Invitation To An Accident is an outstanding Hitchcock show, well directed by Don Taylor, subtly written by Robert Dennis, adapted from a Whit Masterson story. Like so many episodes in the half-hour series it concerns marital infidelity and its consequences.
Alas, this character driven story is unique in its having the husband of the cheating wife suspecting the wrong man as her lover, and the way it ends is unforgettable and quite moving. Joanna Moore's semi-comedic performance as the unfaithful wife is my only problem with this one.
Shaggy Gary Merrill, looking like a hungry animal, is perfectly cast as her husband, whom one cannot call clueless, as he guessed wrong on the one clue he had. He plays a self-made man who suspects a man who is, fairly obviously to the viewer, a lightly closeted homosexual, of being his wife's lover.
Poor Alan Hewitt, a fine actor, is relegated to supporting billing in the closing credits. He has as much if not more dialogue as the top billed Merrill and Moore but he wasn't a name player and never became one. He walks a fine line between refinement and effeminacy, and his character is the most sympathetic of the three major ones, and alas, the most unfortunate.
Alas, this character driven story is unique in its having the husband of the cheating wife suspecting the wrong man as her lover, and the way it ends is unforgettable and quite moving. Joanna Moore's semi-comedic performance as the unfaithful wife is my only problem with this one.
Shaggy Gary Merrill, looking like a hungry animal, is perfectly cast as her husband, whom one cannot call clueless, as he guessed wrong on the one clue he had. He plays a self-made man who suspects a man who is, fairly obviously to the viewer, a lightly closeted homosexual, of being his wife's lover.
Poor Alan Hewitt, a fine actor, is relegated to supporting billing in the closing credits. He has as much if not more dialogue as the top billed Merrill and Moore but he wasn't a name player and never became one. He walks a fine line between refinement and effeminacy, and his character is the most sympathetic of the three major ones, and alas, the most unfortunate.