A Crime for Mothers story

ahp6x16 · 1961-01-24

Mrs. Meade wants to extort money from Jane and Ralph Birdwell, the couple who raised Mrs. Meade's abandoned daughter Eileen as their own. Meade teams up with private investigator Phil Ames to kidnap Eileen, but it turns out to be a trap, as Phil is a friend of the Birdwells. Directed by: Ida Lupino. Story by: Henry Slesar.

13 total · 7 major · 6 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
adoption of a child	major	The story is about an adopted child whose biological mother threatened to change her mind after the fact.
alcohol abuse	major	Mrs. Meade's drinking led her to give up her child seven years prior, and she was never far from the bottle in the story.
child abduction	major	Mrs. Mead kidnapped a young girl who she mistakenly believed to be her own daughter in an failed bid to extract a ransom from the girl's foster parents.
custody battle	major	Mrs. Mead planned to battle for custody of her daughter in the courts, but ended up trying to kidnap her instead. Mrs. Mead explicitly threatened to take the Birdwell's to court to get custody of her daughter.
mother and daughter	major	The story follows Mrs. Mead's efforts to extort money from the foster parents of her young daughter, Eileen.
putting a child up for adoption	major	Mrs. Mead pretended to want back the child she'd giving up for adoption years prior in an effort to make a quick buck.
ransom kidnapping	major	Mrs. Mead kidnapped a young girl who she mistakenly believed to be her own daughter in an failed bid to extract a ransom from the girl's foster parents.
betrayal	minor	Phil betrayed the trust of his client, Mrs. Mead, by setting her up for a kidnapping.
blackmail	minor	A lawyer said Mrs. Mead's ideas amounted to little more than blackmail.
brother and brother	minor	In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock's "brother", actually Alfred himself wearing a fake mustache, showed his resentment of Alfred by playing a montage of video clips showing Alfred in scenes of mortal danger.