Breakdown

Exceptional episode, directed by Hitchcock himself and starring an old Hitchcock familiar (Cotton), about a businessman on his way back from a vacation. He ends up in a terrible accident and essentially is left for dead. When his body is finally retrieved from the wreck, he is taken to the nearest county morgue. There's only one problem: he isn't dead, just paralyzed, the result of the steering wheel crushing his chest (remember those days?) and the force of the impact breaking his neck. Cotton spends most of the episode with eyes open, unblinking and mouth agape, as we listen to his anguished thoughts via voice-over. This is an absolutely unnerving episode, and has to be among the 10 best from this series.

All you need to know about this episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents show going in are these three things: 1) Hitchcock directed it, 2) Joseph Cotten is the star (formerly of Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt), and 3) most of this episode takes place after a car crash, which has left Cotten's character for all intents and purposes dead... but not really. What happens in this tale of mortal desperation is that Cotten's character - kind of unlikable at the start but not an awful person - is in a tight spot inasmuch that he's paralyzed, but not dead. Hitchcock and his editor make great use of narration here, which is a tricky aspect in a visual medium but works here because it's all about the intensity of this man's thoughts, which are lucid. It's a really tragic tale, when you think about it, but made absolutely gripping by the stakes and danger of life vs death.

How it finally gets resolved is kind of touching, if, for some, may seem kind of sappy. But Cotten really sells it with his voice and even his face and eyes, frozen as they are, because of how his character is set up and the follow-up happens. This is the kind of material that the Twilight Zone would go for years later, and I mean that as a compliment. It's among Hitch's best work in the 50's, for TV or film.

After firing an employee who gets choked up about it(practicing for his acceptance speech for the Academy, perhaps... or, more likely, his identity is closely tied to his job) and briely discussing the matter with Mr. Ed(not a horse, of course), William Callew goes for a drive. He is forced to take a detour, and crashes on a rural road, where not many come by. This leaves him paralyzed, and several of the few that come by mistake him for dead, and present a revealing look into how uncaring and callous some people can be. I'm not certain if this is meant to be a sort of Karmic retribution(since our lead is not established as a real jerk, just someone uncomfortable with others losing control of their emotions), though there is a kind of moral lesson. And even if you don't enjoy that aspect, this is incredible. The acting is phenomenal; Cotten, who portrays our protagonist, is literally limited to his voice in getting across every single feeling(and the lines are impeccably written, they hit the nail on the head for what one would be thinking, and make for some of the best monologing in this medium) he experiences for most of this(and yes, that's slightly less than half an hour, but it is still an accomplishment... and the pacing is spot-on, and kudos to them for adapting this to this length, it would have been excessive otherwise... rather than perfect). For the duration, this remains on his "lifeless" body, the camera not leaving his side(and only showing a minimal amount that he himself does not see or otherwise realize), forcing the desperation, isolation and absolute hopelessness of his situation to sink in completely. This is extremely creepy and builds suspense expertly. There is a bit of disturbing and violent content in this. I recommend this to anyone who can handle it. 10/10

Hitchcock traverses the macabre into pure existential terror. The stasis of the camera combined with the sparse mise-en-scene imprisons the spectator in the director's subjective and absolute control. This episode is a primer on minimalist horror and also reveals Hitchcock's internal mechanisms, which we now know were not just idiosyncratic but transgressive.

This is an episode that I saw when I was a small child. It involves a cold blooded businessman who fires a long time employee and then chastises him for his tears. He is a bitter, mean man who looks only at the bottom line. One day, driving impatiently, he is left in his convertible, paralyzed. Unfortunately for him, the only people around are a bunch of prisoners on a work detail. They loot his car and steal his clothes. They don't check on him. The entire episode is told from Joseph Cotten's mind as he attempts to come to grips with his situation. He hopes to have someone help him but realizes he has no way of letting them know he is alive. There are some real problems with the medical people who show up. Did anyone notice that there was no rigor and that his skin was warm. If he were dead, why did he look so fresh. Nevertheless, the point is made at the very end. A remarkable lesson here.