Show53
When Lt. Tragg makes his first visit to the suspect’s house, he wistfully flirts with Della Street, uncharacteristically to the point where he forgets himself. Submitted by gracep, 8/12/10.
+ It's hard to tell whether Lt. Tragg is embarrassed by his effusiveness, or whether Ray Collins forgets his line and, wiley old pro he was, moves to his next line to save the take. In any case, a delightful moment. OldDave, 7/30/20
++ I agree, i watched with amazement and amusement wondering where the script was going to go, and then -- whoosh -- everything was back on track again. Kudos to the director for keeping that odd little scene intact. Submitted by catyron, December 27, 2020.
That rogue Paul Drake! He stole Della’s coffee cup about 2/3 into the episode. He eats her sandwich, too! Submitted by gracenote, 2/21/2011.
+The roguish Mr. Drake can barely keep a straight face when Metcalf goes off on his fish speech in Perry's office. Or is Bill Hopper breaking at Cecil Kellaway hilarious performance? In any case, a delightful moment. OldDave, 7/30/20
Hopper was a child of show business. I suspect we are seeing his undisguised delight at watching a beloved and highly respected old pro at work. DOD 09/12/23
I had a new bit of amusement at Cecil Kellaway's fish speech this last evening's viewing of this episode. I didn't pay a lot of attention to all of his dialog the first few times I heard it; but this time, a word/name leapt out at me. 'Shubunkin'.
""Shubunkins are similar to the common goldfish and comet goldfish in appearance. They were first bred in Japan, from crossbreeding the calico telescope eye goldfish (Demekins), comet goldfish, and the common goldfish c. 1900. They have streamlined bodies with well-developed and even fins.""
Now, I'll explain WHY that name leapt out at me. I was trying to sleep a couple of nights ago, and I flipped to the movie channel, and chanced on a film entitled 'The Gangster'. The Gangster (aka Low Company) is a 1947 American crime film noir directed by Gordon Wiles. The drama features Barry Sullivan, Belita, Joan Lorring and Akim Tamiroff. The screenplay was written by Daniel Fuchs, based on his novel Low Company. Now, when I saw Barry Sullivan's name, I was intrigued: was this a good movie? Well, I'll come back to that ... but the reason why 'Shubunkin' grabbed my interest was because the name of the character Sullivan played in this movie was .... SHUBUNKA! Now as far as the movie is concerned, I'll just say that I MUCH preferred his performance in the PM episode he starred in ... I got about a half-hour in, before I threw in the towel and tuned to the Cooking Channel! Submitted by Mike Reese, 12/10/2020
Someone sure has a cough during the courtroom scenes either quietly (before Metcalf says 'I do" before being sworn in), or during dialog (when Burger says "Cross examine" to Perry after questioning Sally Wilson) or otherwise when changing witnesses or other breaks in dialog. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 8/05/12
Why isn't this episode considered to be an official adaptation of a novel (The Golddigger's Purse)? Because the title character was dropped and the title had to be changed? Years later "The Mystified Miner" was officially based on The Spurious Spinster. "The Glittering Goldfish" certainly has as much in common with The Golddigger's Purse as "The Empty Tin" has with The Empty Tin. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/29/13.
Wiseguy70005 is right! I've wondered about this for years. Submitted by Bill-W2XOY
Goofs: In two separate scenes, the actor's voice was heard without the lips moving. The first scene was at the office when Donna Sherwood comments about the Beta fish order.
+ "Miss" Sherwood isn't the one talking. Huxley is talking to Miss Wilson. Watch carefully. You can see him turning away from Miss Wilson in the next shot. OLEF641; 10/11/2017.
Not to question the looks or acting of Murvyn Vye, who played Huxley, but his character doesn't look as though he has any interest in fish ... just money. I guess that's the point? Submitted by MikeReese, 8/26/2014.
Question: Did Mrs. Huxley and Myers retain the rights to the formula or were they returned to Tom? Remember, Perry said he "found a nice lovely flaw in paragraph three" of the contract. Submitted by H. Mason 10/16/14
Equipment Visible: Boom mic shadow can be seen on the wall behind Burger's first witness ("officer"). Submitted by Kilo 6/21/2017
When Darrell Metcalf discovers Huxley's body, he seems genuinely surprised that Huxley is dead. Since no one else is present in this scene, Metcalf has no reason to be deceptive. Why is Metcalf surprised if he himself did the deed? Submitted by EricM, 12/13/09.
+ Probably the reasoning is that he may have been too drunk to remember his actions! Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/29/13.
+ A good try, but if Metcalf is too drunk to remember killing someone, why is he sober enough to remember not to drink out of the glass with the poison in it? Yes, the glass might be empty, but his choice of glasses was considered damning evidence by Perry. And there are at least two other episodes where the people who discover the body, and act shocked, turn out to be the killers, and they, too, are alone when they do so, meaning there's no reason for them to act so surprised. Maybe it's the screenwriters who had too much to drink. Submitted by Scarter 12/14/13
+ I don't think this was one of those murderer-faking-surprise-finding-body moments (which presumably are required to keep their identity concealed from us, the viewers). I think Metcalf had to be sure his dose of morphine had worked. He was being cautious in case Huxley was only passed out and might wake up. Once he confirmed he was dead, he grinned. Worked for me! Submitted by JazzBaby, 8/8/2019.
++ Alas, this is a straight-up cheat. Metcalf clearly had no idea when he touches the body it's going to be cold. This is the second time in just three episodes where we've had murderer surprised by the body in private, although at least in episode 50 there was the chance someone could have been observing from afar. But who cares? Cecil Kellaway is so splendid, why dig for quibbles? I agree with BobH's comment below that this may be the best guest performance in the run of the show. OldDave 7/30/20
Supposedly Perry reaches his conclusion of who the guilty party is based on the fact that Metcalf drank from the glass with the lipstick leaving his prints on the glass. Maybe the fact that the other glass and the bottle are both empty might have something to do with that as well. Submitted by Wiseguy70005, 7/29/13.
Another clue is Metcalfe’s not listing the morphine in his analysis, because he used it on Huxley, which is why Perry’s test failed. Why not list it, anyway? DOD 07/15/19
+Must be that as part of his analysis, he refined the morphine out of the mixture. If he put it on his list, he would have been acknowledging he had access to morphine.
The Best Performance by a Guest Actor in Series History?: The great character actor Cecil Kellaway turns in a terrific performance as Darrell Metcalf, particularly during Perry's cross-examination of him. His regretful summary of his qualifications as a chemist is masterful, getting more out of the three words "Yes, I'm qualified," after summarizing his educational background, than anyone could possibly imagine. He manages to be both sympathetic and scary as he explains his motive for committing the murder. Submitted by BobH, 18 June 2016.
Pardon me for just reading Wikipedia into the transcript, but I was curious about Cecil Kellaway, and found that he was a really busy actor, for many years. He did a lot of Australian theatre and movies, and then a zillion character parts for several US studios and TV, earning two Oscar nominations, hanging in there until the early 1970s (and his 80s). JohnK, 11 August 2021
In “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte”, Cecil Kellaway shares a closing scene with William Campbell. Both played the guilty party on PM. DOD 09/12/23