User Reviews

This story is about a con job, but when it's over, some of the sting is taken out of the con when the ultimate victim is finally identified. Up until then, it looked like poor old Hubert Wilkens (Ernest Truex) had his hands full with a wife (Sharon Farrell) who just couldn't be pleased no matter how hard he tried. Even a rare black Pinctada pearl couldn't bring a smile to her face because it wasn't part of a matching set. So when Wilkens makes a 'money is no object' offer to jeweler Laurent Dubois (Émile Genest), the shop owner goes all out to procure a second black pearl from the boating captain who sold him the first one.

It's only with a modicum of irony that the story ends, because if you've watched enough Hitchcock episodes, your guard will be up for what happens next. The first hint is the age disparity between Hubert and his 'wife'. The second is the rapid bidding up of what Dubois becomes willing to pay Captain McCabe for the second pearl. In a delicious sting, Wilkens and his 'team' put one over on the greedy Dubois to the tune of twelve thousand plus dollars. Not bad for a day's work.

Wealthy Mr. Wilkens enters a jewelry store looking for a special gem for his anniversary. Jeweler Laurent DuBois shows him several pieces, once he understands that price is no object, but the customer is disinterested until he shows him a black pearl that he has on consignment. Wilkens wants it, but needs it delivered that evening to his hotel suite. He doesn't object at all to the price of $5,000.

DuBois shows up at the hotel himself, after sending his aide to meet with the sailor who placed the pearl on consignment. The sailor felt cheated when told they got only $4,000, leaving him with $2,667 after the 33% cut the store is taking. At the hotel, DuBois has brought only the stone, he hasn't set it in any particular way, and is surprised that the wife, Lolly, a woman who appears much younger than the old man who is the customer, says she has more than enough rings and is really only interested in earrings. But of course, we have only one pearl.

Wilkens has written a check for the $5,000 but tells DuBois to find a matching pearl and bring it to them tomorrow and he will pay almost any price. He even agrees to $20,000. So DuBois goes back to the sailor but finds the man throws him out, not wanting to sell a pearl he has that seems like a good match, not even, he says, for $50,000.

DuBois contacts everyone else he can think of but nobody has what he needs. So he tries the sailor, who has a small boat at the pier, and after offering twice what he paid for the other one, then up to 10,13 and 14 K, before he offers $15,000 and the sailor agrees. They go to his bank where he has stored the pearls he has-a small bag, and exchange the check for the pearl.

I'm going to leave my description there. There are a few twists in the remaining minutes of the show, all of which leave most viewers with a wry smile if they aren't outright laughing.

To me, this is one of the best in this series. It's intriguing from the get-go, and there are so many possible ways the story might logically play out-even for veteran fans of the series-that I believe only a small percentage of viewers will honestly say they had it all figured out. Many might get one twist, but not the others. It sort of seemed like an episode of Maverick.

I give this a rare score of 10-I liked it that much.