Alfred Hitchcock Presents Series 6, Episode 13    Alan Crosland Jr.    Allan Gordon (teleplay); James E. Cronin (story)    Arthur Hill, Rod Cameron    27 December 1960    25:36 (total) • 22:47 (film) • 1:20 (Hitchcock)    6/10

The Man Who Found The Money

William Benson (Arthur Hill) is at a Las Vegas casino called the Pinto Inn one night and is losing at the roulette table before he decides to leave. As he strolls through the parking lot he finds a wad of money lying on the ground in a clip. He picks it up and goes to his hotel room where he counts out $92,000 from his find. The next morning he pays for a safety deposit box and places the money inside it before going to the local newspaper to put out an advertisement in the lost and found section. The manager, Mr. Beecham advises William to notify the police so off he goes to talk to Captain Bone at the station to report his find. But the captain seems to already be aware of the missing money and says that the amount is $102,000 - ten thousand dollars more than what William is declaring. The officer interrogates William, who maintains that the amount he found was ninety-two thousand dollars. William is told to wait outside whilst the captain conducts his investigation. Later, Mr. Newsome enters the station and claims that the money is his and thanks William for his honesty. When William retrieves the money from the safety box Mr. Newsome tells him he is the manager of the Pinto Inn and invites him and his wife to spend an all-expenses paid for week there as a thank you but William is reluctant to accept the offer because he thinks his wife wouldn't approve. Newsome drives William back to the casino where he is afforded the courtesy of the house. This offer of kindness is short-lived however when William is asked to go to Newsome's office to find that his wife is being threatened with blackmail on the telephone. TRIVIA •No trivia.

HITCH'S PROLOGUE (34 secs): [Hitch is standing at the helm of a boat and wearing a sailor's uniform] "Good evening landlubbers and welcome aboard. We shall have a pleasant voyage this evening. [He spins the wheel and the screen spins around] Sorry. I get carried away sometimes. We shall make several interesting ports of call tonight but first we must endure a rather dull sixty seconds while we get beyond the three mile limit." HITCH'S EPILOGUE (46 secs): "So much for our exotic visit to Las Vegas. We shall cast anchor soon but I wish to have a meeting with a business associate. But hang on please I see one of those dreadful sand bars ahead. I shall see you after we tie up. [fade out, then when we return we see a pair of legs dangling from the top of the screen] I've just completed a meeting with my sponsor in which he had a change of heart and I think it's safe to say that we may be spared his commercials in the future. Why don't you tune in next week and see. Until then good night." SPOILERS William genuinely finds $92,000 but Newsome knowingly tries to extort an extra ten thousand out of him as a con, and if William doesn't pay up his wife will get hurt. The whole thing is a scam and it seems that he isn't the first victim to fall for it.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION... A story about an honest man who tries to do the right thing and ends up paying a hefty price for it. This was one of those stories where you just kept wondering where it was going to end up, and when we discover the plot twist at the end we find out just how dark the story becomes. There aren't really that many clues to be found either. It's just deceitful characters using exploitation and charm in order to pull off a blackmail in order to pump more money into their town. When the title of the episode is displayed at the beginning, instead of the top-billed actor's name being billed "in", it is billed "as". ARTHUR HILL "AS" THE MAN WHO FOUND THE MONEY.

THE CAST (click any image to enlarge)

William Benson... ARTHUR HILL Curtis Newsome... ROD CAMERON Captain Bone... R.G. ARMSTRONG Elaine Purdy... LUCY PRENTIS A.J. Meecham... CLANCY COOPER Mr. Lent... BAYNES BARRON Desk sergeant... MARK ALLEN

GALLERY (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508321/ [IMDb] This page was last updated on: 28 June 2020