ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: TOTAL LOSS (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock.
Jan, the manager of a clothing store, is suffering from financial difficulties; her husband died a few years ago and she fends off Mel Reeves, one of her suppliers who is attracted towards her. She tries to brush him off so she can go to the bank for an appointment about increasing her loan. At the bank, she is informed that too many of her assets are tied up in her inventory, and that if she doesn’t sell more merchandise soon she’ll be out of business. Mel meets her at the bank and convinces her to go out for a drink with him. He continues to flirt with her and notes that he went through her sales racks and saw her massive buildup of inventory. In order to alleviate her financial difficulties, Mel proposes that Jan set fire to her store and collect the resultant insurance payoff. He claims that he knows someone who will carry out the task for them, posing as a robber who accidentally starts a fire. He plies her with more alcohol and asks that she go into business with him, believing they could go far together. He urges her to tell her accountant to take her records home with him when he comes in the next day, so as to save them from the fire. She agrees to Mel’s plan, her mind addled by alcohol.
Jan returns to the store, still discombobulated. Her employee Evie sends her home with her sister; she asks Evie to tell the accountant to take the records home in her absence. Late that night, Jan receives a call informing her that someone has set fire to her store, and she rushes down there. Firefighters work to contain the blaze, and one questions Jan about her insurance information. She finds out that Evie went into the burning store to retrieve the records and suffered third-degree burns in the process; she was loaded onto an ambulance and her fate is uncertain. After the fire dies down, Jan heads inside to inspect the ruins of her store, and she confirms that the arson was apparently committed by Mel’s contact, as the skylight was broken just as Mel said it would be. Mel shows up and Jan sends him away, furious at him. She also encounters an agent from her insurance company, who informs her that she is a “preferred risk” and that the company will likely honor her claim. However, she admits that the fire was not accidental and promises a full confession to the police. The agent notes that her supposition about the skylight is inaccurate: it was not destroyed by forcible entry but rather by the backdraft of the fire from inside. Furthermore, the insurance agent notes that the fire was caused by a malfunction of the automatic timer on her hot plate, which he believes is proof that she committed the arson herself. She is unable to dissuade him from this assertion. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 1, 1959 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:51037
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1960; 1962-1964 / NBC - 1960-1962; 1964-1965
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Joan Harrison … Producer
- Norman Lloyd … Associate Producer
- Don Taylor … Director
- J.E. Selby … Writer
- Alfred Hitchcock … Host
- Nancy Olson … Cast, Jan Manning
- Ralph Meeker … Cast, Mel Reeves
- Ruth Storey … Cast, Evelyn Wilson
- Dave Willcock … Cast, Frank Voss
- Barbara Lord … Cast, Jan's Sister
- Ray Teal … Cast, Fire Chief
- Jack Bryan … Cast, Bartender
- Jim Beck … Cast, Frank Voss