Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Perfect Crime
TV Flash files “The Perfect Crime” as hour 81 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 3, episode 3, aired 1957-10-20, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E03: listed hour 81 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 3 of 39 in season 3. It aired 1957-10-20 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Mail Order Prophet” (S03E02). Next is “Heart of Gold” (S03E04).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
An arrogant detective Charles Courtney prides himself on never having committed a single mistake in his long and distinguished career. He keeps a shelf of labeled mementos from each of his cases. On the shelf there is an open space and a blank tag for what Courtney calls "The Perfect Crime". One day a defense lawyer stuns Courtney when he confronts him with evidence that the detective helped convict an innocent man who has since been executed. Courtney kills the lawyer, bakes him in a pottery kiln, and places the vase in the open space on his shelf as a memento to his perfect crime.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Perfect Crime sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S03E03 is listed hour 81 of 268 — hour 3 of 39 in season 3, season 3 episode 3.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S03E03 air?
The Perfect Crime aired 1957-10-20 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Hitch's hosted half-hours rather than assuming he directed the lot. Sample the dry intros and the snap endings; the silhouette is the franchise.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents made the director himself the franchise: silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, and closings that sometimes 'corrected' crime to soothe censors. Watch it in 2026 as branded anthology swagger — Joan Harrison's engine, Hitch's persona, and twist endings as moral architecture you can still hum.
Calendar first: CBS, October 2, 1955. Then a later NBC window. Original half-hour run through 1962 — **268 episodes, seven seasons** — before the expansion as *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962–1965). That is not nostalgia cosplay. That is a branded anthology with a host who was the franchise, a silhouette you could hum, and a weekly drop of murder with a wink. Rex can keep the three-network hymn. This was already a logo, a window, and a closing card that sometimes reversed the crime to soothe Standards & Practices.
Filed against
- Alfred Hitchcock as Host
Alfred Hitchcock made himself the franchise on Alfred Hitchcock Presents — silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, closings that sometimes “corrected” crime to soothe censors. Branded anthology swagger, Joan Harrison’s engine, twist…