The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

I've always enjoyed anthology shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and the Twilight Zone. Overall the all of them had some really great episodes that I love to view over and over. I now have them all on DVD or Blu Ray. My favorite episodes have some humor sprinkled in the the mystery and suspense. Then the twist ending or shock ending that makes them better. Some of my favorites are "Final Vow" with Carol Lynley, "Diagnosis Danger" with Michael Parks, "Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans" with Katherine Crawford, "Terror at Northfield" with Dick York, "See the Monkey Dance" with Efrem Zimbalist Jr., "A Matter of Murder" with Darren Mcgavin, "The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow" with Patricia Coolidge, "A Home Away From Home" with Ray Milland, "Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale" with Fess Parker(My favorite episode), "The Jar" with Pat Buttram. There are far too many of the shows that don't feel like a Hitchcock show or are down right boring. But the episodes I listed above are well worth watching.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour has generated two schools of thought. Some think the longer format allows for more character development while others maintain it results in episodes having to be padded. I would say compared to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, these are of a more even quality. I scored a few 9 or 10 in both series, but AHP had many more boring, even terrible episodes, though to be fair more than twice as many were made.

My ten favourites, in chronological order: 3 Night of the Owl. The story may rather lack believability, but compensated by great performances from Brian Keith (who seems to me like an understated John Wayne) and Patricia Breslin.

8 House Guest. Not entirely dissimilar to the above, decent family taken advantage of by a cunning crook.

23 The Lonely Hours. Obsessive, childless woman steals her landlady's baby, all female cast.

33 Home Away From Home. Atmospheric drama, mental patients imprison staff and take over asylum.

45 The Magic Shop. Much more sci-fi than usual Hitchcock. Half a dozen reviewers compare it to The Twilight Zone's It's a Good Life, for my money this is creepier and has more content.

50 Final Escape. Uncomplicated tale of a prisoner who will take almost any risk to escape. Without doubt the most shocking denouement.

65 Return of Verge Likens. Man plots revenge on local politician who killed his father, undeterred by objections from his easy going brother. Unanimously acclaimed by reviewers thus far.

75 Consider Her Ways. Another episode escaped from The Twilight Zone. A doctor under the influence of a new drug hallucinates about a future earth without men, and determines to prevent it.

84 Death Scene. This is not universally liked by other reviewers. I enjoyed it as a nod, whether intentional or not, to Sunset Boulevard, with private movie theatre, classy old car, and swimming pool.

92 Night Fever. An injured robber falls for his older nurse, but is he just trying to use her? I include this one mainly to question the groupthink of several reviewers who accept the storyline claim that Coleen Dewhurst is plain. She is over 40 but surely better looking than the villain's floozy like girlfriend briefly seen at the end. It's in the eye of the beholder of course, but maybe these guys would say Diana Doors was better looking than Diana Rigg?

For Alfred Hitchcock's centennial, Encore has been showing old reruns of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour tv show. I really have been enjoying them. Especially seeing Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield, who co-starred together in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, to team up again! I have only seen 4 but I am begging for more.:-)

Alfred Hitchock Presents ran half-hour shows, which stuck strictly to whodunits. The Alfred Hitchock hour tended more toward one-hour dramas with twist endings. As usual, each episode boasted a pageant of stars. Stories were not as tightly knit. Some episodes were laconic. This was television's last attempt at the Playhouse 90s, Alcoa/Goodyear TV Playhouses, the Loretta Young Shows and Kraft Mystery Theatres. It was the last of an age of television, which story lines lasted an entire hour, rather than being broken up into various story lines and woven subplots. Here were the the last of the great playwrights, in their eleventh hour, just before Fred Silverman turned television into tedium.

I occasionally hear of people making lists of the all-time best tv series (TV Guide did it recently), and they never seem to mention either of Hitchcock's Television series, even though these are the same people that call Hitchcock among the greatest directors. I watched this show all the time when I was younger (or so I seem to remember), but it does not seem to be on very often any more. Hitchcock's shows are much better than his movies, in my opinion. The thing about the show is that it is limited to only an hour, so the story is forced to progress more quickly, and keeps me interested more easily. My favorite episodes are "The Return of Verge Likens" with Peter Fonda, "The Man from Rio" with Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen, and "One More Mile to Go."