Posted by Gordon Gates on 10/11/2019, 10:28 pm
– One Tiger to a Hill – 1964 An episode of the 1963-65 series, Kraft Suspense Theatre.
There is a string of high-end jewelry thefts happening involving wealthy homeowners. The clues all point to Barry Nelson, a well-known (to the police) second story man. The only problem is that Nelson has a great alibi for all the break-ins.
The Detective in charge, James Gregory, assigns his best man, Warren Stevens to watch Nelson. And watch him he does. Stevens follows Nelson everywhere. To the store, to the bar, he even follows Nelson to his girl, Diane McBain's apartment. This starts to wear a bit thin with Nelson who complains to Gregory about the coverage.
Another break-in happens while Nelson is being tailed. The burglar is caught in the act by the homeowner. Police are called. The boys in blue just happen to be parked on the corner and are there instantly. The burglar pulls a piece and wounds the one officer making good his escape. Detective Gregory pulls Stevens off Nelson and puts him on the new suspect.
The "new" suspect is Peter Brown. Brown is an apprentice of Nelson. Nelson knew that the Police would look at him every time there was a job. So he trained Brown to take over the heavy lifting end of the business. Nelson would establish an alibi while Brown did the job. He would use Nelson's m.o. and leave clues pointing to Nelson. Nelson of course would be in a bar etc with a room of witnesses at the time the robberies happened.
They would then split the take. Brown however has tired of his end of the split. He wants to branch out into bigger jobs and keep Nelson's end as well.
Nelson might be a thief, but he has never hurt anyone during a robbery. Time to end the arrangement and put Brown in his place. Nelson tracks Brown that night as he heads out on a job. And who should be following both of them, Detective Gregory.
Having reached the site of tonight's job. Brown prepares to break in. Nelson jumps him and the two engage in a spirited round of flying fists. Nelson comes out the loser of the bout and goes down for the count. Brown laughs, and then pulls out his revolver and aims at Nelson. A flash of light and a gunshot splits the night. Brown crumples to the ground as Detective Gregory steps up.
This is a pretty good episode of a rather unseen series.
The director here is Jack Arnold. Before landing in television, Arnold made several films during the 50's. These include, GIRLS IN THE NIGHT, THE GLASS WEB, OUTSIDE THE LAW, THE TATTERED DRESS and MAN IN THE SHADOW. He also directed several of the very best 50's Sci-Fi films such as, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, TARANTULA and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN.
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