Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Truly a classic, this long-running TV series(1955-65) was way ahead of its time. Its host, Alfred Hitchcock presented stories in this weekly, half-hour dramatic/suspense anthology that virtually no other program would even dream of presenting. Like many of Hitch's films, the stories presented frequently dealt with murder and deception, sometimes on a humerous level. Anyone expecting the show to end with the conventional happy ending would fare better to tune into another television program. In addition to hosting the show, Hitchcock directed several episodes of the series as well.

While the films of Alfred Hitchcock are still widely celebrated decades after the legendary director himself has been gone, many people often gloss over his work in television, which is a really big mistake. When this show hit the scene in the 1950s, tv was new, and everybody seemed to like the idea of Alfred's engaging, crime related dramas being condensed into a more easy to understand format. Each episode of this show is like its own, small Hitchcock movie, some good and some not so good. This is the price you pay for Hitchcock Presents being an anthology show, meaning the storylines for the episodes are all disconnected and have nothing to do with one another. This allowed the show to gather a truly impressive range of guest stars, some of them being among the all time best classic Hollywood had to offer, such as Bette Davis, Clint Eastwood, Cedric Hardwicke, Steve McQueen, Robert Duvall, Charles Bronson, Burt Reynolds, Vera Miles, John Cassavetes and Peter Lorre just to name a few. Before The Twilight Zone pushed the boundaries of fantastic stories that often couldn't be explained by anyone, this series was basically doing the same, minus some of the fantasy elements. Basically all the episodes of this show are grounded in reality and deal with events that can possibly take place, but they will usually contain strange coincidences or Hitchcock's signature use of suspense to keep the viewers guessing (not to mention interested). Just like any other show like this, people love to discuss their favorites and point out everything the series has to offer in great detail. Among the literal hundreds of episodes Hitchcock's female companion Joan Harrison produced (along with Norman Lloyd), I will never forget how creepy the one involving the car accident is. If you've seen it already, you'll know what I'm talking about, and Hitchcock is one of the few people to make an audience feel real fear through a tv screen. Not by using cheap jumpscares that you can't predict, but by taking advantage of the fact that everyone is afraid of being paralyzed. The only thing worse than an impossibly bad situation is not even being able to remove yourself from it. That being said, there are definitely way too many other great episodes of this show to mention here, and many of them are complicated, so you'll need to see them yourself to get the full effect. Overall, I would say that Alfred Hitchcock Presents is a classic show that still entertains decades later because it takes back the talent of telling interesting, crime related stories: something that is often left by the wayside in tv now.

A delightful mix of suspense and humor, the serious and the absurd, Alfred Hitchcock Presents may be the best filmed anthology of all. The half-hour show ran seven seasons, the hour-longs lasted for three. I prefer the shorter shows, which have more punch and variety, and also seem more energetic and original. Aided by producers Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd, Hitchcock owned the show through his production company, yet actually had little to do with the series, of which he directed only a small number of episodes. But Harrison and Lloyd knew Hitch and his tastes quite well, and the Hitchcock shows reflected his interests and preoccupations. He also delivered the droll introductions, which are still a joy to watch, becoming somewhat of a celebrity as a result. Drawing on such disparate sources as Ray Bradbury and John Collier, Ambrose Bierce and Guy de Maupassant, the show drew on some of the most gifted actors (if not biggest stars) in the business. They are best viewed without commercial interruption, one after the other. Their dry mood and subtle humor is still charming after all these years.

This show is fun! Each episode presents a dense little nugget of a story (or play, as Alfred refers to them.) They're easy to digest if you have a free half-hour or a full day to binge. And Alfred as host lends some classic, understated British humor to balance the often-grim narratives.

The stories are stand-alone, anthology fair, so they have to be efficient to introduce characters and conflicts and still wrap things up in the allotted time. There's a solid mix of plots, but most involve crime and feature some sort of twist in the Hitchcockian style. Episodes rarely stray into the supernatural, which makes for an interesting contrast with The Twilight Zone, the most famous anthology series of the era.

Almost seventy years after it first aired, this show holds up.

I am a massive Hitchcock fan and would argue that his creative peak in features was in the mid-late 50's, ironically just at the time he commenced production of this short-form series bearing his imprimatur, even if he only had time to personally direct a handful of episodes. Of the first four episodes I've watched from series 1, I've been impressed by their coherence, consistency and diversity, for instance one was set in the wild west, a genre you can hardly imagine the Master covering in his own work. Snappily scripted, plotted and edited, these short programmes prefigure the likes of "Twilight Zone" in the 60's and "Tales Of The Unexpected" in the 70's. The production values are high as is the acting talent involved; famously this is how Hitch discovered Vera Miles, who was to feature in two of his features in the years ahead as well as a penchant for a low budget, black and white shoot which would result in a certain movie centring on a psychologically disturbed motel owner, the title of which escapes me. All the episodes benefit from acerbic intros and outros by the man himself, playing up to his curmudgeonly persona while the sinisterly jocular theme music still conjures up that famous pencil-profile image which he would fill over the titles. I think it's great that a top Hollywood director in his prime could make time to adapt so well to the TV market as Hitchcock did here. These programmes are fun, pithy and entertaining and still worth watching today.