Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) The Last Escape (1961) User Reviews

There's no escape!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 15 April 2021]

The Great Ferlini (Keenan Wynn) is a stage magician whose routine has gotten a bit stale....so he decides to try a big escape trick...sort of like the thinks Houdini was known for doing. He'll have himself tied up, locked in a trunk and tossed in the river....and escape. But he hadn't counted on one thing...his wife. Their marriage is nasty and verbally abusive...and she conspires with her boyfriend to have this be Ferlini's FINAL trick. But in the end, the final trick is clearly Ferlini's.

This is an okay episode...neither particularly good nor bad. I think the ending twist is a big cheap...but overall it's watchable and the actors give it their best. Worth seeing if you adore the show...otherwise, you could do better.

One More Trick

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 28 May 2021]

Keenan Wynn is a Houdini type escape artist who is very hard on his partner. He is growing old and feels he needs one more incredible escape to get back in the public eye. She decides it is time for him to go and enlists a new lover to help. The ending could have been better. I could offer about six endings that would prove both dramatic and ironic.

Glug! Glug! Glug!

[dougdoepke · 19 December 2009]

The Great Ferlini (Wynn) is an egotistical braggart who knocks around his lovely assistant Wanda (Sterling) when not doing his cheesy escape act for nightclub audiences. The trouble is they're both aging and so is their act. Now Ferlini dreams of the big time with a socko new escape trick from a box dropped into a lake. And it might just work, what with all the hidden keys and razor blades, plus a big publicity buildup. Except, Wanda is tired of getting socked around, and now she's got a new, younger squeeze Tommy (Craven). Plus she knows how to narrow the field by getting rid of the obnoxious Ferlini. However, she's forgotten one thing—he is an escape artist.

Average episode, at best. The pay-off is somewhat ironic, but lacks the punch of the better episodes. Then too, the story is filmed in straightforward manner, adding nothing to the one- note suspense script. Nonetheless, Sterling's soulful brand of blonde cheapness is always entertaining, while Wynn struts and puffs appropriately as the great artiste. Still and all, by this sixth season, the dropoff in story quality has become noticeable.

THE GREAT FERLINI HAS SPOKEN!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 7 March 2023]

Actor Paul Henreid, who directed a record 28 episodes for Hitch, did a fabulous job with his two stars. Keenan Wynn and Jan Sterling are the whole show. Wynn plays a modern Houdini of sorts, called Ferlini, whose career is on the skids. He wants to do one last BIG escape, and has his wife, Wanda (Sterling) as his assistant --tired of being his punching bag.

As Hitchcock would want it, Wanda naturally has a new beau, further complicating matters for Joe Ferlini. This is macabre fun stuff; Wanda gets to thinking of how she could get rid of this ordinary Joe (get it?) once and for all, and committing the perfect crime.

The ending is memorable, and employing an actual Houdini trick.

Well written and will definitely keep your attention.

Dennis Patrick also guest stars, best remembered for DARK SHADOWS. Let the games begin.

SEASON 6 remastered CBS/Universal dvd box set.