Interesting to compare this with the 1970s, British TV, Tales Of The Unexpected episode, which featured Susan George as betrayed wife Mary who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and then serves the murder weapon as a meal for the investigating police officers!
The main difference between the two versions is that Hitch plays the straight narrative, in which the audience sees everything. In the other episode the story is shown only from the point of view of Mary's statement that she came home and found her husband dead. The full facts are not revealed until practically the final moment. There is some tension as policeman Brian Blessed bins the remnant of the leg of lamb but, the outcome is still the same.
On balance I prefer the later version for its mystery and last-minute reveal. However, I do think Barbara Bel Geddes is more convincing as the wronged wife. Susan George was far too much of a sex symbol, at the time, to expect the audience to believe that her husband would want to leave her. Also the modern edition doesn't have to include Hitch's American censor cop out. So Mary can get away with it. But, it also lacks the final, unnerving "Psycho" pan of Mary grinning all over her face. Apart from which it was nice to see an episode directed by the Master himself.
The main difference between the two versions is that Hitch plays the straight narrative, in which the audience sees everything. In the other episode the story is shown only from the point of view of Mary's statement that she came home and found her husband dead. The full facts are not revealed until practically the final moment. There is some tension as policeman Brian Blessed bins the remnant of the leg of lamb but, the outcome is still the same.
On balance I prefer the later version for its mystery and last-minute reveal. However, I do think Barbara Bel Geddes is more convincing as the wronged wife. Susan George was far too much of a sex symbol, at the time, to expect the audience to believe that her husband would want to leave her. Also the modern edition doesn't have to include Hitch's American censor cop out. So Mary can get away with it. But, it also lacks the final, unnerving "Psycho" pan of Mary grinning all over her face. Apart from which it was nice to see an episode directed by the Master himself.