Strictly average movie

An Exercise In Nonsense

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

IT WAS IN the Autumn of 1955. Being present here on Planet Earth only since the first full Post World War II period, our 10th birthday was one celebration that made us feel really grown up and "old" even. By this time, perusing the annual Fall Lineup on the TV Networks had become a tradition, much like Halloween Trick & Treating and Opening Day at the Ballpark.THE ONLY QUESTION that we had this year was; "Who is Alfred Hitchcock, anyway?" The announcement had been made that he was joining the CBS Network family of weekly shows. Well, our folks told us that this was a big name and well known maker of the movies that we saw at the Ogden, the Highway or the Peoples theatres in Chicago.THE SERIES DID of course premiere and quickly established itself as a staple of our video diet. What we found it to be was a weekly anthology of half hour mystery plays. Their content varied from the very alarming (THE GLASS EYE with Jessica Tandy & Tom Conway) to the serio-comic (CHEAP IS CHEAP with Dennis Day). Every mood in between was featured. There was and is (in reruns)a favourite flavour for everyone.EITHER BY DESIGN or with the good fortune of dumb luck, the half hour time slot proved to be the perfect length for these mystery plays. It is a case of size mattering; although in the diminutive sense rather than the greater.WE LATER SAW this proved to be true. The cases in point are both the ALFRED HITCHCOCK Show and THE TWILIGHT ZONE expanded to a full hour each; which proved to be detrimental to the shows. Instead of more being better, we found the expanded episodes of these shows to be heavily padded and filled with scenes that never would have been included otherwise.NO MATTER WHAT one's preference in these half hours, the greatest and most unique feature of the series was the relationship that developed between the audience and the series M.C., being Sir Alfred Hitchcock, himself. He displayed a previously unknown ability with a unique brand of very dry, deadpan humour.

This is an excellent TV show much better than Twilight Zone.Alfred Hitchcock are proved that is best director all the time.He is master of thriller. His ideas are unexpected and his humour are intelligent. From season to season he is better and better. No one director like Hitchcock so god. His stories are so brilliant and prove his talent . This series is original and better to say Twilight Zone is copy of this TV show. Hitchcock is selected great actors like John Williams who is excellent actor. I must to say that this TV show is the best I ever seen. Thanks to Hitchcock for all his movies and TV shows.After all his work is most important in film industry.

You can catch this on 'Chiller' channel in many areas....via satellite. This classic series from 1955-1965 features the most varied suspense, horror and curious human behavior, as Hitchcock was so adept at portraying.Better than some of the Twilight Zone stories as there is less science fiction, more study of human behavior, psychology and murder. A few of the more intriguing vignettes come to mind. One episode involves a murderer and his wife Jocelyn, who believed to be dead, mysteriously returns to the scene of the crime, a seaside village. Another episode is with Margaret Natwick and Hurd Hatfield ("The Picture of Dorian Gray" lead). He plays a scheming nephew attempting to gain his inheritance through murder of his elderly aunt. There is a twist.As only Hitchcock can, there is suspense to the end of the story, keeping the audience guessing. Hitchcock once said the element of horror is not the actual blood and gore, but the suspense and mystery leading up to it. The finest director we have seen, and this series is a do not miss. Highly recommended. 10/10.

This is a response to the author of the question referring to the episode of Alfred Hitchcock concerning the nurses in the old house...This episode first aired on "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", February 15, 1965, and was entitled "An Unlocked Window" and starred Dana Wynter as Nurse Stella Crosson, who is hired as a companion to an invalid, and is aided by another nurse Betty Ames; it turns out that Betty Ames is really a man at the end of this frightening episode....for complete information as to story, etc. of this episode refer to the TVTome.com site and look up the Alfred Hitchcock Hour series; I am sure this is the one...I too was scared out of my wits, but was also quite young when I saw it for the first time; it is really quite well-done and deserves re-airing, as I don't think this series is being aired at the present time. For everyone's information, I believe the first season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents will be available some time this year, I believe for the 50th anniversary of the show; I do hope it contains a lot of good extras.