I was surprised at all the negative reviews that panned this episode. I think it is a showcase of the brilliance of the director, Alfred Hitchcock himself. I suspect everyone has encountered a real life person just like Millicent. There were so many subtle touches to highlight what a wealthy, awkward, eccentric, not-so-popular girl does. You may notice the soiled handkerchief tucked into the sleeve of her sweater. She cowerered and shuffled as she walked. She oscillated between shrinking back from her father and rising up at him. Surely the viewers can remember that one girl in high school who looked and talked like Millicent. It took a lot of guts for Tita Purdum to visually portray a homely, repugnant murderess. She was at the time married to Hollywood heartthrob Edmund Purdom. She exhibited the same type of guts Bette Davis showed in her realistic portrayal of an overly made-up neurotic in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The episode captured a realistic type of person who is often shut away, shunned by society. A true type of histrionic misfit. This was a no holds
barred portrait of a personality type that really exists.
Review of Wet Saturday
