The Perfect Crime story
Lawyer John Gregory meets with famous detective Charles Courtney who prides himself on never being wrong. Gregory has evidence that Courtney convicted the wrong man in a recent case and threatens to expose him. Courtney kills Gregory and uses his body to create a ceramic trophy in tribute of what he considers to be "the perfect crime". Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock. Story by: Ben Ray Redman, Stirling Silliphant.
12 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| how to commit a crime and get away with it | choice | The story concerned the famous detective Charles Courtney who thought the perfect crime had not yet been committed as no criminal could outsmart him. He was then confronted with the facts of a seemingly perfect crime that had indeed eluded him. The story then culminated with he himself committing what he considered to be the perfect murder, with the victim's ashes turned into a glazed trophy vase. |
| attitude of superiority | major | Charles Courtney had an unbridled arrogance regarding his own ability to outsmart criminals, and cold blooded murderers in particular. |
| murder | major | The story culminated with the detective Charles Courtney murdering a lawyer who'd threatened to expose him for sending an innocent man to the electric chair. |
| pride goes before a fall | major | Charles Courtney boasted of his skills as a private investigator but was quite embarrassed when Mr. Gregory revealed that Charles had bungled a case, which resulted in the execution of an innocent man. |
| private investigator occupation | major | The famous detective Charles Courtney came to find out that he was responsible for sending an innocent man to the electric chair. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Mr. Gregory described Alice as a hopeless alcoholic. |
| capital punishment | minor | Harrington went to the chair for a murder that he didn't commit. |
| coping with an arrogant jerk | minor | John Gregory's ambition, we understand, was to take his smug arrogant detective friend, Charles Courtney, down a peg by revealing a case in which the latter had caught the wrong man. |
| husband and wife | minor | Ernst refused to give his wife, Alice, a divorce. |
| legal occupation | minor | The defense attorney John Gregory had represented the man who was wrongfully convicted of having shot dead Ernst West. |