Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Disappearing Trick (1958) User Reviews

"Disappearing Trick" is solid entry in series

[chuck-reilly · 7/10 · 12 April 2013]

Robert Horton, who was almost an Alfred Hitchcock regular, plays a womanizing tennis player in Los Angeles who moonlights as a bookie's assistant in this episode from 1958. His semi-concerned boss tells him to investigate one of his better (or "bettor") clients who hasn't placed a wager in months. When Horton visits the man's residence in San Diego, he finds out that the fellow had been killed in a boating accident nearly a year ago. His good-looking wife (Betsy Von Furstenberg), however, is still around and it's readily apparent that her grieving period didn't last too long. Except for some small Life Insurance money, it seems that her late husband left her only a pittance. But that fact doesn't prevent Horton and Ms. Von Furstenberg from immediately take a liking to each other. They become ardent "tennis" partners, among other things. Yet Horton knows already that something is amiss. The dead husband placed bets long after his supposed demise. He obviously faked his own death and probably headed to Mexico. Horton soon drives down to Tijuana to see a colleague (Perry Lopez) who aids him in locating the missing gambler. That's when Horton takes the wrong approach to the situation. Posing as a representative from the Life Insurance company, he decides to extort money ($10,000) from the "dead" gambler (Raymond Bailey) so that he and Betsy can live happily ever after. But the best laid plans "Of Mice and Men" go array. Horton lives to love another day, but without Ms. Furstenberg around, without the money, and without the full use of his right arm. "It's okay," the doctor tells him, "you'll be able to do everything with it except play some tennis." Ouch.

Nothing really deadly happens in this episode; it's kind of a live and learn lesson more than anything else. Money makes people do stupid things, and Horton finds that out the hard way. The sad and knowing grin on this face in the final moments tells the story. This episode was directed by the prolific and talented Arthur Hiller. He's still around today and his career has spanned decades. Robert Horton and Betsy Von Furstenberg are also alive and well and retired from the business. Horton is widely remembered for his role on "Wagon Train." Perry Lopez, the bookie in Tijuana, was best known for playing Lt. Lou Escobar in Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and the Jack Nicholson directed sequel,"The Two Jakes." He passed away several years ago.

Deadly insurance

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 2 February 2023]

"Disappearing Trick" is the second of Arthur Hiller's 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes. Was underwhelmed personally by his first "Flight to the East", but he was responsible for some good episodes (more so than not so good). Robert Horton was a series regular and it is not hard to see why. This was another great premise that would have been worthy of the Master of Suspense himself, and while Season 3 was not a consistent season it was a solid one generally and had some great episodes.

One of those great episodes "Disappearing Trick" may not quite be, but it is an impressive one with much to admire and with flaws actually being not many at all. As well as much better than Hiller's previous 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' outing "Flight to the East". Season 3 did see much better episodes ("The Glass Eye", "Return to Finder", "The Right Kind of House"), when talking about the previous episodes, but also certainly far worse ("The Percentage", "Sylvia").

Did find the ending, while amusingly ironic, rather easily foreseeable and obvious too early. Raymond Bailey does well, but his casting is also on the obvious side and could have done with more variety to work.

The story is also quite slight, not really quite as eventful as it sounds, and the momentum goes a little towards the end.

A lot is good. Horton is very charming in the lead role and Betsy von Furstenberg is alluring and teasing. Loved their chemistry together, which is very cat and mouse like to increasingly unsettling effect. Something that is apparent right from their initial scene that gets stronger and stronger. Hitchcock's bookending is amusingly ironic and Hiller directs with more confidence and edge.

It's solidly made with some atmospheric photography. The series theme music is one of the best and most inspired examples of pre-existing classical music being used as a main theme, fitting perfectly with the series' overall tone. The writing is thought provoking, fun and unsettling, with no over-talkiness and there is some dark suspense.

Concluding, not great but did like it quite a lot. 7/10.

"Well, I'll tell you when it's trouble, okay?"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

Robert Horton popped up quite often in these Alfred Hitchcock programs; this was his fifth appearance with a couple more to go. In this one he's an insurance company investigator with what looks like a semi-pro tennis gig on the side. When a race track bookie's client suddenly stops placing bets, Walter Richmond (Horton) is asked to track him down. That leads him to Herbert Gild's (Raymond Bailey) widow Laura (Betsy von Furstenberg), where he learns that Gild purportedly died in a boating accident six months prior.

I think the show's script produced an unforced error when the 'dead' Gild placed a race track bet three months after he died. Why do it under his own name when he had already changed it to Fielding to ditch his gold-digging wife? There was also the unlikely idea that Walter could expect to retire on the ten thousand dollars that Gild/Fielding offered him as a payoff to forget about the charade. But it didn't seem little details like that bothered the script writers all that much.

The ending to this little story is not as ironic perhaps as a lot of the Hitchcock episodes. 'Widow' Laura moved in for the ten grand smoothly enough, as Richmond had to contend with the fact that he had to go back to work, with the doctor's subtle reminder that his tennis days were over. Hitchcock's closing epilogue threw me for a loop somewhat. Apparently he felt that his shows would be telecast well into the future (which they are thankfully!), as he asks for viewers in the year 2000 to write in with their comments!

Smoothly Done

[dougdoepke · 10 August 2011]

Solid Hitchcock. Actor Robert Horton was an early favorite of the series. Certainly, he could play the handsome, virile young man to the proverbial T. Here, he shills for a bookie, using his manly charms as a part-time gigolo. That is, until he runs into a flirty young widow (Furstenberg). Their initial scene together is a little gem of predatory cats circling one another-- she all coy and leading, he all self-assured and playing the game. The innuendo is perfect for the restrictive 1950's. Just as importantly, it's hard to know where the story is going. When it comes, the payoff itself is mildly amusing and suitably ironic. Excellent turn by both performers, but what, I wonder, became of Furstenberg. She certainly had a distinctive look about her.

Two Worthless People

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 5 July 2013]

This is a clash between two people of the most questionable character. They come together when a bookmaker sends Robert Horton to find what happened to one of his customers. It turns out the man has drowned in a boating accident. Now it's the sly byplay between the widow and Horton. There are secrets in play here and that's what they do, "play" each other. While there is a good deal of sexual tension and the acting is good, I need to have some investment in the people involved. We can see the twist a mile away. When the show concluded, I was left with a big "Is that all there is?" I can't imagine any insurance company being so incompetent as to allow this sort of thing to play out.

Not much of an episode...particularly if you are familiar with Raymond Bailey.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 1 April 2021]

During the 1960s to the early 70s, character actor Raymond Bailey became a household name due to his playing the banker Milburn Drysdale on "The Beverly Hillbillies". If you've seen him in films or shows before this, you might not quickly recognize him because Bailey was very bald but sometimes wore an amazingly good toupee in "The Beverly Hillbillies" and most subsequent appearances. So, if you've seen him with and without his hairpiece, like I have, there is zero suspense in this particular episode...mostly because Baily plays the same man...with and without a toupee in order to avoid folks realizing they are the same person. I INSTANTLY knew they were the same guy and the show really offered little in the way of suspense.