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Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 02
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Alfred Hitchcock Presents [TV Series]
The first major Hollywood film director to venture into the world of series television, Alfred Hitchcock hosted this long-running dramatic anthology, which was seen on two different networks for ten seasons beginning October 2, 1955. While Hitchcock's films were generally suspense hrillers or omantic melodramas, most of the playlets on Alfred Hitchcock Presents were macabre character studies and mysteries with twist endings. The stories, written by the talented likes of Roald Dahl, Cornell Woolrich, Francis Cockrell, Henry Slesar, and Robert Bloch, trafficked heavily in faithless spouses, world-weary blackmailers, neurotic "innocents" trapped in horrible circumstances, and meticulous murderers who tirelessly plotted "the perfect crime." Intoning his trademarked "Good e-v-ening," the cherubic Hitchcock would appear at the beginning of each episode in a wryly humorous prologue setting up the basic situation, with occasional barbs at the intrusions of his sponsors' commercials, and would return for the epilogue to tie up loose plot ends, make a few more comical observations, and bid the audiences a fond "Good night." In those episodes in which the criminal or murderer seemingly got away with his or her crimes scot-free, Hitchcock would show up at the end to calmly assure the viewer -- and the network censors -- that justice had eventually been meted out and the villain had been punished, though no one was really fooled by these cynical codas. When the series expanded from 30 to 60 minutes at the outset of its eighth season, Hitchcock added a third appearance per episode just before station break, in which he would generally rip his sponsor for the "tiresome" advertisements to follow. All of these act breaks were written without screen credit by James Allardice, who'd been instructed in the satirical approach he was supposed to take via compulsory screenings of Hitch's 1955 lack comedy theatrical feature The Trouble with Harry. Since he was still quite busy with his film career throughout the run of his TV series, Hitchcock himself directed a mere handful of the half-hour programs, and only one of the hour-long episodes. Arguably the best and most famous of Hitchcock's TV directorial efforts was the third-season "Lamb to the Slaughter," in which a housewife murders her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb -- and then cooks up and serves the "evidence" to the unwitting police investigators. The talent roster on Alfred Hitchcock Presents including several of The Master's movie colleagues, among them actors Vera Miles, John Forsythe, Judith Evelyn, John Williams, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Edmund Gwenn, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Bel Geddes, Bruce Dern, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Marshall, Ray Milland, and musical composer Bernard Herrmann. Norman Lloyd, who had appeared as the slimy title character in Hitch's 1942 feature Saboteur, directed and produced a number of episodes. Other frequent directors included Robert Stevens, Paul Henreid, Arthur Hiller, Boris Sagal, and John Brahm. The series was executive-produced by Joan Harrison (who had started her career as Hitchcock's secretary in 1933) and utilized Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette as its theme music. Seen on CBS for its first five seasons, Alfred Hitchcock Presents moved to NBC for its sixth and seventh years on the air, then back to CBS in 1962, when the series was reformatted as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The program was brought back to NBC for its tenth and final season, which ended in September of 1965. Twenty years later, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was revived for a four-season run on both NBC and the USA cable network. Though Hitchcock had died in 1980, he remained a presence on the series via colorized reruns of his original opening and closing remarks -- a rather ghoulish creative decision that Hitch might well have approved of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Includes Seasons:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 02
As in its first season on CBS, season two of the suspense anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents opens with an episode directed by Hitchcock himself: "Wet Saturday," starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke as an aristocrat who tries to cover up a murder committed by his wastrelly son by framing someone else for the crime. Too busy with his movie career to contribute much more to the series beyond his weekly opening and closing appearances, Hitch directed only one other second-season effort: "One More Mile to Go," a virtually wordless tour de force for star David Wayne as a middle-class murderer who encounters unexpected difficulty trying to hide his wife's corpse from an overly friendly highway patrolman. Also in keeping with a precedent set in season one, most of the best season-two episodes are the handiwork of director Robert Stevens. Case in point: the three-part "I Killed the Count," adapted by Francis Cockrell from a story by Alec Coppel, who would later collaborate on the script for Hitchcock's 1958 movie classic Vertigo. And, likewise as in the previous season, several young, up-and-coming actors were showcased in the second-season endeavors, such as Inger Stevens ("My Brother Richard"), Rip Torn ("Number Twenty-Two"), and Vic Morrow and Barbara Cook ("A Little Sleep"). Leaping to sixth place in the overall TV ratings during its sophomore season, Alfred Hitchcock Presents also earned its first Emmy award, bestowed upon James P. Cavanaugh's script for the episode "Fog Closes In." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Includes Episodes:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Wet Saturday
Season two of Alfred Hitchcock Presents begins with a droll but sinister little mood piece, directed by Hitchcock himself. Cedric Hardwicke heads the cast as wealthy and powerful Mr. Princey, whose daughter Millicent (Tita Purdom) has just finished murdering her faithless suitor. Determined to protect his daughter and save the family name, Princey decides to frame someone else for the killing. The unlucky patsy is one Captain Smollet (John Williams), to whom Princey extends a "Hobson's Choice": take the rap for the murder or be murdered himself. "Wet Saturday" is based on a short story by John Collier, which had previously been dramatized numerous times on the radio anthology Suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Fog Closing In
Having had a premonition of disaster, Mary Summers (Phyllis Thaxter) begs her husband Arthur (Paul Langton) not to leave her home alone while he goes out of town on business. But oafish Arthur thinks that Mary is being ridiculous, and refuses her request. Sure enough, the moment Mary is alone, the house is invaded by escaped mental patient Ted Lambert (George Grizzard)...and the surprising results of this plot twist helped earn an Emmy award for the episode's scriptwriter, James Cavanagh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: De Mortuis
Middle-aged professor Clarence Rankin (Robert Emhardt) is spending his day off filling a hole in his basement with cement. His friends Wally Long (Henry Jones) and Bud Horton (Philip Coolidge) drop by, see the hole, and assume that Clarence has murdered his cheating wife Irene (Cara Williams) and is preparing to bury her body. Out of loyalty, and feeling that Clarence is justified in his actions, Wally and Bud offer to help him cover up his "crime." Thing of it is, Clarence never even suspected that Irene was unfaithful...up until now. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Kill With Kindness
Siblings Fritzhugh and Katherine Oldham (Hume Cronyn, Carmen Mathews) decide to set fire to his house in order to defraud the insurance company. The key to their scheme is convincing the authorities that Fritzhugh has perished in the blaze -- and to do this, the couple chooses an old tramp named Mr. Jorgy (James Gleason). The Oldhams intend to murder Jorgy and leave his body in the charred house, wearing one of Fritzhugh's rings for identification. A foolproof scheme...if only it had worked out the way the Oldhams had planned it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: None Are So Blind
Like so many other Hitchcock "heroes," Seymour Johnston (Hurd Hatfield) thinks that he has planned the perfect murder. Disguising himself as another person, Seymour kills his wealthy Aunt Muriel (Mildred Dunnock). Certain that the police will blame the "other person" for the crime, Seymour is more than willing to cooperate with their investigation -- but alas, he makes the proverbial "one fatal slip." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Toby
The title character in this grim charade is a sickly little baby, whom middle-aged Edwina Freed (Jessica Tandy) insists is her nephew. Edwina's childhood sweetheart Albert Birch (Robert H. Harris) wants to marry Edwina, but first he must agree never to come in contact with Toby -- nor is he permitted to even see the child. Only when a couple of nice men show up to cart Edwina off to the Happy Home does Albert learn the whole truth about Toby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Alibi Me
Gangsters Georgie (Lee Philips) and Lucky (Chick Changler) despise one another, and it is this fact that keeps them both alive. Georgie knows that he would be blamed if Lucky was ever bumped off, and vice versa. Unfortunately, Georgie loses his head and kills Lucky, forcing him to blackmail his landlady (Argentina Brunetti) into providing him with an airtight alibi. What Georgie hadn't counted on was Lucky's uncanny ability to get even...from beyond the grave. Alan Reed, best known as the voice of Fred Flintstone, appears as Uncle Leo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Conversation Over a Corpse
The reclusive Enright sisters, Cissie (Dorothy Stickney) and Joanna (Carmen Mathews), are no fans of Mr. Brenner (Ray Collins), the real estate developer who has made a down payment on their house. Inviting Mr. Brenner to tea, the sisters poison the man, then discuss various methods of finishing him off and disposing of the body. This gives Brenner enough time to revive himself, thereby setting the stage for the episode's unsettling denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Crack of Doom
"I waited there with a dead head sitting on a dead spine waiting for the crack of doom." This is how young businessman Mason Bridges (Robert Horton) describes his predicament when he is forced to participate in a high-stakes poker game with wealthy client Sam Klinker (Robert Middleton). Though Bridges had intended to play only a few hands, Klinker bullies him into staying in the game, raising the stakes all along the way. Ultimately, the fate of Bridges' business -- and indeed, his future career -- rests in a single poker hand. "Crack of Doom" is based on a story by journalist Don Marquis, best known for his whimsical "Archy and Mehitabel" pieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Jonathan
Corey Allen, who'd played James Dean's ill-fated "chickie run" opponent in the 1955 feature Rebel without a Cause (and who later became a prolific TV director), is the guest star in this episode. Allen plays Gil Dalliford, who deeply resents the fact that his widowed father Jonathan (Douglas Kennedy) has married the much-younger Rosina (Georgann Johnson). When Jonathan dies, Gil accuses Rosina of poisoning him. But the guilt lies elsewhere -- not only outwardly, but within the conscience of the actual culprit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two [5 Discs] DVD

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