User Reviews

Deathmate is a nicely made, unexceptional and well acted Hitchcock half-hour. The story is typical of the series, featuring yet again two people engaged in a relationship in which one is married to someone else and either or both start to make plans to do away with the (as nearly always) aging spouse so that the young lovers can live happily ever after.

Things never work out as planned in these tales, no matter how cleverly the murder is planned and executed. The twist at the end of this one I could see coming, as so often when watching stories like this, around the half-way point. It's worth noting that there's no real hero in this episode, and that none of the three major characters is sympathetic.

Lee Philips and Gia Scala make an attractive young couple, with Miss Scala's performance the more engaging of the two, as she appears to be living in a dead end. She was also a beautiful woman in addition to being a fine actress. Philips is good in "other man" and organization man parts, and was well cast.

Russell Collins, playing a former police officer, now a private investigator, shines in one of the few times on this series he was allowed to look clean shaven, wear a suit and tie and portray a character of substance and authority. He looks to be having a ball, and his enthusiasm is infectious. It's a plus in this mostly dour entry.

Somehow this story seems just too familiar. It's a classic three-way situation, this time involving two men and one woman. Wife Lisa Talbot (Gia Scala) professes her love for Ben Conan (Lee Philips), and involves him in a ruse to do away with her husband (Les Tremayne). Ben thinks she's the wealthy one in the married couple's relationship, and as the story progresses, it's learned that he's a smooth talking gigolo who bilks his female admirers, and then takes it on the run to his next conquest. The resolution hinges on the all too convenient appearance of private investigator Alvin Moss (Russell Collins), who catches Ben at the Talbot's apartment, right after Ben drowned Peter Talbot in his bathtub. For Lisa, who wasn't present, it was like killing two birds with one stone, as Ben suddenly realized who wore the money pants in that marriage.