Seven Things to Know About Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1. Alfred Hitchcock's daughter, Pat, appeared in ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Her first appearance was in the season1 episode "Into Thin Air." Its premise was based on an urban myth known as "The Vanishing Hotel Room," which also served as the basis for the novel and film So Long at the Fair (the latter starred Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde). Pat also appeared in the memorable season 3 episode "The Glass Eye" (but more on that later).

2. The final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents was never broadcast on network television. Written by Robert Bloch (Psycho), it dealt with a manipulative woman, an easily-influenced young man, and the famous magician's trick of sawing a woman in half. NBC censors nixed the episode for being too disturbing. However, was included in the show's syndication package and has since been shown on TV frequently!

Barbara Bel Geddes.

3. The two most famous episodes are undoubtedly "Man from the South" and "Lamb to the Slaughter." The latter, directed by Hitchcock from a Roald Dahl teleplay, stars Barbara Bel Geddes as a woman who murders her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb. It earned Emmy nominations for Hitchcock (Best Direction) and Dahl (Best Teleplay Writing). In 2009, TV Guide ranked "Lamb to the Slaughter" at No. 59 on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Episodes. "Man from the South," based on another Dahl story, stars Steve McQueen as a young man who makes a macabre bet on how many times in a row a lighter will light. The episode co-stars Peter Lorre and McQueen's then-wife Neile Adams. Both "Man from the South" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" were also adapted for the 1979-88 TV series Tales of the Unexpected.

Steve McQueen in "Man from the South."

4. A number of prominent writers had stories that were adapted or wrote teleplays for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including: Ray Bradbury, John Cheever, Roald Dahl, Saki, Garson Kanin, Eric Ambler, Robert Bloch, Stirling Silliphant, Richard Levinson and William Link, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ira Levin, Charles Beaumont, and Cornell Woolrich.

5. CBS broadcast Alfred Hitchcock Presents for its first five seasons and the show was perennially ranked in the Top 30 shows according to the Nielsen ratings. The ratings dropped when it moved to NBC in 1960 and was aired opposite The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Although it never cracked the Top 30 again, Alfred Hitchcock Presents ran for seven seasons and 268 episodes. The show expanded to an hour in 1962 and was appropriately retitled The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. In that incarnation, it lasted three more seasons and 93 episodes.

Janet Leigh in Psycho.

6. When Alfred Hitchcock's plans to make Psycho in 1959 were nearly rejected by Paramount, the director cut production costs by using his Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV crew. Specifically, he "borrowed" the show's cinematographer (John L. Russell), set designer (George Milo), script supervisor (Marshall Schlom), and assistant director (Hilton A. Green) to make Psycho.

7. My favorite episode may be "The Glass Eye" from the third season. The remarkable cast features Jessica Tandy, Tom Conway, William Shatner, and Pat Hitchcock. Shatner's character tells the story of his sister, a lonely woman who becomes infatuated with a handsome ventriloquist and longs to meet him. As with many episodes, it ends with a devious twist--but this one packs a wallop (thanks largely to Tandy's acting). Stirling Silliphant (Route 66 co-creator and Oscar winner for In the Heat of the Night) penned the teleplay.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two

Since Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuted on Peacock TV last spring, we've been working our way through the show's entire run. Last July, we reviewed the impressive first season. We recently finished the second season, which--by comparison to season one--was a disappointment. Too many episodes felt like filler material and there seemed to be a disproportionate emphasis on comedic episodes. The low point was a three-parter called "I Killed the Count," which would have been boring at a single episode--much less three! Plus, it wasted the dryly amusing John Williams (once again playing a police inspector).

Still, there were some bright spots among the 39 episodes, with the highlights being:

William Redfield as the murderer.

The Manacled - As a detective sergeant escorts a convicted killer on a train ride to San Quentin, the latter tries to negotiate his freedom. Like several episodes, this is essentially a two-character play, but it's extremely well acted by Gary Merrill as the detective and especially William Redfield as the intelligent criminal who seeks out human weaknesses. The teleplay features dialogue by the great Stirling Silliphant, with my favorite passage being when the killer explains he already knew everything about the man who would escort him:  "I thought whoever it was would be wearing a ready-made suit off of a basement rack, his heels would be run down. Be the kind of man who was living on the installment plan. Doesn't really own anything, just pieces of things. A piece of a cheap car, a piece of an ice box, a piece of a bedroom set. And all the stuff he has pieces of is already falling to pieces. But he'll keep paying on it and paying on it, month after month because that's the kind of man he is. Just a piece of a man."

One More Mile to Go - During a violent argument, a man (David Wayne) kills his wife in a rage. Instead of calling the police, he cleans up the crime scene and puts her corpse in the trunk of his car. His goal is to dump the body, but a malfunctioning tail light and a persistent highway cop cause persistent problems. Directed by Hitchcock, this tense episode opens with an mesmerizing sequence without dialogue as we view the crime through a window from outside the house. 

Jessica Tandy and Robert H. Harris

Toby - Albert Birch (Robert H. Harris) is shocked when his former flame Edwina (Jessica Tandy) contacts him out of the blue. Upon meeting again, their romance is rekindled and Edwina agrees to marry Albert. She also reveals that she has custody of her dead sister's baby, Toby. However, she refuses to let Albert--or anyone else--see Toby. The climatic twist is not unexpected, but that doesn't negate the impact of this low-key, unsettling episode. Jessica Tandy gives a haunting, disturbing performance--seven years before she appeared in a pivotal role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Evelyn Rudie and Cedric Hardwicke.

A Man Greatly Beloved - A young girl named Hildegarde (Evelyn Rudie) befriends a grumpy recluse (Cedric Hardwicke), who may be a famous retired judge. Through his friendship with Hildegarde, the man gradually becomes an esteemed member of the community. Again, the twist is not surprising, but this episode is elevated by charming, natural performances--especially young Evelyn Rudie. The supporting cast includes Robert Culp in an early role. Based on a short story by Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne. Incidentally, Evelyn Rudie earned an Emmy nomination the same year for an episode of Playhouse 90. 

In Defense of Hitch's The Birds (and the birds)

My blog One Fan's List of the Best Hitchcock Films has generated a lot of comments both here and when originally posted in the CFU. I'd like to think it's because people like me (shades of Sally Field), but, alas, the blog's popularity is strictly due to Mr. Hitchcock's many fans. Reader comments often focus on the fact that I relegated Notorious to honorable mention, while ranking Marnie and The Birds among the top four spots. I've devoted a blog to Marnie...and now The Birds gets its time in the spotlight.

I first saw The Birds on NBC’s Saturday Night at the Movies with my sister in the late 1960s. I remember liking it well enough, though the film just seemed to end with no satisfactory resolution. Over the next two decades, I may have watched The Birds three or four times. But I never developed an affection for it until the early 1990s when, on a whim, I decided to view it again while my wife was out-of-town.

For the first time, I realized that the film functions on two levels for me. It is, of course, a well-done thriller about unexplained bird attacks in a small California seaside community. But it’s also a well-acted 1960s drama about three women and their relationships with the bland, but likable, Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). Mitch’s mother (wonderfully played by Jessica Tandy) fears losing her son to another woman—not because of jealousy, but because she can’t stand the thought of being abandoned. Young socialite Melanie Daniels (Hedren) views Mitch as a stable love interest, something she needs as she strives to live a more meaningful life. And Annie Hayworth (Pleshette) is the spinster schoolteacher, willing to waste her life to be near Mitch after failing to pry him from his mother.

In the midst of this soap-like plot, Hitchcock injects a series of escalating bird attacks, ranging from a gull that nips Melanie to a explosive strike at a gas station. His direction of these sequences is flawless, as evidenced by two textbook examples of creating suspense. Early in the film, there’s a cute scene in which Melanie (in a boat) races Mitch (in a car) to the other side of the bay. Hitchcock waits patiently until the viewer is involved in the race, then a gull suddenly swoops down to bite Melanie. This abrupt assault results in a sense of uneasiness that permeates the rest of the film.

Knowing that the viewer will now be prepared for more surprise attacks, Hitchcock shifts his strategy with a classic scene outside the schoolhouse. As Melanie waits for Annie and listens to the children singing, the viewer sees a flock of birds filling up the playground bars behind her. Melanie is oblivious to the impending danger until she catches sight of a single bird in flight and watches as it joins the others. It’s a brilliant example of the visual power of cinema.

Now, let's talk about the birds. Are they truly villains? I think not. Miss Bundy, the ornithologist, states in the restaurant after the attack on the children: "Birds are not aggressive creatures...it is mankind that insists in making it difficult for life to exist on this planet." I'm not suggesting that The Birds is an eco-horror film like John Frankenheimer's Prophecy (which I think is pretty entertaining, by the way). Rather, the scene with Miss Bundy is intended to soften our perception of the birds as terrifying creatures.

And why is that? Because Hitchcock doesn't want us to focus too much on the birds. The movie is about the Mitch-Melanie-Mitch's mother triangle. The birds are just catalysts. I still know people who hate the ending. If it frustrates you, think of the film as a drama in which all the conflicts between characters have been resolved. In that sense, The Birds ends when it should.

I realize that Notorious fans can argue the complexities of that Hitchcock classic just as well. But the purpose of this blog is not to explain why Notorious didn't make my top 10 (and, yes, I need to see it again). Rather, my goal is to point out that The Birds is more than just a suspense film and its ability to function effectively on two different levels (thriller and relationship drama) is why I love it.