Well, this one surely is a QUEER entry in the great TV series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" - but nonetheless, it's certainly VERY much in the way of the great master's suspense, and humor! (The story is from Roald Dahl, so that should give keen mystery readers an idea about what's expecting us...)
In Las Vegas one morning, a sympathetic but all too cocksure young guy (Steve McQueen) meets a young girl and starts flirting with her, using his lighter that 'never misses', as he assures her, as the first thing that comes to his mind to attract her attention - but it also attracts the attention of a VERY strange man in every way (played by none other than the great Peter Lorre), who invites the lad to a bet: if his 'lighter that never misses' will light ten times in a row, he's going to win the stranger's brand new convertible - BUT if it doesn't, he'll chop off the little finger of the youngster's left hand... And what does the young fellow do to show his courage and self-assurance (especially to the girl, of course...)? He accepts the bet. And so they all go up to the strange man's room, where the boy has got his lighter ready - and the stranger a butcher's knife...
We certainly can't deny that Hitch has got us sweating and biting our nails once again, and the minutes, even the seconds seem like hours - but you SURE need a good sense of humor to take in all the twists and turns of this crazy episode! Anyway, for real fans of suspense and irony, this will be a REAL treat...
In Las Vegas one morning, a sympathetic but all too cocksure young guy (Steve McQueen) meets a young girl and starts flirting with her, using his lighter that 'never misses', as he assures her, as the first thing that comes to his mind to attract her attention - but it also attracts the attention of a VERY strange man in every way (played by none other than the great Peter Lorre), who invites the lad to a bet: if his 'lighter that never misses' will light ten times in a row, he's going to win the stranger's brand new convertible - BUT if it doesn't, he'll chop off the little finger of the youngster's left hand... And what does the young fellow do to show his courage and self-assurance (especially to the girl, of course...)? He accepts the bet. And so they all go up to the strange man's room, where the boy has got his lighter ready - and the stranger a butcher's knife...
We certainly can't deny that Hitch has got us sweating and biting our nails once again, and the minutes, even the seconds seem like hours - but you SURE need a good sense of humor to take in all the twists and turns of this crazy episode! Anyway, for real fans of suspense and irony, this will be a REAL treat...