the phone when her mother calls. Cobbett believes that he can take his time, but the police suddenly arrive to arrest him. They were tipped off by Mary's mother — Mary is deaf and should not have answered the phone.

Based on the Lizzie Borden murders, and set one year after Lizzie was acquitted for the murder of her parents. Ambitious reporter Nell Cutts (Rowles) barges into the home of the Borden sisters Lizzie (Mathews) and Emma (Lorring) in the hopes of an exclusive interview. Cutts' aggressive questioning causes Emma distress, but it turns out that Emma killed their parents, and Lizzie was merely trying to protect her.

Clarence (Harris) and Elmer (Qualen) are retired insurance agents, and hope to use their years of experience to save people that they believe will die soon. Clarence has his sights of Mrs. Shrike (Fleet), a boorish alcoholic who he believes has a death wish. They try to advise her to change her life and fix her house, but this just causes her to lash out. As the pair leave, they see Mrs. Shrike's husband return home, and she is killed soon afterward.

Businessman Ralph Cowell (Reed) strangles his silent partner, Alfred Sloane (Delevanti), to death in order to avoid paying what he owes. The murder is witnessed by vagrant Peter J. Goodfellow (Newton), who picks up Sloane's cigarette case with the IOU inside, and uses it to blackmail Cowell. Goodfellow and his friend Fenton Shanks (Silver) move into Cowell's home, much to the disgust of Cowell's wife, Herta (Knudsen). After months of Goodfellow and Fenton living with them and pawning almost everything in the Cowell home, Cowell is able to find the IOU and burn it. Goodfellow and Fenton leave, but soon afterward a police officer arrives with a pawn ticket signed by Cowell for Sloane's cigarette case, tying Cowell to the Sloane murder.

Detective Krovitch (Bronson) investigates the murder of juggler Luke Ockham in a theatre. His suspicions fall on John Fabian (Rains), a ventriloquist with a fixation on his female dummy, Riabouchinska (voice of Gregg). Riabouchinska, seemingly acting independent of Fabian's control, insists on telling Krovitch the truth that Fabian killed Ockham, because Ockham threatened to expose Fabian and Riabouchinska's love affair to the world. Riabouchinska declares she can no longer love Fabian and stops moving, while Fabian is arrested by Krovitch.

American journalist Mary Prescott (Trevor) is traveling on a train out of the Iron Curtain when she is befriended by local celebrity Jan Gubak (Bergerac). Mary agrees to carry a luxury watch for Gubak, but during the customs inspection Gubak turns her in to officers for smuggling luxury items. Mary is arrested, but released soon after when the watch is discovered to be fake. Mary learns that Gubak is part of the underground resistance, and the charade was to create a distraction that enabled Gubak to smuggle sensitive microfilm out of the country. Gubak gives Mary the microfilm and urges her to write the truth about his country.

Ray Clements (Damon) travels to a monastery to get revenge on a crook who is taking sanctuary there. Father Vincente (Sloane) advises him to choose forgiveness, and Clements is forced to leave. Clements later kills the crook's partner in self-defense and takes sanctuary at the same monastery. He tells Father Vincente that he no longer wants revenge, but the crook has already died.

Herbert Carpenter (Williams) and his loving but pesky wife Hermione (Elsom) are planning a long holiday in California, all carefully planned by Herbert. On the day of their departure, and after doting good-byes from their friends, Herbert bludgeons his wife to death, as planned, and buries her body in a hole in their basement that he has started digging under the guise of a wine cellar. He then goes off alone on his road trip to California, and a new job there where he gloats in his freedom from marriage. Then one day soon after arriving at his new swanky “digs,” Herbert receives the mail... among the letters to his wife from their friends back home, is a bill from a contractor for work that Hermione had secretly arranged for - excavating the wine cellar as a present for Herbert... meaning his crime will be discovered.

Brothers Paul (Hatfield) and Henri (Coolidge) plot to kill their Aunt Rosalie (Natwick) to inherit her fortune. Paul has Henri grind glass into fine powder, and Paul adds it to the egg mixture that is supposed to make a soufflé for Rosalie's dinner. However, that night Rosalie insists on eating something else, and the next morning Paul dies when he eats an omelette made out of the lethal egg mixture.

Couple Frank (Bronson) and Lorna (Crane) Bramwell go to the mansion of eccentric Monica Laughton (Winwood) to rob her. The plan goes awry because Laughton is crazy and wholly unresponsive to their threats. The Bramwells become tired and frustrated, because they cannot find any money and there seems to be no food in the house. In desperation, they eat a batch of freshly-made muffins, not knowing that they are filled with rat poison. Laughton's fortune turns out to be inside a handbag that she carries everywhere with her.

Dead mystery writer Alexander Penn Arlington (Williams) is distraught when he arrives in Heaven not knowing who killed him. His angel, Wilfred (Napier), returns Alexander to Earth to repeat his last day to investigate. Alexander's assistant, nephew, wife and her lover all have motives. In his study, he tells them all that one of them is planning his death. His wife's lover turns off the light and Alexander is killed in the dark without seeing who did it. Returning to Heaven, Wilfred points out that the killer must have trusted the person who turned off the light, so it must have been Alexander's wife.

Elderly Mr. Crabtree (Qualen) is ordered by his boss, Mr. X (Greene), to kill a man who will enter his office on a certain day. Crabtree decides not to do the task, but when a man enters his office at the expected time, Crabtree is so upset at the thought of losing his job that he ends up killing him anyway. Shortly afterward another man, the correct target, arrives at Crabtree's office, but Crabtree has already received his payment for the murder and walks out.

Supporting cast: Madge Kennedy as Mrs. Laura Crabtree, Ruth Swanson as Miss Brown, John Harmon as Donations Collector, Malcolm Atterbury as the Blackmailer, Parley Baer as Police Detective Gryar, Paul Brinegar as Police Officer

Married couple Mark (Abbott) and Debbie (Gates)'s first anniversary is ruined when a portrait they commissioned is revealed to be of Mark's first wife, Jocelyn, who has been missing for five years. Debbie believes that Mark stills loves Jocelyn and urges him to find the truth. With the help of Mark's ex-brother-in-law Jeff (Bailey), Mark tracks down the painter, Arthur Clymer (Baragrey), who claims to have been married to Jocelyn and killed her in a jealous rage. Mark attacks Clymer because he (Clymer) described how Mark, in fact, actually killed Jocelyn five years ago. Clymer is actually a police officer and worked together with Jeff to get a confession out of Mark.

Antiques dealer Laurence Appleby (Harris) kills his wife, Lena, by deliberately causing her to fall and hit her head, in order to get her inheritance. Since he still has debts, he woos and marries wealthy heiress Martha Sturgis (Mundy). When Martha refuses to give him money, he tries to kill her, but she is prepared for him. Martha and her lawyer have evidence that Appleby killed his first wife, and if anything happens to Martha, her lawyer will go to the police. Appleby is about to comply with Martha's demands, but she accidentally falls and dies the same way as Lena.

Karen (Thaxter), a recovering alcoholic, wakes up hungover and with no memory of the night before. She slowly recalls attending a party with her lover, Jeff (Stevens). Karen started drinking when she was told that her friend Renee (Allbritton) was trying to seduce Jeff. Her last memory is of breaking a glass in her hand, and Jeff trying to help her. Karen then learns that she is in jail for killing Jeff with a broken glass.

Sir Stephen Hurstwood (Clanton) offers a bet of $1,000 if Howard Latimer (McGuire) can stay the entire night in a supposedly haunted room of the Hurstwood mansion. Latimer is given a gun, one candle, one match, and a book that describes the mysterious beheading of Julia Hurstwood in the room. That night Latimer sees a ghostly headless figure and collapses in fright. The ghost is a trick set up by Hurstwood for money, but Latimer becomes insane from the experience.

Lottie Slocum (Ritter) is the last person to have seen Clara Nash (Mathews) before she was strangled to death. Lottie, who used to be the Nashes' babysitter, believes that Clara had it coming because she treated her husband Mr. Nash (Newton) badly. Lottie has feelings for Mr. Nash, and hopes to please him by keeping his secret from the police — that he was at home the night that Clara died — but he kills her instead.

Clint Ringle (Mullaney) wants to marry schoolteacher Ellie Marsh (Hitchcock), but when she refuses him, he kills her fiancé. Clint is hunted by the townsfolk and hides in the belfry of Ellie's school, planning to kill her when he gets the chance. Clint stays in the belfry for a few days and feels smug when everyone assumes that he is long gone. When Ellie's fiancé is buried, a man rings the bell for the funeral, causing Clint to shout in surprise and reveal his whereabouts.

Dana Edwards (McGuire)'s fiancée is killed in a hit-and-run, and he is unable to remember any details of the car involved. Dana is approached by a stranger who lost his son in a similar way, John Hurley (Harris), who claims to know how to give Dana Total recall. After many sessions, Dana is successfully able to remember the license plate of the car and tells the police. He is then surprised to learn that John Hurley is crazy and not a memory expert at all.

Wealthy but plain-looking housewife Irene Cole (Dana) is pursued by playboy Prince Burhan (Bergerac), but refuses to leave her neglectful husband (Hewitt) for him. When Burhan dies, Irene and her husband assume that he killed himself over his love for Irene. Some time later, Irene's friend Randolph Burnside (Clanton) learns that Burhan's death was an accident, and that he had pursued Irene for her money. Randolph decides to keep this a secret, however, when he learns that Irene, believing a man killed himself over his love for her, has a newfound confidence that has greatly improved her marriage.

Mild-mannered Paula Hudson (Hussey) is apprehended by the police for owning a stolen mink coat. Paula attempts to prove that she bought it, but to her distress the people she bought it from deny ever having sold it to her. Paula is eventually approached by the man who stole the coat, and he steals it back in order to end the investigation, but ends up being arrested.

Gil Larkin (Horton) is upset when he learns that the woman he loves, Mona Cameron (Williams), is being abused by her husband Ben (McDearmon). Gil confronts Ben in his office, but someone knocks Gil unconscious and shoots Ben. Gil is briefly apprehended, but after he is released he goes to Mona and realizes that she set him up so she could be with her lover, Ritchie (Lewis). Mona and Ritchie are arrested.

A murderer has killed two blonde women while they are alone at night. Ellen (Ford) is terrified, but her husband Steve (Brodie) is dismissive of her. While Steve is at work, Ellen is scared and suspicious of various people that she meets. She is only relieved when the locksmith arrives to fix a lock and chain on her door, but the locksmith turns out to be the murderer, and strangles Ellen as a terrified Steve listens to the commotion over the phone.

Richard (Homeier) and his wife Beth (Woodward) are about to be kicked out of their home. Richard steals the money that his boss, Burroughs (Christy), owes him, and in the process accidentally kills him. Richard becomes paranoid, and he overreacts and is shot when a financier comes to collect his debt. While injured and possibly dying, Richard discovers that Beth met Burroughs the night before and got the money that was owed them.

After his daughter Millie kills a man, Mr. Princey (Hardwicke) devises a plan to save his family name. Working together with his wife, son and daughter, Princey methodically sets up the body and crime scene so that family friend Captain Smollet (Williams) will take the blame for the murder.

Mary (Thaxter) begs her husband Arthur (Langton) not to go away on a business trip, but he refuses. Mary is alone in the house when Ted Lambert (Grizzard), an escapee from a mental institution, breaks in. The two develop a rapport, and Mary confesses that she is always been afraid except for when she lived with her parents, only her husband no longer wants to live with them. After Ted leaves, Arthur returns home and Mary shoots him. Mary then tells her father on the phone that she can return home now.

Supporting Cast: George Grizzard as Ted Lambert, Billy Nelson as Cab Driver, Norman Willis as Intern, Paul Frees as Mary's Father (uncredited), Carol Veazie as Mrs. Connolly (credited but scenes deleted)

Aware that their friend Rankin's (Emhardt) wife Irene (Williams) is cheating on him, Wally and Bud draw the same conclusion when they find Irene missing and Rankin sealing up a hole in his basement. Wally and Bud confront Rankin, asking which of Irene's lovers he caught her with, but their assumptions were wrong. When Irene returns home, Rankin kills her for real.

Hoping to profit from life insurance fraud, siblings Katherine (Matthews) and Fitzhugh (Cronyn) plan to torch their house and have a homeless man, Jorgy, die in Fitzhugh's place. The plan backfires when, once they have lit the fire, they are unable to put Fitzhugh's identifying ring on Jorgy. The siblings have no choice but to save themselves and Jorgy, and watch the house burn.

Egotistical Seymour Johnston (Hatfield) shoots and kills his rich Aunt Muriel (Dunnock) and pins the blame on "Antonio Battani", a fake persona that he has created using make-up and a wig. Seymour's plan fails because his willful blindness of his own faults means that he no longer "sees" his distinctive facial birthmark, which gives his disguise away.

Albert Birch (Harris) is excited to be reunited with his sweetheart, Edwina (Tandy) after 20 years. Although the reunion is joyful, Edwina has mood swings and refuses to let anyone see her baby nephew, Toby, whom she has brought with her. Eventually it is revealed that Edwina has escaped from a mental asylum, and that Toby is a cat.

Gangster Georgie Minnelli (Philips) kills his known rival, Lucky Moore (Chandler) and sets up an alibi that he was in his apartment the whole day. When the police question Georgie, a delivery boy arrives with a package, revealing that he had tried to deliver the package five times that day because Georgie was not at home.

Mr. Brenner threatens to take sisters Cissie (Stickney) and Joanna (Matthews) to court unless they sell him their home. The domineering Joanna orders Cissie to poison Brenner, but Cissie allows him to live just long enough so that he can kill Joanna before succumbing to the poison, thus leaving Cissie alone with the house.

Company man Mason Bridges (Horton) keeps returning to a high-stakes poker game because he is determined to beat his rich client, Sam Klinker (Middleton). When Mason discovers that his wife has lost all their savings, he steals a portion of Klinker's money from the office to keep playing, intending to return it later. During a crucial hand, Mason thinks he has four queens and bets aggressively, to Klinker's surprise. At the last moment Mason realizes that he had read his cards wrong, but Klinker folds and Mason wins the pot.

Gil (Allen), who had an extremely close relationship with his late father, Jonathan, accuses his stepmother, Rosine (Johnson) of killing him. Gil's investigation uncovers a bottle of poisoned brandy that he had given to Rosine to kill her, except Rosine had guessed that it was poison and gave it to Jonathan, killing him.

Mobster Louis 'King' Koster (Middleton) learns from a private investigator that his wife, Marian, is cheating on him. Koster hires hit man Harry Silver (Silva) to kill her, but Koster is killed instead, because Silver is the man that Marian is having an affair with.

Publisher Alexander Vinton (Williams) suspects that the novel Julia Pickering (Collinge) has written is based on a true story of how Julia's sister, Cordelia, had killed her husband. Vinton encourages Julia to stand up to her dominating sister, eventually drawing out a confession of the murder.

Kooky mystery writer Babs Fenton (Scott) has an overactive imagination and suspects the worst when their new neighbor Charles Blanchard (Lummis) acts strangely around his wife Ellen (Mundy). However, every time that Babs thinks that she has figured out the truth, she is proven wrong.

Harold Skinner (Marlowe) and Vera Brown (Dana), who are having an affair, oust Vera's husband, John (Collins), from his company by getting him declared mentally unfit and sent to a home. When the company tanks, Vera and Harold need help, but are unable to get John discharged.

Newlyweds Ray (McGuire) and Meg (Scott)'s honeymoon is slightly marred by the recent death of his aunt. At their hotel they are harassed by Mr. Moon (Emhardt), who Ray believes is trying to kill them. Ray orders Meg to leave when he hears what sounds like a time bomb, but rushes back for his bag that contains the jewels that were stolen from his aunt. Moon is a police officer, and set up the ruse to trap Ray.

Harry Parker (Jones) agrees to help his pretty neighbor, Miss Elliot (Baxley), hide her murdered boyfriend's body. When the police arrive, the investigation uncovers that Harry's wife (Gregg) was having an affair with the dead man, but Harry killed him over envy of Miss Elliot.

District attorney Martin Ross (Dano) faces a crisis in his campaign for governor when his brother Richard (Townes) kills the competition, Burton Reeves, and threatens to kill Martin's wife, Laura. Martin makes a deal with Tommy, Burton's caddy, to temporarily confess to the murder in order to save Laura's life. Tommy's mother, mistaking Richard for Martin, begs him to release Tommy, and when Richard refuses, she stabs him to death.

White-collar criminal Stephen Fontaine (Redfield) is being transported via train and tries to bribe his escorting police sergeant, Rockwell (Merrill) for his freedom with $50,000. When they reach their final stop and Rockwell still has not accepted, Fontaine grabs for Rockwell's gun and kills him. Fontaine then discovers that the bullet damaged the key in Rockwell's pocket, and he cannot unlock the manacles.

When Carl Borden (Meeker) gets severe indigestion twice due to the home cooking prepared by his wife Annette (Thaxter), their friend Ralph has the food tested and finds a large dose of arsenic in it. Carl is angered at Ralph for insinuating that Annette tried to poisoned him, but Annette later dies from arsenic-laced coffee. Carl's friends deduce that Annette gave Carl the wrong cup of coffee, and help keep the circumstances of her death quiet. The entire scheme was a ruse by Carl to kill Annette, so that he could be with his lover.

Steve Morgan (Torn), a young ruffian, is picked up by the police for his first offense after a failed stick-up at a candy store. At first he is cocky about being arrested, but he slowly cracks under the interrogation and learns that the man he robbed has died.

Insurance investigator Joe Rogers (Forrest) is ordered to re-examine old claims made by Mrs. Gillespie (Cooper), whose previous two husbands died under mysterious circumstances, and is now engaged to a third. Just after Gillespie and her new fiancé Fieldstone, leave for their wedding, Joe discovers that Fieldstone is also being investigated by an insurance company, because he had made claims following the deaths of his four previous wives.

When Marsha Hendricks (Platt) learns that her husband Charles (Bagarey) is cheating on her, she tracks down the home of the other woman, Beryl (Johnson), and puts poison in her sugar. Beryl discovers that her sugar is poisoned, and gives it to Charles when he refuses to leave Marsha for her.

Alcoholic has-been actor Charles Gresham (Rains) tries to blackmail producer Wayne Campbell (Gregory) into casting him in a new play. Campbell gives Gresham the script for a role as a gangster, and advises him to perform it for one of the play's financial backers, Nick Roper. Gresham goes to Roper and performs the monologue, but it turns out to contain details of one of Roper's real crimes, and Roper shoots Gresham. As two of Roper's henchmen take away Gresham's body, Roper learns that Gresham learned about the crime from Wayne Campbell, and it is implied that Roper later killed Campbell.

Inspector Davidson (Williams) and his assistant Detective Raines investigate the murder of Count Victor Mattoni in his London flat. They find a great deal of evidence in the flat, and the investigation uncovers Mattoni's links to Lord Sorrington and American businessman Bernard K. Froy. However, both men separately confess to the murder, confusing Davidson.

Continuing from the previous episode, Inspector Davidson is alarmed when the flat's elevator operator, Mullet, becomes the third person to confess to the murder of Mattoni. All three men are linked to the crime scene by physical evidence, have seemingly sound reasons for killing Mattoni, and are able to describe the murder convincingly.

Concluding the three-episode story, Inspector Davidson arranges so that Sorrington, Froy and Mullet meet each other, and they are joined by Helen (Harris), Mattoni's widow and Sorrington's daughter, who also confesses to the murder. Sorrington, Froy and Mullet are secretly friends and conspired to kill Mattoni together and set up the evidence accordingly; however, Helen killed Mattoni before the others got the chance. Davidson and Raines realize that they will never be able to pinpoint the murderer, so all four will likely end up getting away with it.

After murdering his spouse, Sam Jacoby (Wayne) has trouble disposing of the body. He is stopped by a motorcycle cop because of his faulty tail light, and the cop helpfully detours Jacoby to the nearby police headquarters so that their mechanic can open the trunk and fix it.

Young gangster Manny Coe (York) kills a man by order of his boss, Vince Williams. Williams promises to take Manny as his protege if he kills his girlfriend Betty (Maguire); Manny is unable to do it, but Betty dies in an accident and Manny claims it as a hit. Some time later, Manny has become rich and successful, but he botches a robbery and is killed by Williams' next young protege.

Ernest Findlater (Williams), who has suffered years of verbal abuse by his wife, fantasizes about her death. He invents Lalage (Baxley), an imaginary exotic lover from the South Seas. Lalage encourages him to murder his wife, and Ernest spends weeks preparing every detail to ensure success without discovery. When Ernest finally returns home to commit the deed, he finds that his wife has died of natural causes.

Practical joker Halloran (Stone) convinces homeless man and drunk Johnny (Collins) at the bar that the world will end at 11:45 that night. With nothing to lose, Johnny steals liquor, unwittingly frightens a well-meaning spinster who was trying to help him, then breaks into a sporting goods store to give presents to homeless children, and kills the security guard who tries to apprehend him with a gun from the store. When Johnny realizes what Halloran did, he returns to the bar and shoots him at 11:45.

In 1919 London, a serial killer is stalking the streets, killing by strangulation a husband and wife, an elderly flower seller, and a police officer. The city is filled with fear, and the police, led by Sgt. Ottermole (Bikel), are stumped. Journalist Summers (Williams) suspects that the killer has to be someone that people take for granted, and helps trap the true killer: Sgt. Ottermole, who claims that his hands are out of his control.

Precocious little girl Hildegard Fell (Rudie) attaches herself to the grumpy, reclusive newcomer in town, John Anderson (Hardwicke). Hildegard's friend Clarence uncovers John Anderson's identity as a retired judge who had put many criminals away. Thanks to Hildegard's friendship, John opens up to the townspeople and is loved by all for his kindness and generosity. After Anderson's death, Clarence discovers that "John Anderson" was a fake name, and that the man he knew was one of the murderers that the real John Anderson had sentenced to prison.

Mabel McKay (Evelyn) believes that her husband Henry (Emhardt) is in the way of her dreams of glamour, so she kills and buries him in their garden. She sets up a story that Henry left her for another woman; the police investigation reveals that there was indeed another woman, but she has no idea where Henry is. This prompts the police to check Mabel's house, and they discover Henry's body.

Taxidermist George Tiffany (Jones) is distressed when his wife Louise (Dunnock) invites her good-for-nothing brother Waldren into their home. Waldren pretends to be sick, refuses to work, and has Louise waiting on him hand and foot. When Louise succumbs to exhaustion, George kills Waldren and stuffs him inside a horse that is being prepared for the town memorial.

London, 1912. Shop owner Joe Saunders (Gwenn) refuses to give any more money to his spendthrift son, Sam. Sam spies Joe hiding his friend and wanted fugitive, Gus, in the shop cellar; hoping to collect a reward, Sam calls it in to the police. Gus manages to escape after Sam's lady friend, Mae, calls Joe to warn him. Joe is hurt when he learns what Sam did, but Sam still takes the reward money from the police.

Brothers of a Lodge have trouble getting people to buy plots in their cemetery project, which worries their leader, Brother Cato Stone (Middlestone). Brother Harry (Mantell) suggests they ask former member Clarence Weems (Collins), who is elderly and sick, to be their first customer. Weems accepts, but then gets better, having taken the contract as a challenge to rejuvenate his life. After months of Weems not dying, the brothers decide to confront him over the contract, but in the excitement Brother Cato dies of a heart attack. He becomes the first to be buried in their cemetery instead.

Barbie Hallem (Cook) uses her beauty to play with men's hearts. One night she goes up into the mountains to visit her cabin, where Benny Mungo (Morrow) is hiding out, seemingly unaware that he is being hunted by townsfolk for the murder of the woman he loves. Although Barbie believes that Benny has been framed by his brother, Benny declares that the woman he murdered was just like Barbie, and he snaps her neck.

Lawyer Bellefontaine (Harris) and accountant Jones (Salmi) are waiting for their train in the station's isolated waiting room. When they learn that an inmate has escaped from a nearby criminal asylum, both men suspect the other of being said inmate. They are about to attack each other when the real inmate enters the waiting room. They work together to subdue the inmate, just long enough that the orderlies arrive to take him into custody.

Jim Whitely (Shatner) tells his cousin a story about how their late extended cousin Julia (Tandy) fell in love with ventriloquist Max Collodi (Conway). Julia was so devoted that she traveled all over the country to watch Collodi's act with his child-sized dummy. After writing many letters, Julia was finally able to meet Collodi in person, but she discovered that "Collodi" was the dummy, and the puppet was the real man, wearing a mask. Julia took with her "Collodi"'s glass eye as a keepsake of her love.

Ordinary clerk Grimes (Marshall) starts receiving letters from a mysterious Christiani that seemingly predict the future. His friend George (Klugman) advises caution, but Grimes starts investing money to great success. For Christiani's last tip, Grimes steals office funds to invest in the stock market, and earns enough to retire comfortably even after returning the office money and paying Christiani's share. Afterward, George investigates Christiani and discovers that he is a con man, and the letters were sent out to thousands of people using different predictions; Grimes just happened to receive a correct series of predictions.

Lawyer John Gregory (Gregory) meets with famous detective Charles Courtney (Price) who prides himself on never being wrong. Gregory has evidence that Courtney convicted the wrong man in a recent case and threatens to expose him. Courtney strangles Gregory to death and uses his body to create a ceramic trophy in tribute of what he considers to be "the perfect crime", but as Hitchcock states in his closing monologue, Courtney was found out and arrested when a cleaning lady accidentally knocked over the trophy and broke it, and bits of gold from a filling in Gregory's teeth helped identify him.

When convicted robber Jackie Blake (Hickman) is released from prison, he is warmly accepted into the home of Martha Collins (Dunnock), mother of Jackie's former cellmate. Jackie has hopes of making a new honest life, but Martha and her other son, Ralph (Persoff), only took Jackie in because they believe that he has the loot from a previous robbery hidden somewhere. Ralph tries to force Jackie to reveal its whereabouts, and Jackie stabs him to death in self-defense. When Jackie tries to defend his actions to Martha, she tells him the truth behind her kindness to him. We last see Martha run screaming for help, and we can presume Jackie was arrested again and returned to prison, whether the self-defense claim he most likely pleaded was accepted or not.

Professor Donald "Bob" Mason (Taylor) strangles his student and mistress, Claudia (Hart), to death when she refuses to end their affair. The only witness is Linda, the baby that Claudia was babysitting at the time. Afterward, every time Linda sees Donald she starts crying, which makes Donald fear that she will identify him once she starts talking. Donald ends up confessing to the police, but it turns out that Linda cries whenever she sees any man, as shown when her father returns from the military.

After finding a cash-laden wallet, street cleaner John Gaminski (Homolka) and his wife Anna (Fleet) constantly fight over Anna's lavish spending of the money. The conflict climaxes when John bludgeons Anna to death with a statuette before drinking the cup of poisoned coffee that Anna had prepared for him.

Ex-con Joe (Hill) and his former partners Madge (Hagen) and Maxie (Brodie) drive to an abandoned mine in the middle of desert in order to collect hidden robbery loot. Once there, the three turn on each other: Joe shoots and kills Maxie, and Madge traps Joe down in the mine once she has obtained the money. This leaves Madge with the loot, but the keys to the car are in the mine with Joe.

While awaiting his execution, inmate Gerry Daniels (Guardino) types a final letter to the newspaper protesting the incompetence of district attorney Bernard Butler (Marlowe). Gerry confesses that he had murdered three other people, but Butler had never suspected him for those incidents; instead Gerry was prosecuted for a murder that he did not commit. The execution is canceled when Butler gets new evidence exonerating Gerry from the incorrect charge, but Gerry's letter is already read for censorship in the warden's office.

Teenager Janice (Lynley) befriends Tex (Edward), a drifter through town, to frame him for the murder of her guardian, Aunt Mae. However, Jan's boyfriend, Stan, found Aunt Mae's body and knows that Jan committed the murder.

Married couple Evan (Peppard) and Janet (Scott) are touring Mexico with their aunt Mrs. Tait (Elsom), who dies of a heart attack. While Evan and Janet are searching for a doctor, their car is stolen with Mrs. Tait's corpse in it. They hire detective Thomas Salgado (Lorre) to find the car, and later the body. When Evan and Janet finally return home, they find Salgado has given them the wrong body.

Plumber Jack Staley (Phillips), who has been blackmailing housewives for fabricated dalliances throughout a suburban neighborhood, sets his sights on new target Margot Brenner (Thaxter). In retaliation, Margot gathers all the wives of the neighborhood to confront Jack together. United, the women blackmail Jack into performing housework for them in the value of the money that he has extorted from them and more.

Emma Paisley (Stickney) is distressed when her neighbor, Rinditch (Graham), kills her pet cat Stanley. Emma blacks out and wakes up four hours later, to find that Rinditch has been murdered and their landlord has been arrested. Emma confesses to the police that she did it, but is unable to convince them as she cannot explain how she did it. She finally does remember, but the landlord has already been executed.

Warren Selvy (Hingle), a prosecuting attorney with a long history of acquittals, delivers a guilty verdict in a crucial murder case. Afterward Warren is confronted by a homeless man, Ed, who claims to be the actual murderer. Warren tries to scare him off, but when that fails, Warren tries to grab a clock that Ed attempts to smash, but accidentally hits Ed with it, killing him. Warren then learns that Ed has a history of confessing to crimes that he did not commit.

Successful businessman Eddie Slovak (Nicol) has a good life with his wife, Faye, but is haunted by his past. He once acted cowardly in the Korean War, and seeks out his old Army buddy Pete Williams (Keefer), who knows his secret. Pete repeatedly rebuffs Eddie's attempts to pay him, to Eddie's frustration. Eddie begins an affair with Pete's wife, Louise (Talbot), and one night Eddie, triggered by a picture of Pete in his Army uniform, loses his mind and strangles her. When Pete comes home, Eddie begs him to tell the police that a prowler was responsible, but Pete refuses, and when the officer arrives, he tells them the truth. Eddie is arrested for murder, and this leaves Pete and Faye, who are lovers, to be together.

Tony Gould (Cotten) meets with his mistress, Shelley, in her office after hours. When Shelley threatens to expose their relationship to Tony's wife, he stabs her to death, but is unable to leave because the office is locked. The next day the police are called, and they discover the body.

John Leeds (McIntire) is concerned when his daughter, Sylvia (Todd) purchases a handgun. Sylvia's unscrupulous ex-husband, Peter, once left her because of money, and has returned to town at Sylvia's request. John fears that Sylvia wants to kill Peter, so he pays Peter off so that he leaves. Sylvia then shoots and kills John for thwarting her attempt to reunite with Peter.

Crime-obsessed best friends Tommy (Homeier) and Richard (Redfield) discuss Tommy's theory that motiveless murders cannot be solved. In order to prove this theory, Tommy decides to murder a random person that Richard picks out from a phone book. After the murder is done, Tommy discovers that the victim is the man that Tommy's ex-wife had left him for, thus Tommy does have a motive; Richard picked him on purpose for revenge, as Tommy had once stolen the same woman from Richard. They end up in a fight that is interrupted by the police, who arrest Tommy.

Traveling in France, elderly Englishwoman Millicent Bracegirdle (Natwick) accidentally locks herself in the wrong hotel room with a corpse. She eventually manages to escape, and learns that the dead man is an accused murderer who had died of a heart attack.

Wayne Phillips (Erickson) has an affair with Louise Marsh (Crane) to spite her husband Eldon Marsh (Balsam). When Eldon publicly confronts Wayne over this, Eldon loses his wife and his job. With nothing to lose, Eldon challenges the much stronger Wayne to a gun duel. Wayne agrees, but shoots Eldon without warning. When the police investigate, they find that Eldon wasn't carrying a gun, and Wayne is charged with murder.

Gambling-addicted housewife Fran Holland (Sterling) rushes to raise $25 to pay a bookie before her husband Ed (Swenson) comes home. Fran uses various tactics that nearly get her in trouble with the police, but just manages to pay off the debt in time. She promises to never gamble again, but soon after succumbs to temptation and places a new bet.

Sgt. Andre Doniere (Bergerac) is a veteran traveling home with his friend Corp. Marcel Marchand, who saved his life. Doniere makes a phone call to his aristocratic family, asking if they will accommodate his friend, who lost his leg. Doniere's mother, stepfather and fiancée are uninterested in welcoming a cripple, so Doniere decides to never return home, because he is the one who lost his leg.

Waterbury (Emhardt) wants to buy the house owned by elderly Sadie Grimes (Nolan), despite her demanding a price five times the house's worth. Grimes tells Waterbury how her son was killed by an unseen figure in that house over stolen loot, and the loot was never found. Grimes put the house on the market to trap the killer, because only they would agree to the exorbitant price for the sake of the loot. Waterbury confirms her suspicion, but he dies because Grimes has poisoned his drink.

Lucia Clay (Bel Geddes) is haunted by the sound of a foghorn, and cannot recall why. She pieces together memories of her falling in love with Allen Bliss (Rennie), a married man. Allen was killed in a boat trip, when a liner crashed into them in the fog. To Lucia this happened only a few days ago, but in actuality 50 years have passed.

While traveling on a plane, war correspondent Ted Franklin (Merrill) strikes up a conversation with fellow passenger Barbara Denim (Cutts). Franklin is under arrest, and is traveling with a police inspector on the way home to be tried for a murder. Once he has told her his story, Franklin learns that Denim is a witness who is going to testify against him.

Homicide detective Dennis O'Finn (Morgan) lives next door to a group of elderly women who are smitten with him. Miss Hildy-Lou (Winwood) murders two of the other ladies solely so that O'Finn will visit them for the murder investigation. O'Finn, horrified to learn of their motive, transfers to the arson department, only for the remaining ladies to set their house on fire.

Bookie Walter Richmond (Horton) develops a relationship with Laura Gild (von Furstenberg), the widow of former client Herbert Gild. Walter discovers that Herbert had faked his death to get away from Laura, and blackmails him for money. When Herbert confronts the pair with a gun, Walter is shot non-fatally, and Laura absconds from both men with the money.

Pregnant housewife Mary Maloney (Barbara Bel Geddes) bludgeons her husband (Allan Lane) to death with a frozen leg of lamb when he says that he is going leave her for another woman. Mary sets the scene to look like a struggle and puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook. When the police arrive to investigate, they are unable to find the murder weapon, and Mary gives them the cooked leg of lamb to eat for supper.

Supporting Cast: Harold J. Stone as Lieutenant Jack Noonan, Ken Clark as Mike the Policeman Assistant, Allan Lane as Patrick Maloney, William Keene as Fingerprint Policeman, Otto Waldis as Sam, Robert C. Ross as Forensic Doctor, Thomas Wilde (credited as Thomas Wild) as Police Photographer

Statistics-obsessed Harold Goames (McGiver) feels unimportant in the world and starts committing crimes in order to become "significant". After committing auto-theft and robbery, he murders his sister Margaret (Nathan) and confesses to the disbelieving police officer his reasons. For his last statistically-significant act, Harold commits suicide.

Norman Frayne (Best) grew up in an orphanage and feels undeserving of his wife Paula (Bard). Al (Brodie), a man from Norman's past, arrives and blackmails Norman over a crime that they committed 12 years earlier. Norman believes that Al is having an affair with Paula and plans to blow them up with dynamite. When Paula insists that it is untrue, Norman lets himself be blown up so that Paula will be free from Al's threats and Norman's past.

On Christmas Eve, attorney John (Ryan) visits the home of his estranged siblings Celia (Mathews) and Charlie (Waring). Charlie wants to kill Celia, whom he believes murdered his wife, but Celia protests her innocence and is determined to care for Charlie regardless of his feelings. John leaves after making them promise not to hurt each other. John has been doing this every Christmas Eve since Charlie's wife's death 20 years ago.

Herbert Johnson (Stehli) tries to convince the authorities that the final murder of the Stockings Murders was committed by a copycat, but no one takes him seriously. A priest, Father Rafferty, finally listens to Herbert's story about how the victim, Helen Jameson, left her controlling, religious parents for a life of "sin", and her death was a "punishment". Herbert is Helen's father, and his wife is the copycat who killed Helen, but Herbert is unable to accuse his wife openly.

Judy (Moore) exhumes her first husband Harry's body because a winning sweepstakes ticket was buried with him. Insurance investigator Wescott (Gregory) takes advantage of this to perform an autopsy on Harry, proving that he was poisoned. Judy's second husband, Steve (Forrest) murdered Harry before marrying Judy so that they could live on Harry's insurance money. Wescott helps Judy catch Steve in a failed act of trying to murder her, and Steve is arrested.

Jack Lyons (Elliott) and Phyllis Chaundry (Court) are married after Jack kills Phyllis' first husband, but Phyllis is unhappy because Jack lost the crocodile dressing case that her late husband was returning to her on the night of his murder. When the police finally find the case, Jack identifies it based on the initials, but that gives away his guilt, because the initials were only placed on the case just before the murder.

While traveling on a cruise ship, William Botibol (Wynn) bets heavily in a betting pool on how many miles the ship travels every day. When the ship goes faster than William expected, he decides to jump off the ship to force it to stop. He makes sure that a young woman, Emily, is there to see him jump, assuming that she will call for help. Emily is intellectually disabled, and does not react after he goes over.

Bank teller George Piper (Harris) murders one of the bank's dubious clients, Victor Mannett, to steal his money, which Piper then hides in plain sight inside his teller drawer. The next day, Piper is dressed down by his boss for keeping the Mannett account, as the murder will ruin the bank's reputation. Piper is fired on the spot and ordered to give up his teller drawer keys immediately.

Laura Bowlby (Tandy) arrives in Hong Kong to join her husband, James (Matheson), who has been living there for a while. Laura has psychic abilities; when she is inside her second-hand sedan she can hear the disembodied voice of a French woman talking to her lover. Laura, envious of the woman's passionate affair, investigates her story and discovers that she was having an affair with Laura's husband, James.

England, 1916. Solicitor Henry Daw (Cronyn) kills a client, Miss Wilkinson, and buries her under a slab of stone next to the river. A body is found floating in the river a few days later, but Daw refuses to identify it properly, igniting Inspector Charles Tarrant's (Douglas) suspicions. Placed under pressure, Daw confesses to the murder, but it turns out that the body belongs to someone else.

Elderly out-of-work actor Colin Bragner (Marshall) invites playwright Adam Longsworth (Helmore) and his wife Carol (Adams) for dinner. He tells them a story about the love of his life, Lila Gordon, who turned him down and died tragically. Adam and Carol are deeply touched by the story, but it turns out to be complete fiction — Colin was showing off his acting skills in the hope of getting work. Adam is impressed and offers him a job on the spot.

Harry Pope (Donald) has been stuck in bed for hours because there is a venomous snake on his stomach. His friend Timber Woods (Corey) calls a doctor, but is flippant about the danger and makes fun of Harry. When the doctor arrives, they help Harry stand up and there is no snake to be seen. Timber mocks Harry for his fear, but as soon as the doctor is gone, Timber gets bitten and killed by the snake which really did exist.

The Templetons (McGuire and Leachman) are on a train with their young son, Johnny, who they have trouble controlling. The Templetons offer Johnny one silver dollar if he can be quiet for 10 minutes while elderly cowboy Mr. Kilmer (Wills) tells a story. When the train stops, Johnny sees a man outside the window, caught in the blizzard and begging for help, but Johnny cannot speak up, having promised not to.

Reporter and practical joker Bradley (Salmi) pulls a prank on easily-confused morgue attendant Pop Henderson (Ates) by pretending to be a corpse and "coming alive". When Bradley is later brought to the morgue presumed dead (but only actually paralyzed), Pop refuses to believe that Bradley's moaning is real and puts him inside the freezer.

Harry Adams (Kiley) and his wife (Breslin) are traveling on a rural road near a small town when they are waylaid and arrested by crooked police officer named Officer Chandler (Matthau), who is running an extortion racket with the assistance of the local auto mechanic and the equally corrupt town judge by arresting passing tourists and forcing them to pay large meaningless fines. The Adamses leave after paying the fees, but it turns out that they are undercover agents of the State Commission, and have recorded everything on tape for the state and federal authorities to investigate the corrupt town.

Lloyd Ashley (Nielsen) is accused of killing his wife Eve's lover, and offers his lawyer Mark Robeson (Sullivan) 2 million dollars if he can get him an acquittal. Mark succeeds, but as soon as Ashley is released, he shoots Mark for also having an affair with Eve.

Carl (Merill) climbs out a window onto the ledge of a high rise Chicago hotel. He is disconsolate over his wife Karen (Montgomery)'s recent death; she committed suicide by overdosing on pills when her lover abandoned her. After some banter, the patrolman on duty (Richman), joins Carl on the ledge to rescue him, but this turns out to fulfill Carl's plot: this police officer is Steve, Karen's lover; he had recently spurned her precipitating her suicide. Once Carl is secured by a rope lasso, he tells Steve of the plot and who he really is, then pushes Steve off the ledge to his death.

1927. Mild-mannered gun shop owner Cyril T. Jones (Carney) witnesses a murder by a pair of highly-wanted gangsters. Distrustful of the police's ability to protect him, Jones kills the gangsters with a rifle and turns himself in. The police, fearful that their reputation will be ruined by Jones' accomplishment, refuse to arrest him.

At a dinner party, hypnotist Miles Farnham (Helmore) demonstrates his skills on Lucy Pryor (Thaxter). She speaks in old-fashioned English, claims to be "Dora Evans", and kills her husband with a pair of scissors. During the inquest, Farnham insists that Lucy was inhabited by the spirit of Dora Evans, a real woman who killed her husband in 1853. Farnham hypnotizes Lucy to prove this, but during the testimony "Dora" stabs Farnham, killing him. Lucy is set free, and when a journalist questions her if she planned it all, she replies, "Wouldst not thee like to know."

Iris Teleton (Leighton) is threatened with blackmail by her husband Oliver's mistress, Blanche Herbert (Hunt), who wants them to divorce. In retaliation, Iris kills Blanche, hoping to frame Oliver for the murder. However, Iris was seen by a private detective hired by Oliver (Matheson), and he is still planning to divorce Iris for another younger mistress.

Elderly cowboys Tom Akins (Demarest) and Ben White (Ates) are in danger of being taken away from their desert property by the town council. One night, a criminal barges into their cabin and threatens them with a gun, but the cowboys manage to kill him. A month later, when Sheriff Jeff (Johnson) arrives to inspect the property, Akins and White proudly show off a lush rosebush, secretly grown using the criminal's body as fertilizer, thus proving the fertility of their land and allowing them to stay.

Mrs. Herman (Merande) has a plan to kill her wealthy but paranoid uncle Bill Finley (Collins), but she needs a conspirator. She picks former actress Mrs. Fenimore (Astor), who agrees to the plan for a fee. After the murder is done, Mrs. Fenimore reveals that she secretly married Finley before his death, and that she will inherit his fortune instead of Mrs. Herman.

Undertaker Arthur Motherwell (McGiver) is shocked when recently-deceased businessman Stanton C. Barryvale (Smith) briefly wakes up in the funeral parlor to demand that his funeral be simple and cheap. After discussing the matter with his wife (Cass), Motherwell decides to follow the instructions of Barryvale's lawyer for a lavish funeral instead.

Mrs. Trotter (Nolan) is unhappy that her daughter Sharon (Provine) is having an affair with married businessman Ben Nelson (Alda). Mrs. Trotter appeals to Ben's wife, Mrs. Nelson (Wray), revealing the affair to her. That night Ben kills his wife and calls Sharon to set his alibi, but Mrs. Trotter takes the phone call and deliberately gives Sharon the wrong information so that Ben will go to jail.

Joe Philips (Maross) is lead engineer on a tunneling project in Mexico, and Bret Johnson (Morris) mysteriously arrives to be his assistant for the project's last six weeks. One night Philips hears a radio newscast about an ongoing manhunt of an engineer who murdered his colleague; this prompts Philips to search through Johnson's things to find his true identity, but he is stopped when Johnson pulls a gun on him. Since there is no way to leave the site for six weeks, the men work together to finish the job, despite their suspicions of each other. The tunnel is completed one day before the deadline, and it is revealed that Philips is the murderer, and Johnson is the police officer who traveled there to arrest him.

Elderly widow Miss Fox (Davis) mistakenly accuses her dog walker, Eddie, of having robbed her. She learns her error after a year, during which time Eddie has served in prison and his lover has died in the hospital. Miss Fox tries to make it up to Eddie when he is released, but he strangles her as revenge.

When Jan Manning (Olson) hits financial problems with her dress shop, her friend Mel Reeves (Meeker) offers to set the shop on fire so that she can collect the insurance. After the shop burns down, Jan confesses to the insurance investigator about the plan with her friend. However, the investigator has found that the fire source was Jan's overheated kettle. Jan realizes that it truly was an accident, but the investigator does not believe her.

Elderly Andrew Thurgood (Rains) is let go from a jewelry firm after almost 30 years of loyal service. On his last day, a diamond necklace is stolen by a thief (von Furstenberg). Andrew is "distressed" at the breaking of his perfect record, but the thief is secretly Andrew's daughter, Thelma, and they worked together to carry out the theft.

John Manbridge (Elliott) plots to murder his cousin Felix (Thatcher) in the hopes of inheriting his fortune. Felix, who is secretly terminally ill, commits suicide by poisoned whiskey first, and John unwittingly drinks the poisoned whiskey as well, also killing himself.

John Forbes (Meeker) runs his wife (Fraser) over with his car, and covers up the murder with the help of his loyal assistant, Dad (Collins). Dad hopes that John will take care of him, but John frames him for the murder.

Inspector Benson (Moore) is tasked with preventing Lady Gwendolyn Avon (Court) from smuggling her emerald necklace out of the country. Lady Avon thwarts Benson and his officers at every turn and manages to leave the country without the necklace on her. However, Benson and Avon are secretly lovers, and Benson carried the necklace for her.

Hotel waitress Thelma (Deering) learns that she is in the will of her wealthy regular customer, Sara Mannerheim (Lovsky), who has stopped taking her medicine in expectation of death. Thelma's boyfriend Arthur (Jason) suggests that they speed things up by slow-poisoning Sara with anatine, a leaf extract. After half a year of no change, Thelma strangles Sara to death one night in frustration. At the inquest, it is revealed that Sara's doctor prescribed anatine for her heart condition, and Thelma had been inadvertently keeping her alive.

Miserly Alexander Gifford (Day) decides to kill his wife, Jennifer, when she starts spending money on herself. Alex explores various options, most of which he considers to be too expensive. He ends up giving her food poisoning and selling her cadaver to a medical university.

Reporter Raymond Houston (Nelson) stays overnight in a wax museum in order to write an important article. Raymond, who is claustrophobic, hallucinates that one of the wax figures is alive, and is found dead the next morning.

Blackheath, 1903. Former Inspector Brent (Williams) conspires with his friends to stage a fake haunting in the hopes of scaring John Bedford (Haigh) into confessing to the murder of his aunt, Ms. Ferguson. Brent arranges for an actress, Mae Thorpe, to sneak into the house dressed as Ms. Ferguson and walk past their dinner room. The plan is successful and Bedford confesses when he sees the menacing figure of his aunt. After Bedford is arrested, Brent is shocked when he learns that Mae Thorpe was late and missed the dinner entirely.

Irving Randall (Smith) loses his money in a poker game to his unsympathetic boss Smalley, and lies to his pregnant wife Frances (Meadows) that he was mugged. Irving makes a police report at Frances' insistence, and is surprised when the police arrest a teenage boy named Whitey as a suspect. Irving reluctantly takes Whitey's money, but feels guilty and conflicted. The next day, Irving learns that Whitey had mugged Smalley, and the money that he had was Smalley's poker winnings.

Arnold Shawn (Keith) is a ruthless defense lawyer who uses his arguing skills to put down his wife, Naomi (Dana) and defend his cheating on her. When Arnold refuses to divorce Naomi, she hits him with her car, killing him. The only witness of the "accident" is Henry Babcock, a man that Arnold had just destroyed the credibility of as an eyewitness in court.

Reporter Bill Everett (McQueen) interviews a distressed man (Hill) who claims to be a Martian named Yangan Dall. Yangan tells Bill how all the other Martians just vanished one day, and when he investigated, found a machine that transported him to Earth, inside a human body. When the kind-hearted Yangan suggests telling everyone his story, Bill kills him. Bill is also a Martian, but part of an invasion force trying to take over Earth.[4]

Norman Logan (York) has for months been pestering William Tritt, a banker, to return $200 that Tritt mistakenly took from Logan's account, but to no avail. Frustrated, Logan carries out a series of pranks to make Tritt lose his credibility at the bank. Logan's final act is to rob the bank of $10,000, which Tritt is blamed for. Afterward, Logan returns the money in Tritt's name, except for $200 to replace the money that Tritt took from him.

Mrs. Cannon-Hughes (Greer) visits a lawyer, Paul Brett (Webber), to tell him of her suspicions that her husband Gilbert Hughes (Smith) murdered his first wife. Soon afterward, Gilbert dies, supposedly of suicide. Ms. Cannon and Brett begin a relationship and get married, but when Brett accidentally discovers that Ms. Cannon killed both Gilbert and his first wife, Ms. Cannon kills him as well.

Bill Fleming (Douglas) is upset that his wife, Laura, is cheating on him with a man named Baxter. Bill's new friend, Phil (Morse), points out a Californian law on duels that could work in his favor, so Bill challenges Baxter to a duel and kills him. Bill is acquitted, but has to pay a hefty allowance to Baxter's only child for life. Bill then learns that Phil is Baxter's son, and is also Laura's lover; Phil and Laura plotted together to gain Bill's money and get Baxter out of the way.

Albert Martin fears that his good friend, Virginia Pond (Moore), is going to be killed by her jealous husband, Joseph Pond (Merrill) due to her affair with her ex. Albert goes on a fishing trip with Joseph to warn him off, but Joseph confronts Albert first, revealing that Albert has been poisoned. As Albert is dying, he weeps and tells Joseph that he has the wrong man.

Chicken farmer Arthur Williams (Harvey) strangles his ex-fiancée (Court) to death when she returns to him a year after leaving him for another man. Sgt. John Theron (Macnee) investigates Arthur, but is unable to find the body because Arthur has ground it up in his hammer mill into chicken feed.

Mountaineer Mark Cavendish (Donald) falls in love with Stella Ballister (Owens), a young widow. Stella is devoted to her late husband, who died on a mountain and fell into a glacier, and refuses to move on until she sees his body. After 40 years they find the body, but there is a locket on him with a picture of another woman.

Seventeen-year-old David Logan (Kimbrough) spends a night on the town talking to various sympathetic people: a blonde in a bar (Crane), a sailor (Gulager) and an Irish pub patron (McClory), all of whom are disconcerted by David's virulent hatred of his father. However, David's father is a serial killer, and his execution is that night at 11:00.

While driving across the desert to California, a professor (Carey) agrees to take on a hitchhiker Julie (Wilcox). However, Julie brings along her father, Pops (Buchanan) and her "brother" Harry, and the three of them take the Professor's belongings. The Professor tricks them into abandoning him and his car, and follows them to a gas station where he calls the police and reports them.

Millionaire Dave Rainey (Keith) is paralyzed from the neck down and needs a respirator to breathe. He accuses his wife Cindy (Moore) of having an affair with her new friend, Arnold, and that they are planning to kill him; Cindy admits that they are both true. That night, Arnold drowns Cindy in the ocean, because he is a contract killer hired by Dave.

Young gangster Art (Vaughn) is ordered by his new boss Barberosa (White) to prove himself by killing a man named Moran (Matthau). Art goes to do the deed, but Moran suggests that Art kill Barberosa instead and take over the organization. When Art agrees, Moran kills him; the counteroffer was a test set by Barberosa.

In the advanced future of 1980, life expectancy has improved dramatically. J.J. Bunce (York) works for the Society of Gerology, which provides the discreet service of killing the healthy elderly. John Treadwell (Jones) agrees to have his tiresome mother-in-law "dealt with", but once it is done, Treadwell then realizes that it is only a matter of time before his own children have him "dealt with" as well.

Boys all over the country are buying mail-order mushrooms to grow in their cellars. Bill and Cynthia Fortnam (Dunne and Straight) are worried when their neighbor mysteriously disappears after warning them that something catastrophic is going to happen. Bill posits an alien invasion by space spores that grow into mushrooms and possess human bodies after being eaten. This is confirmed when Bill's son, Tom, acts strangely, and demands that Bill eat some of his mail-order mushrooms.

Sam Pine (Massey) and his elder sons rush to get his youngest son, Davey, to a doctor after being gored by a bull. They are deliberately blocked on the road by inconsiderate salesman Ed Fratus (Emhardt), and Davey dies. With his remaining sons' help, Sam confronts Fratus and seemingly poisons him; Fratus rushes to the doctor, and in his panic crashes his car and dies. However, the drink was just water, not poison.

Mr. Laffler (Morley) introduces his colleague Mr. Costain (Haigh) to Spirro's, an exclusive gentleman's club. The Specialty of the House is a rare but popular lamb dish. When Laffler is about to leave the country for a business trip, he is invited by Spirro, the owner, into the kitchen to meet the chef. Afterward, Spirro tells the other members that the Specialty of the House will be served soon.

1862, during the Civil War. Recently-widowed Confederate Peyton Farquhar (Howard) decides to blow up a bridge that the Yankees plan to use to cross, but is caught. Peyton is hanged, but the rope breaks and he seemingly escapes. With the help of slave Josh (Hernandez), Peyton travels past various Union soldiers safely and returns home to his wife Melissa. Right before the two can embrace, however, Peyton collapses with a sharp pain to his neck. Peyton is actually dead; he never escaped from the hanging. The doomed man imagined the whole escape.

Laura Siddons (Hiller), a teacher at a girl's college, is fond of her brightest student, Gloria Barnes (Perreau). While out with her neighbor Ben Prowdy, Siddons sees Barnes with a man and assumes that they are having an affair. Siddons later learns that Barnes is actually secretly married to the man and plans to tell her parents at the right time, but Prowdy blackmails Barnes' parents, causing her mother to collapse. Prowdy is arrested, and accuses Siddons of masterminding the blackmail.

In Las Vegas, a gambler (McQueen) and a woman (Adams) are approached by Carlos (Lorre), who proposes a bet on whether Gambler's lighter can light up ten times in a row. If Gambler wins, he gets Carlos' convertible; if Gambler loses, Carlos will cut off Gambler's small finger. The lighter works seven times in a row when Carlos's wife interrupts, revealing that Carlos is penniless. Carlos's entire fortune belongs to his wife, who lost three fingers to win it from him.

Supporting Cast: Tyler McVey as Referee

Antiques dealer Carpius (Homolka) visits a monastery in order to steal a valuable icon. When Carpius kills the monk who is guarding the icon, the abbot (Jaffe) forgives him, but says that he must stay with the icon for the rest of his life, praying for absolution.

When Jeff Jensen (Persoff) is non-fatally attacked by his wife, Marie (Williams), he assumes that Marie is suffering from tropical fever that affects the brain. Jeff arranges for his friend Mike (Richman) and native manservant Luiz to take Marie to a shrink. Mike and Marie are having an affair and attempt to kill Luiz; Luiz kills Mike and follows Jeff's orders to the letter by sending Marie to a native "head doctor" who shrinks her head.

Phil Canby (Tully) is accused of murdering Matt Thompson during an argument over 59-year-old Canby's romantic relationship with Matt's teenage daughter Sue (Love). Canby's alibi is that he was babysitting his grandson, but a neighbor insists that she heard hysterical crying around the time of the murder. When Canby is arrested, Sue has a manic fit and begins crying, revealing that she is the one who killed her father.

Mild-mannered Milton Potter (Hartman) steals $200,000 from his place of work and surrenders to the police. After 13 years in prison, Potter is released and returns the money to the police, ending his parole. However, Potter has earned $150,000 from investing the stolen money, and uses the profits to travel the world in luxury.

Young best friends Iggy (Gordon) and Clete (Walken) witness mobster Mr. Rose beating up a frightened man. Iggy insists on reporting the incident to the police, but is heartbroken when the police refuse to take him seriously, and his father is too frightened to stand up for him. 35 years later, Iggy has become a mobster himself, and Clete sees a newspaper article of his death by gunshot.

Charles Underhill (McIntire) and his niece Anne (Pleshette) pick up teenager Len (Morse) as a hitchhiker. Underhill learns that Len is a juvenile delinquent and, believing that Len is going to hurt him, speeds to get the attention of a police officer. Len is revealed to be unarmed, and Underhill receives a ticket instead. Underhill is distressed at destroying his crime-free record, but Len pickpockets the officer's book, saving him.

Thomas Craig (Van Dyke) is disappointed when his late uncle leaves his fortune to his dog Casper. Thomas' girlfriend Judy (Stevens) tries to have Casper killed, but fails repeatedly. Judy concludes that the only way to get the Craig fortune is to marry Casper herself.

When aged movie star Betsy Blake (Totter) dies in a boat accident, young Hollywood PR man Jimmy Dolan (Baker) exploits her death to create a massive publicity campaign and advance his career. Three months later Betsy returns, alive and ready to take advantage of her new "legend", but Jimmy, distraught at having his success overshadowed, kills her. It is then revealed that Betsy was Jimmy's mother.

Newcomers Jamie and Ben McMahon (Johnson and Morgan) have civilized the unruly community of Copperpocket and gained everyone's respect. One night a mysterious man (Lloyd) shows seemingly demonic powers to defeat the brothers, and takes everyone's money. However, it was a con, performed by the man and the brothers together.

John (Shatner) has an unnaturally close relationship with his mother, Claire (Landis), which worries John's new lover Lottie (Scala). Lottie suggests taking Claire to their favorite spot by a waterfall; John understands this as Lottie's suggestion that they kill Claire, but John pushes Lottie off the cliff instead.

Private investigator William Tyre (Franciscus) is hired by Munro Dean to lure a man named Otto (Weston) to a hotel room so that Dean can meet him. Dean believes that Otto killed his wife, and wants revenge. Tyre does his job, but has a change of heart and goes to the room just as Dean and Otto have shot each other. While dying, Otto admits to Tyre that he killed Dean's wife, but that he was hired by Dean to do it.

While on a cruise ship Sir Richard Musgrave (Portman) sees a former business partner, Jan Vander Klaue (Homolka), whom Richard thought that he had killed years ago, but is now living under a new name. Upon learning that he was also responsible for the death of Jan's wife, Richard jumps overboard. Jan seemingly tries to save Richard, but in actuality drowns him, though he is afterward hailed as a hero for his "attempt".

Charles Cavender (Weaver) suffers from insomnia, caused by his fear of his brother-in-law, Jack Fletcher. Charles' wife was killed in a house fire and her brother, Jack, believes that Charles let her die. Charles confronts Jack at his apartment and, after a struggle, Jack is killed. That night Charles sleeps peacefully, and does not wake up when his heater catches aflame and burns his apartment building down.

Bert Haber (McCormick) is a piano player in a club, and friends with singer Georgia (Lawson). When gangster "Little Dandy" harasses Georgia, she pours a drink over his head, humiliating him. The next day a detective informs Bert that Georgia has been killed and questions him, discovering that Bert knows enough to have Little Dandy arrested. However, the "detective" is one of Little Dandy's goons, and takes Bert away.

Irene and Joe Helmer (Adams and Slate) are in dire financial straits. One night Joe sees a man collapse and, thinking him dead, steals his wallet. Later Joe finds a card in the man's wallet stating that the man suffered from a cataleptic illness that only looks like death. Joe goes to the police to confess and save the man, only to learn that the dead man is a pickpocket and that the wallet was stolen from someone else.

Helen Parch (Canova) enjoys abusing the party line. One day she is warned by police officer Mr. Atkins (Dano) that a man named Heywood Miller (Johnson) escaped prison and may come after her. Years ago, Helen refused to let Heywood use the party line to call the doctor, which led to the death of Miller's wife. That night Heywood breaks into Helen's house, and when she tries to call the sheriff's office, the party line is busy.

Herbert Morrison (Keith) is on death row for murder and wants to die with dignity, refusing his lawyer's attempt for a stay of execution. When Herbert is taken to the gas chamber, he kills a guard and is taken away. Afterward the warden tells Herbert that his lawyer obtained a stay and found a witness to clear his name, but since Herbert killed the guard, he will never be pardoned.

Mrs. Wellington picks up the new governess Miss Hope (Gingold) from the train station, and is quickly thrown by Miss Hope's outspokenness. For the next few days Miss Hope teaches the Wellington children with enthusiasm, but Mr. and Mrs. Wellington are appalled by her unorthodox methods and fire her. Miss Hope leaves in good spirits, because she is actually wealthy aristocrat Lady Charlotte; Mrs. Wellington mistook her for Miss Hope, and Charlotte enjoyed the distraction.

Henry Taylor (Bray) visits Kirkland Bank to question its president, William Spengler (Sweeney). Three years ago a bank employee, Arnold Mathias, was convicted of stealing money from the bank, and Arnold recently died in a prison escape attempt, though his cellmate made it out. Henry questions William aggressively, believing that Arnold was framed and that William stole the money. William, believing that Henry is Arnold's escaped cellmate, tries to make a deal with him, but Henry is actually the police officer who killed Arnold and is trying to make amends by arresting the true culprit.

When their car breaks down in the desert, criminals Marsh and Lemon (Hamilton and Stanton) steal a tanker from Andy and Bill Davis (Bell and Reynolds), unaware that Andy and Bill know how to survive in the desert. The next day the police find the tanker, also broken down, along with Marsh and Lemon's bodies. The kidnappers turned on each other when their water ran out, not realizing that the Davises' tanker was carrying water.

Married Mrs. Bixby (Meadows) receives an expensive coat from her lover and wants to keep it without arousing her husband, Dr. Bixby's (Tremayne) suspicion. She has the coat pawned and pretends to find the pawn ticket, which she gives to her husband to retrieve the item. However, Mrs. Bixby is dismayed when her husband gives her a small mink stole; Dr. Bixby's nurse has the coat, thus implying that he is having an affair with her.

One stressful day, Ralph Jones (York) argues with his wife, Lucille (Rowlands), and then mysteriously travels two years back in time, to when he was still a bachelor. Ralph finds Lucille, but what should have been their first date is a disaster. Broken-hearted, Ralph jumps into the river and wakes up back in his regular "present". Later, Ralph's psychiatrist tells him that the episode was just a dream, but Ralph has a set of baseball cards that he brought back from his travel.

Spinster Helen (Field) is dating Harry Wade (Matthau), a rude lumber yard owner who Helen's brother, John, believes is a crook. When Harry is about to lose his business, Helen "borrows" $8,000 from her office in order to help Harry. When Harry learns about this, he pays her back the money by borrowing from his "friends". A week later, Helen learns that Harry died to get the money for her.

Miss Dent (Thaxter) was secretary to married Mr. Blake (Scott), but was fired on the day after they had a liaison. After weeks of being avoided, Miss Dent finally corners Mr. Blake at gunpoint and holds him hostage through his train commute in order to talk to him so that she can move on.

Elderly Miss Lowen (Squire) learns from Detective Berger that her niece Margie has been exchanging romantic letters with convict Rod Collins (Gulager) for the past two years, and Collins has just escaped prison and may come for her. When Collins breaks into Miss Lowen's house in search of Margie, Miss Lowen knocks Collins out and calls the police, who capture him. Unknown to all, Miss Lowen is the one who has been writing to Collins all along, using her niece's name.

Tony Lorca (Montalbán) is an outlaw who arrives at a small town during a blizzard. The townsfolk learn that there is a reward of $5,000 to turn Tony in, so various people bid for his custody. However, "Tony" is actually Pepe, the real Tony's brother. Tony died a year prior and Pepe has been pretending to be Tony in order to swindle people out of their money.

Cash Bentley (Merrill) is a former champion hurdler who is bitter that his glory days have passed. Despite his wife Louise (Breslin)'s protests and Cash's physical limitations, Cash keeps racing whenever he is taunted by others. One night, Cash gives Louise his gun and asks her to fire it so he can race one more time. Louise, unfamiliar with guns, accidentally shoots him.

Horace Meade's (Scourby) new wife Sybilla (Bel Geddes) is perfectly obedient and agrees to all his unconventional demands. Despite this, Horace grows uncomfortable with her and tries to poison her, but is mysteriously thwarted. Horace concludes that Sybilla knew about the poison and has made contingencies with her lawyer in case she dies, and his only choice is to keep her alive and healthy. After 10 years of marriage, Sybilla dies of natural causes. Horace learns that there was no contingency plan, and he realizes that he truly loved her in the end.

Scatterbrained Mrs. Barrett (Marshall) conspires with her lover Philip to kill her husband James while he is away on a business trip. She mistakenly mails an incriminating letter about the murder plan to James, and frantically tries to get it back, but fails.

While on holiday in Las Vegas, William Benson (Hill) stumbles on a clip containing $92,000. Despite being tempted, he reports it in so that it can be returned to its owner, casino mogul Mr. Newsome. However, the clip is supposed to contain $102,000 and Mr. Newsome kidnaps Benson's wife, demanding that Benson "return" the missing money.

Not long after Phyllis and Ben Kendall (Adams and Franciscus) move into the house that they have bought from elderly Amelia Gastell, their daughter Katie claims that she has made a new friend, "Lettie", whom her parents never see. Phyllis suspects that Lettie is Lauretta Bishop, a Puritan girl who died in 1694. When Ben asks Amelia to find a new friend for Katie, Amelia brings "Judy" to their house, but Judy is actually Lettie, who is also Lauretta Bishop.

Mrs. Meade (Trevor) wants to extort money from Jane and Ralph Birdwell, the couple who raised Mrs. Meade's abandoned daughter Eileen as their own. Meade teams up with private investigator Phil Ames (Elliot) to kidnap Eileen, but it turns out to be a trap, as Phil is a friend of the Birdwells.

Joe and Wanda Ferlini (Wynn and Sterling) are a husband-and-wife escape artist act, though their marital relationship is strained. When Joe performs a dangerous water escape, Wanda switches his keys, causing him to drown. However, at the funeral a coroner opens the coffin, revealing to the public that it is empty. Joe's agent privately arranged that Joe be buried somewhere secret as a final "escape", but due to the stunt, Wanda goes insane.

Billy Weaver (Stockwell) finds accommodations in the house of a friendly landlady (Collinge). The landlady keeps referring to two other tenants, but Weaver never sees them. One day Weaver drinks a cup of tea prepared by his landlady and becomes completely immobile. The landlady has a hobby of collecting and stuffing her "pets", which include the tenants that she likes.

Enid (Meadows) has two lovers, Eliot Gray (Marlowe) and Cyril Hardeen (Matheson). The two men meet, and the older and more sophisticated Cyril frames Eliot for beating Cyril up. Enid refuses to believe the truth and leaves Eliot for Cyril.

Ernie Walters (Torn) is newly released from prison after serving six years for a crime that he was only just proven to be innocent of. In order to get back at the detective and district attorney who convicted him, Ernie robs the tax office and leaves just enough "flaws" in his plan that the detective and DA suspect that he is the culprit, but are unable to pursue a case against him.

The newest arrival at Father Amion's (Rains) church is Sheridan (Gardner), a gambler who believes that prayer has caused his recent success at the horse races. Father Amion disapproves of gambling but, due to shortage of funds to fix the church, gives Sheridan his life savings on a "sure" winning horse. Father Amion is quickly remorseful and prays that the horse lose instead. Sheridan returns with news that the horse just missed winning, and declares that he will stop gambling, which pleases Father Amion. However, Father Amion is surprised to get his money back with a little extra, because Sheridan put his bet on the horse to place, not to win.

Arnold (McKay) is controlled by his domineering but invalid wife, Elizabeth (Fitzgerald). When the attractive Miss Greco (Bower) is hired as Elizabeth's nurse, she and Arnold begin an affair and slowly poison Elizabeth by overdosing her medicine. Before she can die, Elizabeth catches them kissing and fires Miss Greco. Elizabeth then hires an older woman to be her nurse, not knowing that the woman is Arnold's mother, who helps him continue to poison Elizabeth.

Lucy (Heckart) has waited on her malingering mother her whole life, to the point where she is not allowed to get married. When Lucy's lover Arthur (DeFore) proposes for the last time, Lucy overdoses her mother's sleeping medicine successfully. However, after Lucy marries Arthur, she discovers that Arthur's mother is exactly the same kind of demanding, malingering woman that her mother had been.

New York, 1916. Meyer Fine (Falk) is a casino owner with a crippling fear of death. When he makes a mistake that threatens his business, his former partners put a hit out on him. Meyer is terrified of waiting for them to act, so he begs his loyal valet, John (Hartman) to help kill him first.

Successful singer Crystal Coe (Bergen) tried to erase all evidence of her sordid past, and the only person who knows the truth is Tony, her husband, who spent seven years in prison after taking the fall for Crystal's petty theft. Crystal shoots Tony and makes it seem as though she was protecting herself from a random stalker. However, she learns that Tony filed for an invention patent and the police are tracking down his beneficiaries.

Lonely high school student Susan Harper (Harrison) pretends that she was attacked by a masked man in order to get attention. She is successful, but when the community moves on to the next big news, she strangles the school's most popular girl to make it seem as though the "masked man" is responsible. Susan is pleased to be relevant again, but her actions have inspired a copycat masked man, who attacks and strangles her.

Gerald Clark (Nader) is a former soldier with PTSD. When he is held at gunpoint by a young robber, he shoots the boy, killing him. Although Gerald is exonerated by the police, the boy's mother, Mrs. Philips (Trotter), confronts Gerald with a gun, demanding to know why he made three killing shots in a row. After a stand-off, Mrs. Philips puts the gun away, but Gerald is triggered by her gun and shoots her repeatedly.

James (Howard) wants to divorce his wife Marjorie (Donahue), but has no grounds for it. He reluctantly hires a private investigator who tails after Marjorie, and is shocked to hear that his wife has been throwing parties and has an actor as her lover. James is jealous and reconciles with Marjorie, but later learns that the PI had been following the wrong woman, an actress who looks very similar to Marjorie.

Successful author Kerwin Drake (Emery) receives a surprise visit from Molly (Fleet), the wife he walked out on 22 years ago. Kerwin has made a new life for himself and refuses to acknowledge Molly; instead he tells his friends that she is his cook. Later, Kerwin visits Molly at her apartment and, after an argument, strangles her to death. The murder is witnessed by one of Kerwin's friends, who was at the apartment to hire Molly as a cook.

Harry Beggs (Denton) leaves prison with over $1,600 of back pay from 20 years of working in the prison work camps. He stops at a bar and is tricked by a young woman named Angela into getting drunk, and all of his money is stolen. Later Harry goes to his estranged wife Edith's (Nolan) house for a reunion, and is dismayed to meet Angela there — she is his daughter.

Leonard Thompson (Balsam) is tired of being stuck with his invalid wife Elise (Nathan) and longs for adventure anywhere else. He buys poison and makes lavish arrangements with a funeral home, but it is not for her — instead, Leonard commits suicide.

District Attorney Rudy Cox (Nielsen) has been hiding his relationship with racketeer Mac Davis (Stone), who saved his life in the war years ago. Davis secretly meets Cox to tell him that he is going straight and will leave the business. However, the next day a crucial witness is killed and Davis' only alibi is that he was with Cox at the time of the murder, but Cox refuses to acknowledge Davis.

Six-year old Jackie Chester is delighted when his Uncle Rick arrives from Africa with a surprise gift. Unable to wait until Rick unpacks, Jackie goes through his Uncle's bags and finds a gun and ammunition. Jackie thinks it is a toy, the gift his uncle promised. He goes outside to play with it. Jackie's parents and Uncle Rick discover that Jackie is on the loose with a loaded gun and set out frantically to find him. After aiming and not firing the gun at various people, Jackie goes home and asks the maid to play with him. When she says she's too busy, Jackie aims the gun and fires it at her. Uncle Rick and the parents arrive just in time to deflect the shot.

Leo Torbey works at a carnival and wakes one day after a night of drinking to discover that he has bought a strange monkey for his sideshow. The monkey is actually a dwarf named Maria who draws portraits of people while disguised as a monkey. Maria falls in love with Leo, which causes problems with Leo's wife Carol. When Leo is away, El Magnifico tries to seduce Carol. Maria draws a picture depicting Carol and El Magnifico in an embrace. Seeing the picture, Leo accuses Carol of cheating on him. He throws her out after an angry denial. Finally having Leo all to herself, Maria confesses her love for Leo. Angrily, Leo spurns her affections and sells her to another carny named Benny. Leo writes to his wife begging her to return. Unfortunately, Leo is killed by an angry Benny who was driven to a murderous rage after he saw a drawing of Maria that showed Leo and Benny's wife in a romantic embrace.

When her husband Marco tells her that he is working late again with his brother, Julia Reddy is angry. Later when she hears a noise, she calls the police. The police think it's a false alarm, but she gets an idea. She calls a detective and asks him to find the prowler. When the detective arrives, she tries to seduce him. Marco arrives, but when he sees the pair he doesn't get jealous. He tries to run away. The detective apprehends Marco and Julie discovers that Marco and his brother have been robbing warehouses at night. Her unwitting trick on her husband has gotten him arrested.

While her husband is away, Julie Barton is attacked in her home by an intruder. She doesn't get a good look at him, but manages to fight him off. In the process of fighting she rips one of the intruder's leather gloves. Julie is terrified. When she goes to identify the intruder in a police line up she wears a pair of dark sunglasses. She identifies one of the men and her husband Tom attacks him. Unfortunately Tom breaks his own leg. Later, as Tom is preparing to go to the doctor's, Julie notices a ripped leather glove in his possession. Tom reveals that pressure from work has caused him to have a breakdown. He admits that he snapped and was the man that attacked her. Julie goes to the police and tells them they got the wrong man.

While passing a construction site a young man is hit on the head and gets amnesia. He can't remember who he is or where he was going. The only clues he finds in his wallet: a thousand dollar bill and the name of Dr. Ralph Mannix. He visits Mannix, but the doctor doesn't recognize him. The doctor suggests that something familiar may trigger his memories to return. He sees a picture of the doctor's wife and wonders whether he has a wife of his own. Later his memory returns. He realizes that the thousand dollars was from the doctor's wife. He's a hitman and she hired him to kill her husband. He visits the doctor again and fulfills his contract.

Charlie Pugh is a burglar who one day kills a police officer in a shootout. Unfortunately, there is a witness and Charlie himself is injured. Charlie visits Dr. Vogel who prescribes pain killers. When he goes to the drug store he hears his own description on the drug store's radio. The pharmacist, Mr. Fletcher, doesn't realize Charlie is the murderer and gives him the painkillers. Later Charlie returns to his apartment, but doesn't take the pain killers. He wants to stay alert in case he has to make a run for it. He decides to skip town and heads for the bus station. As he's leaving for the bus station, he sees Vernon, a clerk at the drugstore. Thinking that Vernon knows that he is a criminal, he kills him and leaves. Mr. Fletcher is called to identify Vernon's body. When he arrives, he reveals that he sent Vernon to Charlie's because he made a mistake in his prescription. Instead of giving him painkillers, he gave him a bottle of poison.

Millie Wright is arrested for the murder of her husband. She is later released for lack of evidence. Millie's neighbor Sarah Hale and the sheriff's wife Mary Peters decide to do some investigating on their own. They find evidence that Millie is the murderer, but they also discovered that Millie's husband was a violent brute who probably deserved what he got. Instead of turning in the evidence, the two decide to say nothing.

Elisa Minden begins to have second thoughts about marrying Sir Humphrey J. Orford. She has these second thoughts because he took her to his wife's grave and talked about torture as a way of purifying those guilty of infidelity. After she is married, Elisa's worst fears come true when Humphrey is found stabbed to death by Humphrey's first wife who is not dead. She was locked up in his study and had been kept there for years. She is now insane and could not call for help because Humphrey had cut out her tongue for adultery.

Bart Conway is a struggling actor with a bad temper and a drinking problem. He finds himself competing with a fellow actor Jerry Lane for the part of a strangler in an upcoming mystery. He invites Jerry over to his apartment for a little rehearsing. Bart gets a little too into character and chokes Jerry to death. To cover up his crime, he chops up the body and dissolves most of it in acid but is interrupted. A police lieutenant stops by to question him about Jerry's disappearance, but initially finds nothing amiss. As he leaves, he notices Bart's ice bucket which contains Jerry's undissolved head.

Sergeant Shaw works the night shift at a police station when he is approached by an old man who is suffering from amnesia. A lost boy then appears. Shaw tries to send the man to a hospital and the boy to home. Both, however, refuse to go. Eventually more people arrive. Each lost in some way or another. Eventually Shaw manages to clear out everyone, but the boy and the old man. The boy reveals that his father left him at the police station so that he would be sent to a home. When he hears this, the old man's memory returns. He is wealthy and has lost his family. He lives all alone in an enormous mansion. Shaw urges the old man to adopt the boy so that both of them can have a family.

Psychiatrist Dr. Cooper employs Maude Sheridan who falls for a crook named Jimmy French. French convinces her to allow him to look at Dr. Cooper's private files. He wants to blackmail one of his patients. French picks the file of M.J. Harrison. He discovers that Harrison had an affair with a woman named Diana. French approaches Harrison and demands money. Harrison agrees, but kills French instead. Dr. Cooper tells Maude the bad news about French. He then reveals that Harrison never had an affair. It was all the product of his disturbed mind. He believed the delusion so strongly, however, he was willing to kill to protect it.

Reverend Otis Jones is a faith healer who stops at a service station to get his car repaired. The station's owner Aaron Menefee is an honest man who impresses the reverend so much that he agrees to cure his ulcer. Aaron becomes attracted to Rev. Jones's daughter Emily. He quits his job and joins the reverend's revival show. Aaron wants to marry Emily, but the reverend does not give his permission. The reverend does not believe Aaron's faith in him is strong enough for him to marry his daughter. Later the revival returns to Aaron's town. Aaron discovers that the town doctor is being held by two hoodlums, one of whom is injured. Aaron believes that this is a test of faith. He calls for Reverend Jones to cure the injured man. The hoodlums warn that Jones will be killed if his faith healing does not work. The end result in never shown, but Aaron wins either way. Either the faith healing works and Aaron's faith is demonstrated, or the faith healing fails and Jones is killed. In either case, it seems that Aaron will be free to marry Emily.

After killing a gas station attendant in a robbery attempt, a wounded Ray Bardon stops a girl named Lisa and demands to be driven to safety. Lisa realizing that her life is in danger agrees. As she drives, Ray falls asleep. Suddenly the car gets a flat tire. Instead of making an escape, Lisa changes the tire. Later the two stop at a hotel. Ray wonders about the girl's loyalty and asks why she didn't run and go to the police. As he talks, Lisa manages to get his gun. She reveals that the gas station attendant was her fiancee and that she didn't leave because she was waiting for an opportunity to kill Ray.

Pedro Siqueros fakes paralysis after a train wreck in order to collect a huge insurance settlement. After collecting the money he doesn't want to stay in the wheelchair. He meets a young girl named Maria who is really paralyzed. He discovers that she has been going to a nearby holy shrine for years hoping for a cure. Pedro gets an idea. He visits the shrine and begins to pray. On the fifth day of his prayer he stands and pretends to be healed. After he stands, his legs collapse. He discovers that he is now paralyzed for real. At the same time, some distance away, Maria is cured.

Vernon Wedge is an attorney who is approached by the father of Benjy Marino. Benjy is accused of stabbing another boy with a knife. Vernon decides to take the case, but his case for the defense seems hopeless until he discovers a special test that can determine if a knife blade ever had blood on it. He tries to conduct the test in court, but the prosecution resists. Even without the test, however, Vernon manages to get Benjy off. Later, Vernon decides to conduct the test in order to determine whether Benjy was really innocent. Before he can conduct the test Benjy's father arrives and cuts himself with the murder weapon. By doing so, he prevents Vernon from ever knowing the truth about the case.

Harrison Fell is an ad executive that needs to come up with an ad campaign to sell the 801 Burglar-Proof safe. Harrison invites the press and a notorious safe-cracker Sammy Morrisey to a gala ball. He challenges Sammy to open the safe in less than three hours. If Sammy can do it, he can keep an envelope containing $50,000 dollars that is being kept within the safe. If he can't, then he gets some consolation prize. Initially Sammy is reluctant. He has given up on safe-cracking and is trying out a new profession. Eventually, he agrees. At the party, Harrison puts the envelope in the safe and locks it. Sammy is given three hours, but he fails to open the safe. He is given the consolation prize. Harrison is pleased since his advertising plan is a success. Later, however, he opens the safe and discovers that the envelope contains worthless paper and no money. Sammy pulled a switch. His new profession is as a pick-pocket.

Dora baby-sits for a wealthy F. Hubert Fellowes. She plans to rob him with her boyfriend Mike and his buddy Gino. The three carry out the robbery, but as they are about to leave Fellowes returns and tries to stop them. He is shot and killed. The three make off with $32,000. A hitman named Murphy tracks them down and kills them. Fellowes was a big-time gangster and the mob sent out a hitman for revenge.

On Miles Cheever's last day of work, he is given a retirement party. When he comes home, his wife tells him that he deserved more for fifteen years. Miles agrees and that night goes to office and robs the safe. Intending to leave his wife, he heads to the airport where he is met by his girlfriend. A stewardess, however, tells Miles to put his suitcase in a rear storage compartment. Though the suitcase contains the money from the office, Miles reluctantly agrees. Later, as he waits on the plane, he learns that a bomb threat has been called in. Since the police are searching the bags, he worries that he will be caught. What he doesn't realize is that his wife called in the bomb threat. She knew he was having an affair and called in the threat so that he'd get caught.

Boxing manager Arthur Duffy is offered a powerful drug by a shady character named Boots Murphy. Boots tells him it is a drug used on race horses to turn losers into winners. Arthur decides to use the drug on one of his washed up fighters named Soldier Fresno. After Soldier is injected with the drug, he starts to win. Arthur and Boots begin to rake in the money. Soon Soldier gets a bout with the champion. Before the fight, however, Boots tells Arthur that he only has two more doses of the drug. Determined to win the fight, Arthur injects Soldier with both doses. Unfortunately the overdose causes Soldier to believe that he is already in the ring. He springs up and starts fighting. He beats Arthur to death.

Alan Chatterton, an unsuccessful writer, sends successful author Ralston Temple a letter along with three sample chapters from his novel in progress. Alice, Temple's secretary, convinces her boss that the chapters are good and that he should meet the writer and perhaps give him money to finish his book. Temple agrees to meet Chatterton, but finds him an obnoxious boor. Nevertheless he gives him a six month loan. Six months later, Temple continues to fund Chatterton even though the book is not completed. Chatterton shows up again and asks for a thousand dollars so he can get married. Temple gives into the request, but later finds Chatterton partying in an expensive restaurant. Temple confronts Chatterton and rips up their contract. He then goes on vacation. Later, Alice tells Temple that Chatterton has finished his book. It is a best-seller and is going to be made into a movie. Temple shows up at a store where Chatterton is autographing his book. To Temple's surprise, Chatterton gives him an autographed copy of his book plus all the money he owed him with interest.

Ned Malley loves Annie his old dog, a Kerry Blue. Ned's wife Thelma grows jealous. Though she likes the dog, she thinks her husband's love for it is unhealthy. One day, Annie dies. Ned accuses his wife of murder. He slips an overdose of sleeping pills into her hot chocolate. As she slips into unconsciousness, Ned hears familiar barking. He goes to investigate, but trips and fatally injures himself. A neighbor calls the police who come and revive Thelma. As her dead husband is being taken away she wonders whether she should have bought him a new Kerry Blue.

A jeweler sells a $5000 black pearl left with him by Captain McCabe. He then cheats McCabe out of some of the money owed to him. Hubert Wilkens, the pearl's buyer, asks the jeweler for a second matched pearl. The jeweler returns to McCabe. McCabe can provide one, but since he has been cheated he demands more money. Figuring that he can charge Wilkens a much larger amount, the jeweler agrees. Unfortunately the jeweler discovers that he has been conned. McCabe and Wilkens were working together. The jeweler bought the same pearl twice.

Fred Riordan is a recent parolee who vandalizes the window of a bar and gets himself thrown back into prison. The prison warden, who is also running for governor, and the prison doctor believe Fred is simply afraid to cope with the outside world. They question Fred to find out why. Fred tells them that upon his release from prison he went to his old neighborhood but found little or no welcome. He neglects to mention that a mobster named Tony Wando has hired him to kill a former partner of his, a man now behind prison walls (Wando has damning evidence of Fred's guilt in an old unsolved murder.) Warden Bragan feels sorry for Fred and promises to make him a personal trustee. This is ideal for Fred, since it is Warden Bragan himself who is the target of Wando's outrage.

In college, Dave Sumner was voted most likely to succeed. Nowadays, however, he has had a run of bad luck. He takes a job from Stanley Towers, a shady businessman. Stanley's business is being investigated by the government. At a meeting with the IRS, however, Stanley is shocked to discover that Dave is really an undercover Treasury Department agent. He only pretended to be down on his luck so he could get the goods on Stanley's shady business dealings.

While on their honeymoon, Joe and Madeline Drake get into an accident that leaves him with a bad leg and her with painful headaches. Later, Joe discovers that Madeline's old boyfriend Ralph Morrow sent her an expensive wedding present. When Ralph shows up at their house, Joe become paranoid. He is worried that Ralph is responsible for a number of butcher knife murders that have been occurring in their neighborhood. Joe goes to search for his wife, as does Ralph. Meanwhile, Madeline is walking home. She hears someone behind her. She ducks into an alley but is followed. Joe arrives on the scene only to discover Madeline standing over Ralph's bloody corpse. She confesses to her husband that she thought someone was following her and killed to protect herself. She then admits that it has happened three times before when her headaches struck.

Herbert J. Wiggam works at an investment firm for Sylvester Tupper. Tupper treats him employees like slaves. Knowing that a $565,000 bond is about to arrive Herbert and two other disgruntled employees decide to steal it. The plan to hide the bonds in the garbage can until the police leave. The plan goes awry, however, when one of the policemen knocks over the garbage can. The plot is not foiled, however. An old cleaning lady arrives just in time to scoop up the papers and takes them out with the trash. Later, Herbert arrives at the airport. He is headed for South America. He arrives with the cleaning lady who is, in fact, his mother.

Frankie Fane is an American gangster hiding from United States law enforcement in Italy. He is wanted by U.S. officials because he used to sell drugs to schoolchildren. At the suggestion of an American tourist named Ainsley Crowder, Frankie visits some tourist sites outside Rome, including an old Etruscan town named Alda Antica. While on a tour, the children of the village outside Alda Antica rob him. They then toss him into a deep pit to slowly die. The Department of Justice have tracked Fane to Rome, and requests that Italian police locate the fugitive. An Italian investigator enlists Crowder's help and they manage to trace Frankie to the village. When they discover that he has vanished, they decide to give up the search, thinking that justice has not been served.

Edward Gibson, a recent divorcee, must make alimony payments of $2000 every month. One day, an art gallery owner arrives at his house to present him with a portrait of his ex-wife that she had previously commissioned for $2500. Edward throws him out without paying him, but keeps the painting. Later, Carl Seabrook arrives and tells Edward that he will marry his ex-wife whom he has been romancing if Edward gives him $10,000. If Gloria is married, Edward will not have to pay alimony. Edward accepts the offer and pays Carl $5000 upfront. Later that day, Edward heads over to his ex-wife's house. He wants to give her her painting as a wedding gift. At his ex-wife's apartment building, he learns that she died of a heart attack earlier that morning, and that Carl was with her at the time. It was only after Gibson's ex-wife died that Carl approached him with his offer. Cheated out of $5000, Edward angrily calls Carl only to be told that he has left town going on a first class honeymoon with his own stunning new wife.

Caroline Hardy keeps house for her famous brother, the actor Collin Hardy. Disappointed in her own life, she seeks escape by increasing her involvement in her brother's career. When Caroline learns through subterfuge that Collin's girlfriend will be joining him in their acting troupe's out-of-town rehearsals, Caroline hatches a plot in a jealous rage. The result of that rage is an explosion of house painting fluids that renders Collin blind. Caroline tries to act the part of the comforter, also encouraging her brother not to dwell on the supposed loss of his good looks.

A man blackmails a couple with the intention of telling their adopted daughter about her biological parents.

A mystery novelist is accused of going through a stop sign, then hitting a young motorcyclist.

A publisher suspects the latest book of a renowned mystery author to be all too real.

An apprentice nun tracks down the robber who stole a priceless figurine that she was entrusted to bring to her convent.

A chemist lusts for a married woman.

A man gets more than he bargained for when he offers a younger man a fresh start in return for saving his son from drowning.

A former amnesiac discovers that he is an accused killer and that he is being pursued by both the police and a hit man.

A gentleman is unable to convince anyone that he murdered his cheating wife.

An old man gets a younger man involved in blackmail, kidnapping and murder.

A man wakes up with a hangover and realizes that his wife is missing, while another woman is in his room.

A preacher is willing to commit murder in order to get a woman's manor for his church.

Two business executives compete for the affections of a beautiful woman.

A widower is driven insane by a series of events following his wife's passing.

A housekeeper murders her boss, but his wife is charged with the crime.

A woman faces the consequences for refusing to help a gentleman and his beaten girlfriend.

A married man with a life of crime stands trial for murder.

A couple believe that a boy in their neighborhood intends to kill them.

A man comes up with the solution to dealing with his cold-hearted wife.

A honeymoon in Mexico ends with the wife being murdered and the husband tracking down the killer.

While Health Department officials try to contain an anthrax outbreak, police try to identify the man who died from the disease.