Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Season One (1955)

When it premiered on CBS on October 2, 1955, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was an instant hit destined for long-term popularity. The series' original half-hour anthology format provided a perfect showcase for stories of mystery, suspense, and the macabre that reflected Hitchcock's established persona. Every Sunday at 9:30 p.m., the series began with the familiar theme of Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" (which would thereafter be inextricably linked with Hitchcock), and as Hitchcock's trademark profile sketch was overshadowed by the familiar silhouette of Hitchcock himself, the weekly "play" opened and closed with the series' most popular feature: As a good-natured host whose inimitable presence made him a global celebrity, Hitchcock delivered droll, dryly sardonic introductions and epilogues to each week's episode, flawlessly written by James Allardyce and frequently taking polite pot-shots at CBS sponsors, or skirting around broadcast standards (which demanded that no crime could go unpunished) by humorously explaining how the show's killers and criminals were always brought to justice... though always with a nod and a wink to the viewer.

This knowing complicity was Hitchcock's pact with his audience, and the secret to his (and the series') long-term success. It's also what attracted a stable of talented writers whose teleplays, both original and adapted, maintained a high standard of excellence. Hitchcock directed four of the first season's 39 episodes, including the premiere episode "Revenge" (a fan favorite, with future Psycho costar Vera Miles) and the season highlight "Breakdown," with Joseph Cotten as a car-accident victim, paralyzed and motionless, who's nearly left for dead; it's a perfect example of visual and narrative economy, executed with a master's touch. (The fourth episode, "Don't Come Back Alive," is also a popular favorite, with the kind of sinister twist that became a series trademark.) Robert Stevenson directed the majority of the remaining episodes with similar skill, serving tightly plotted tales (selected by associate producers Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd) by such literary greats as Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Cornell Woolrich, Dorothy L. Sayers, and John Collier. Adding to the series' prestige was a weekly roster of new and seasoned stars, with first-season appearances by Cloris Leachman, Darren McGavin, Everett Sloane, Peter Lawford, Charles Bronson, Barry Fitzgerald, John Cassavetes, Joanne Woodward, Thelma Ritter, and a host of Hollywood's best-known character players. With such stellar talent on weekly display, Alfred Hitchcock Presents paved the way for Thriller, The Twilight Zone, and other series that maximized the anthology format's storytelling potential.

Packed onto three double-sided DVDs, these 39 episodes hold up remarkably well, and while some prints show the wear and tear of syndication, they look and sound surprisingly good (although audio compression will cause many viewers to turn up the volume). The 15-minute bonus featurette, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back" is perfunctory at best, but it's nice to see new anecdotal interviews with Norman Lloyd, assistant director Hilton Green, and Hitchcock's daughter Pat (a frequent performer on these episodes), who survived to see their popular series benefit from the archival convenience of DVD. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Alfred Hitchcock Presents- The Complete First Season

This is the Complete First Season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The set contains all original 39 episodes from the first season of this Award Winning Murder Mystery series. All 16 hours of this brilliant show on 3 discs in a well packaged set. You will be sure to enjoy this one.

Episodes:

Disc one -

1. "Revenge"- A woman gets attacked in her home. Her husband seeks revenge on his bride's attacker. When he finds the attacker and gets his revenge he ends up finding out more than he bargained for.
2. "Premonition"- A traveling man returns to his home town after being struck by a terrible Premonition. Nothing seems normal upon his return. His family is acting strangely and he is looking for his father. His family is hesitant to tell him the facts about his father and he sets out on a mission to find out the truth and what the truth turns out to be will shock you.
3."Triggers in Leash"- 2 gunmen are hell bent on settling a dispute.. in a cook's house. As she cooks them dinner they draw their guns and begin a battle to see who will kill who first before the clock strikes midnight.
4."Don't Come Back Alive"- Frank and Mildred are struggling to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head. They need money and want to live a good life. They realize they have a 25,000 dollar policy but in order to cash in one of them has to die. This plan also means one of them would have to disappear for 7 years in order to collect. They make the decision, Mildred disappears then an ironic twist of events leads to the worst.
5."Into Thin Air"- Diana and her mother arrive in Paris during the World Expedition. Her mother starts to feel ill so they take up in a fancy hotel for the night. A mysterious doctor shows up and sends Diana off to get medicine for her mother. When Diana arrives back her mother has vanished "Into Thin Air" and the hotel concierge are completely denying she was ever at the hotel. Diana has to try to solve the mystery and find her mother before it's too late.
6."Salvage"- A story of a prisoner named Dan who's just been released. While in Prison, his brother was killed because of details that a woman named Lois gave to police. Dan catches up with Lois and instead of killing her makes her dreams come true. You will see what his motive for this was in the end.
7."Breakdown"- Mr. Callew, An arrogant businessman is resting on the beach along with a colleague/friend. While relaxing he receives a phone call from a recently fired employee who's life has now been destroyed because of him. Mr. Callew shows no remorse. He later ends up running off the road at a construction site ahead. His eyes are open, he's stuck behind the wheel yet his conscious is still operating. He can hear, he can see, he can feel, or can he? He desperately tries to let the people who come by know he's alive, or is he?
8."Our Cook's Treasure"- After having breakfast with his wife and a new cook Ralph starts to have indigestion. He gets sick and eventually he starts to think he's being poisoned. He brings a sample of his cocoa to a Dr. Later he reads of a housekeeper who poisons their employers and is still at large. Then things start to click.
9."The Long Shot"- Charlie Raymond is a gambler who's deep in debt. He ends up reading a newspaper advertisment asking for a londoner who is willing to accompany a British visitor on a trip. The man he meets asks a lot of questions.
10."The Case of Mr. Pelham"- Mr. Pelham consults a doctor after some troubling incidents. Acquaintances claim to have seen him in places he could not have been. They come to the conclusion there may be another man with a resemblence to Pelham. In actuality it's a man who's deliberately impersonating him.
11."Guilty Witness"- Stanley Crane is working at his grocery store when his upstairs neighbor comes in with a bruised face. She seems to have been beaten up. The same night Stanley and his wife hear fight. This time it's different though. One of them is dead and now they have to prove it to the investigator.
12."Santa Claus and the 10th Avenue Kid"- Story of Harold, a thief who has done time and is now out on parole. He gets a job as a department store Santa Claus. At first he isn't happy but soon sacrifices himself to make a kid's wish come true.
13."The Cheney Vase"- Lyle is a smooth talker yet he can't seem to save his job at a Manhatten Art Museum. He finally gets lucky. An old woman comes in the Museum and he hears about a vase. He seems this as his opportunity, goes to the woman's house and invades her life.
14."A Bullet for Baldwin"- A fired office worker ends up shooting his boss to death. He goes back to his home and waits to be arrested. Instead everyone acts like nothing happened the next day.

Disc Two-

15."The Big Switch"- It's the 1920's and Gangster Sam Dunleavy has just returned to town. He is visited by his childhood friend. Sam has a falling out with a girlfriend and plans on killing her. Despite being warned not to, he tries to go through with it. Then a series of unexpected events occur.
16."You Got to Have Luck"- An escaped convict invades a woman's house after her husband leaves for work. From there he gives her orders and thinks he's home free until an ironic twist at the end sends him back to the slammer.
17."The Older Sister"- A story taking place one year after the acquittal of the Lizzie Borden murders. This short story is centered around Mr. and Mrs. Borden's murder and an investigator trying to solve the mystery of the Borden murder's.
18."Shopping for Death"- Two retired insurance salesman take it upon themselves to try to help rescue people they think are close to death. They approach an out of control woman and try to get her help before she ends up dead too.
19."The Derelicts"- Mr. Sloane lends Ralph money he needs to develop an invention in return for half of the profits. When Mr. Sloane comes to collect his money it turns out Ralph spent all of it on his attractive materialistic wife.
Ralph panics and ends up killing Mr. Sloane. He thinks he's home free. But there's one problem- The murder was witnessed by a vagrant and now he wants a piece of the good life or Ralph will pay in more ways than one.
20."And So Died Riabouchinska"- When a dead man is found in a theatre a detective is hired to investigate. He learns the dead man had a connection to Fabian, a ventriloquist. As the detective is questioning the man the female dummy begins to talk. As the detective humors the ventriliquist he soon finds out the truth about the murders.
21."Safe Conduct"- Mary Prescott is returning from a trip behind the Iron Curtain traveling with a letter of safe conduct from the President. She soon encounters the Captain of a soccer team from that country. He asks her out to dinner and asks her to take a watch across the border for him. He ends up reporting her as a smuggler.
22."Place of Shadows"- A Priest, a young man, a snowstorm and revenge.
23."Back for Christmas"- Herbert is digging a hole in the basement. His wife thinks it's for a wine cellar but it's really for her soon to be dead body.
24."The Perfect Murder"- Two brothers plan to kill their aunt after finding out that they won't get any inheritance until she dies.
25."There Was an Old Woman"- An elderly woman has a conversation with a milkman and ends up telling him a relative of hers has passed away. After this, the milkman has a conversation about the woman's eccentric nature and wealth with the customer. THey plan to rob her, but when they get there the woman seems insane and they are in for more than they bargained for.
26."Whodunit"- A recently dead writer appears before an Angel in heaven. After hearing unpleasant news about the real cause of his death, the angel decides to let him go back and live one more day so he can find out who ended up killing him.
27."Help Wanted"- An aging man being let go from his job. His new employer has an unexpected assignment for him.
28."Portrait of Jocelyn"- Mark Halliday and his Mrs. are getting a new painting. The painting isn't what they expect. Soon the truth about the painting and Mr. Halliday is revealed.

Disc Three-

29."The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby"- Mr. Appleby is going out of business. A representitive shows up and tells him he must pay his bills or else. His wife has some money, he decides to kill her and make it look like an accident. He soon ends up meeting a woman and she is also wealthy but she knows all about Mr. Appleby.
30."Never Again"- A distressed woman with a hangover tries to piece together clues of what happened the night before. She's in a hospital, She's injured and trying to figure out what happened.
31."The Gentleman from America"- Setting- 1940, surrounding a rich american named Latimer and a gambler named Sir Stephen. These 2 end up having a conversation. A ghost haunts Sir Sephen's home. Soon Sir Stephen makes a bet that Latimer can't make it through the night.
32."The Baby Sitter"- A detective goes to question a babysitter about the murder of a girl who she had been working with. Turns out the babysitter didn't like the girl very much. They think she may have something to do with it.
33."The Belfry"- Clint is in love and wants to marry the county's schoolteacher. He ends up building a house for them. Ellie dosen't seem to be interested in him though. She's already engaged to another man. Clint is enraged and ends up killing Ellie's fiance with an ax. As he's being hunted he hides in the belltower.
34."The Hidden Thing"- After seeing his fiance hit and killed by a driver a young man is devastated. He soon ends up getting a visit from a man who also went through something similar and they end up using memory recall to help him.
35."The Legacy"- Author visits Palm beach and meets some old friends. While there he is writing a book. Has to do with a married socialite's affair and a Prince.
36."Mink"- A story about a woman and a stolen mink coat.
37."Decoy"- A man is in love with a singer who is being abused by her husband. He decides to take action and ends up getting framed for the husband's murder.
38."The Creeper"- A Strangler's on the loose in New York. Ellen is scared and wants a new lock for her apartment. A locksmith arrives. While he's there her friend Steve calls and tells her the Creeper is using a job as a locksmith to get into people's homes.
39."Momentum"- Dick is forced to work for half his pay, dosen't want to and decides to resort to murder.
Special Feature- Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back

Other special features include A Piece on the history of Alfred Hitchcock's television show featuring all new interviews with Pat Hitchcock- Alfred's daughter, Norman Lloyd, Producer, Director & Actor Plus Hilton Green, Assistant Director.

The set contains both Spanish and English subtitles and is worth every penny if you're interested in some classic and wonderfully directed pieces of TV history. Every episode is great, both in plot and directing. Enjoy. September 23, 2008

Excellent show, though the quality of the episodes is highly variable

This is one of the best TV shows in history, right up there with the original Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, unlike the Twilight Zone, the quality of its episodes is highly variable. Some season one episodes are classics, like Revenge, And So Died Riabouchinska, and There Was an Old Woman, and some are clunkers, like Safe Conduct, and Place of Shadows. All in all however, this is still one of the all time best TV shows. I only wish Hitch's alternate opening monologues that he recorded for British audiences were included as well as a special feature. The American openings made fun of our commercials; his British openings poked fun at Americans. September 22, 2008

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Anyone who likes Alfred Hitchcock will enjoy this set. Each one has a lot of movie stars in it along with good twists and turns to the story. I highly recommend this. September 6, 2008

Hitchcock is finally here -these were big$$ on ebay before.

This along with The Untouchables are 2 great classic TV shows that are now offered on DVD. Both are too pricey, that is why a 4 not a 5. August 21, 2008

Endless supply of little dramas.

This compilation contains bite-sized television dramas from the 1950s.

The compilation deserves FOUR STARS on the basis of the huge quantity of dramas found within, as well as the fact that six of the episodes are truly excellent. There are 39 stories. All of the stories begin with a creepy, deadpan introduction by Mr. Hitchcock. For example, in one introduction, he has a fake knife driven into his back.

This concerns the packaging. The package is sturdy. There is a separate plastic insert for each of the three discs. The discs are two-sided. This means that there are no charming pictures on one side of the disc. But in the Superman T.V. series, the five discs bear photographs of Superman, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White. The Hitchcock package has large photographs of some of the actors. But this is a waste of space. In contrast, the Superman package contains a synopsis of each of the shows, in addition to the title. This is helpful in determining if you've seen the show already or not. The Hitchcock package contains only a list of titles, and no synopsis.

A few of Amazon.com's reviewers complained about problems with the discs, for example, spontaneous stopping. None of my discs had any problems. They all performed smoothly and without any glitches.

This is about the Hitchcock dramas. The actors are first rate, for example, one of the shows features John Forsyth, a familiar face to all baby-boomers. Also, a few of the Hitchcock actors have also appeared on the Twilight Zone series, for example, that elderly man with the facinating face, Ceril Delevanti.

Out of the 39 dramas, I found found a half-dozen shows that are solid FIVE STAR shows. The first concerns an automobile trip from New York City to San Francisco, where two men share thoughts about England. The second concerns a man in England who buries his wife in his basement, and travels to a new job in America. The third concerns a young couple living in a trailer park, where the wife imagines that she was attacked (this one has plump actress Frances Bavier, a.k.a. Aunt Bee). The fourth concerns a belligerent woman who likes to give shopkeepers a hard time. The fifth concerns a man who believes his housekeeper is trying to poison him, but it turns out to be his wife (oh no, I gave away the ending). The sixth, the one with John Forsyth, contains a classic surprise ending.

This is about my favorite story, the one about the belligerent woman. It is called SHOPPING FOR DEATH, by Ray Bradbury. Mr.Hitchcock introduces the story by opening and closing a door. There is no squeak. Then he applies something from an oil can, and opens and closes the door. There are very loud squeaks. He says, "There, that's better, much better. Loud-squeaking fluid! On dark nights, you can spray it in the air if the wind isn't whistling loud enough. It can make old shoes squeak like new again." Then the story begins.

SHOPPING FOR DEATH features Jo Van Fleet, an actress who performed in over 50 movies and T.V. shows, e.g., East of Eden, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 77 Sunset Strip, Cool Hand Luke, Bonanza, The Trip to Bountiful, and others. In a nutshell, the woman likes to give shopkeepers a hard time. She is always on the verge of anger, for typical reasons. These reasons include, lack of money, an apartment that is too noisy, a husband who drinks too much, and concern for getting too old. The plot involves two retired life insurance men, who show concern for the woman's excess belligerance (especially in view of the hot summer weather), from safety hazards in her apartment (frayed electric wires), and from her failure to refrigerate meat from the butcher. The two men try to warn the woman that she shouldn't be so quick to anger, since this might provoke retaliation. But the woman responds with paranoia, and send the two men away. The story ends when we see the husband returning home from an hour of drinking. Surprisingly, this is the only Hitchcock story without any actual violence--but there is a ton of implied violence. This is what makes SHOPPING FOR DEATH a work of dramatic art.

My second favorite story is THE LONG SHOT. Mr.Hitchcock begins the monologue by working a gambling machine. He says, "My last quarter. I've been lucky this evening." Mr.Hitchcock steps to the side, and we see that actual fruits have come out of the gambling machine--oranges, grapes, lemons. The drama features Peter Lawford, a gambler who bets on horses. But he has a gambling debt of $4,200 that is owed to "Dutch." He spots an ad from a driver to accompany an Englishman across the country, from New York to San Francisco. His goal is to get out of town and to hide from Dutch. During the motor trip, Peter Lawford and the Englishman talk about places in London--Soho, the Algerian Cafe on Dean Street, cafes on Fleet Street, and the Queen. During the trip, Peter Lawford snoops in the Englishman's brief case and finds a letter promising a $200,000 inheritance from "Uncle Gerald." Peter Lawford decides to impersonate the nephew, and so in continuing the motor trip, he murders the Englishman in the Nevada desert, by running over him with the automobile. In a day or so, Peter Lawford shows up at the attorney's office in San Francisco to claim his inheritance. But then, the viewer is treated to a remarkable surprise ending.

Most of the plots are not really first rate. For example, BACK FOR CHRISTMAS is an average show. Far superior versions of the same sort of plot can be found in MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, which features Natalie Wood as a child, and NIGHT OF THE MEEK, a charming Christmas drama in the Twilight Zone series featuring Art Carney.

Also, too many of the Hitchcock shows have old people. There are just too many damned old people in the Hitchcock stories. In contrast, Twilight Zone features mostly middle-aged persons, for example, two excellent dramas with a youthful William Shatner, as well as several dramas where the main actor is a little boy or girl.

Nearly all of the Hitchcock dramas show somebody getting whacked on the head, run over by an automobile, shot, knived, poisoned, or bludgeoned. Is this the kind of program that I'd want to watch more than once? No. August 14, 2008

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