The old Alfred Hitchcock show is on every night at midnight. Scares the crap out of me.

I love them too. They are creepy. And always have a twist. He was way ahead of his time.

The Jar.

I just started watching these a few months ago, and have a bunch recorded.

Each episode is like watching a movie.

Boy how a half-hour of TV has changed since then!

Bring back Dark Shadows. Oh wait, they are!!!!

you should watch OUter Limits, OP.

then you'll be really scared.

On what network can we find Alfred?

I liked the private men's club that had a special dinner ... a member who recently died, And the woman who killed her husband with some type of meat with a large bone, which she offered to the cops for dinner.

I love the old 60’s black and white Hitchcock series. You can find a lot of them on YouTube.

One of my favourites for it’s sheer simplicity and gravitas occurs in a tropical hut where this man is trying to kill his business partner with a poisonous snake but not let on that he is trying to kill him. The whole episode takes place basically in one room and it’s absolutely riveting for the entire half hour.

It’s called “The Unlocked Window”

OP, did you mean An Unlocked Window? That is my favorite episode. I first saw it when I was young and naive. I knew there was something a little odd going on but I was too dumb to figure it out before the big reveal. Really delightfully creepy episode.

Good one: a killer on the lam happens upon two old guys living together out in the middle of nowhere. Ahem.

"The Unlocked Window" was terrifying. I remember it from when I first saw it.

R7 It was a leg of lamb, and the episode is titled Lamb to the Slaughter.

R7 R13 And the murderous housewife was played by Barbara Bel Geddes, who later played Miss Ellie on Dallas.

“Lamb to the Slaughter” is based on a delicious Roald Dahl short story.

Hitchcock directed about a dozen of them himself, including the famous "Lamb to the Slaughter."

My personal favorite of these is "Breakdown," starring Joseph Cotton.

Another good one is "Revenge," starring Vera Miles & Ralph Meeker, about a woman assaulted by an unknown attacker, and whose husband drives the shell-shocked wife around town with the intention of tracking the guy down & killing him.

One of my (and my siblings') favorites is "Man from the South," starring a young Steve McQueen, his longtime wife Neile, and the ever-creepy Peter Lorre.

I won't go into the plot, since the main plot is integral to seeing the twist. But it holds up well, and my siblings and I quote from it all the time, well over fifty years since we saw it.

[quote] Last night, I saw "The Open Window" -- 'Stella, you're such a pretty nurse!' I had to sleep with the lights on.

MARY!

R6, where I live it's on Monday-Friday from 1:00-2:00 am. Two episodes. The channel is called METV.

It seems pretty obvious from the start of An Unlocked Window that that nurse is a man. Maybe only gays can tell .

I like the episode "Night Fever" with Colleen Dewhurst as another nurse.

Loved this episode “No Pain.” It stars Brian Keith and Joanna Moore (wife of Ryan O’Neal and mother of Tatum). Always had a mad crush on BK, and he is shirtless in this episode.

"Special Delivery" (1959), written by Ray Bradbury. Kids! Grow mushrooms at home for fun and profit!

Hitchcock just have enjoyed working on short films. Many directors like opportunities such as this.

R17, “Revenge” is also the very first episode of the half-hour series.

R6 It's on the ME channel.

I used to watch this series re-run on UHF channels as a kid, along with Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc., and always loved them.

I never happened to catch "An Unlocked Window," but... in the 80's I saw the re-make version (I think the 80's re-booted series was also called Alfred Hitchcock Presents... they did original episodes but also re-made classic ones from the series) I know, sacrilege! Anyway...

I saw the re-made version of "An Unlocked Window" and it really creeped me out and I never forgot it. It's not bad! I didn't see the original until many, many year later.

One funny thing, the man in drag in the 80's version totally passed when I saw it originally (I was about 13 years old). When I saw it again as a middle-aged gay man and the actor walked on screen in obvious drag, I instantly thought, "How could I have possibly not seen that was a man right away?"

I really enjoy The Glass Eye. With a very young and handsome William Shatner.

Hulu has season 1 thru 4.

R18 entry is also from a short story by Roald Dahl, same title.

R7, that episode has the same plot of a play called The Honeys, adapted from several Dahl stories, starring Miss Jessica Tandy and her husband, Hume Cronyn.

(Dahl, of course, was married to the glorious Academy and Tony Award winning actress, Miss Patricia Neal. As big a horror as his stories.)

An Unlocked Window is easily the creepiest. There was one that was remade (I think) in the 80s series about a female prisoner who tries to escape from prison by, somehow, getting into a coffin and they end up burying her alive. I think that's how it went.

And there was a great one called The Gloating Place where a lonely girl fakes an attack by a psycho for attention and the real attacker comes after her. That'd make for a good remake these days in the age of social media and cancel culture.

R29 Oh I agree, "The Glass Eye" is an amazing episode!

So comforting to know that others were traumatized by "The Unlocked Window." I remember one called "Bang! You're Dead!"--which I think Hitchcock directed--about a little boy with a play gun that's actually a real gun.....

R34 Bang! was great. Billy Mumy was the little boy. And at the end of the program, in that portion where Hitchcock would sign off with some wise-ass comments, after this episode he did a very serious anti-gun bit. And how many years ago was this? In the 1950s.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents aired from 1955 to 1962. An amazing series of half hour anthologies. Great writing, acting, music, clothing and cars. Leaves the brainless fluff we see on TV today in the dust. So many good ones. A couple of my favorites star hunky actor Robert Horton. "The Last Dark Step" from February 8, 1959 co-stars the beautiful and talented Fay Spain. "Hooked" from September 25, 1960 has Anne Francis before she became TV's "Honey West" in the mid 60's. A young Steve McQueen and his first wife Neile Adams are in "Man From The South" from January 3, 1960. Worth taking the time to watch this series from the golden age of television.

The Second Wife is another good one starring June Lockhart - a newlywed woman thinks that her husband killed his previous wife. - with a teleplay by Robert Bloch and a nice twist ending.

Oh...I forgot to watch. It's on at 1 AM where I live, and I'm so sick with the cold or flu, I imagine I was awake then. OP has me interested.

I watch it on MeTV.

The only thing that makes me mad is that Hulu skips episodes. They do this with several other shows, too, like I Love Lucy and The Brady Bunch. They'll have episodes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8, but not 2, 6, and 7. What the hell is that about?

Hitchcock was very generous hiring new directors with no experience - Arthur Hiller, Sydney Pollack, Ida Lupino. He provided a great training ground.

Is the entire Alfred Hitchcock Presents series available on any streaming channel? Amazon has only S1 and S2. Netflix don't carry it, and Hulu (a) never had all the seasons and (b) no longer seems to offer it. AHP shows up on My Stuff on Hulu, but there's no option to start watching it.

I watch it on MeTV.

Ann Sothern and Ralph Meeker(?) are in one episode. He comes looking for the money his ex partner in crime never split with him. Sothern is some slattern waitress who he thinks knows where the money is. To say they get their comeuppance is putting it mildly.

I have the book that lists all the shows, but only by title, not by cast. I'll have to go through it to find out the name of the episode.

If you7've ever wanted to see Jack Cassidy in capri pants, see if you can find the episode entitled "The Photographer and the Undertaker."

There's a very odd one with Laurence Harvey and a chicken farm("Arthur")

Even Livvie's sister is in one("The Paragon")

It's amazing how many well-known and DL faves appeared on the show: Polly bergen, Audrey Meadows, Hermione Gingold, James Franciscus, Stella Stevens, Suzanne Pleshette, Dick York, Mary Astor, Claude Rains, Robert Horton, Fay Wray, Art Carney, Walter Matthau and many, many others.

Hitchcock did “The Open Window” in a way, OP. As a kid I had a Hitchcock LP of spooky stories with a dramatic retelling of the Saki short story. Cemented my love of H.H. Munro.

OK, time for a re-write. It was John Cassavetes, not Ralph Meeker, who starred with Ann Sothern in Hitchcock's "Water's Edge." Cassavetes comes to town, looking for stashed money his prison cellmate(who made a deathbed admittance to him) hid. If you're an Ann Sothern fan you will enjoy her performance, VERY unlike her other film and TV roles.

Did you know that Hitchcock drew that minimalist portrait of himself that was used to introduce the series?

The compilation book I mentioned above is entitled: "Alfred Hitchcock Presents, An Illustrated Guide to the Ten-Year Television Career of the Master of Suspense." It's a good reference work, lots of photos, and will bring back memories, and some goosebumps too.

the LP, no longer in my possession, may be found on YouTube.

R46 Thanks for THAT memory! I remember having nightmares about that episode as a kid. I'd like to see it again now to gauge my adult reaction. There were quite a few episodes that I never should have been allowed to watch as a child - The Jar, The Unlocked Window, The Glass Eye (Max Collodi)

R41 Agree with your main point but Ida Lupino was directing since 1949 after Jack Warner suspended her as an actress for being a pain in the ass and refusing parts, criticizing casting and insisting on script re-writes. Jack told Ida, the bossy little lady, to know her place and the producers and directors are in charge. So she taught herself how to direct and she and her husband opened a production studio which they ran until the mid 60s.

Ida did it all on her own and deserves enormous credit for advancing women's empowerment in Hollywood but Hitch did giver her work.

What channel?

R50 MeTV. I have to switch to over-the-air signal because my cable company doesn't carry it.

By the way, "An Unlocked Window", and several other Hitchcock episodes are available on YouTube now. I re-watched it this afternoon on YT.

Note that "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was a half hour anthology series that ran from '55-'61. In '62 the episodes were expanded to an hour each and the series was renamed The Alfred Hitchcock Hour". It ran until 1965. Bear it in mind when searching for particular episodes. "An Unlocked Window" falls under the revamped hour long version.

R49 Thanks for the Ida information. I love her. She deserves her own thread. Ida Lupino and Barbara Stanwyck could play warm and tough; neither ever got the credit they deserved. People still kneeling at the altars of Joan and Bette should take a new look at Lupino and Stanwyck.

R52 Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of Ida threads. She’s gotta be a DL fave. I’ll search & bump if I stay up late.

R53 Thank you! If the threads are old, please don't bump - please post a new thread and link to the old thread. I'm sure there are DLers who want to comment and we can't post to old threads. I remember seeing a recent thread about Barbara Stanwyck but nothing on Ms Lupino.

[quote]Good one: a killer on the lam happens upon two old guys living together out in the middle of nowhere. Ahem.

R11 Great episode from 1958 titled And the Desert Shall Blossom. Ben Johnson is the understanding investigating sheriff. Those two old guys were definitely an old gay couple, very brave episode. I remember one of them was William Demerest?

Another great episode is The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was filmed in 1961 and at the last minute the sponsor Revlon threw a fit over the ending which was deemed too gruesome and shocking. The episode was pulled and has never once aired on broadcast television. Apparently, the film was thought to be lost and the copyright was never even registered. When it was rediscovered it was officially in the public domain.

It stars the "British Marilyn Monroe" Diana Dors, and gay hunk Larry Kert as the muscly acrobat (Larry was also the original Tony in Broadway's West Side Story). Also stars the creepy kid actor Brandon deWilde and David J. Stewart as the magician.

Available on YouTube but the quality of the one I watched was poor. Nevertheless, I watched it twice. I would think cleaned up versions would be everywhere with this episode having fallen into public domain but I haven't dug them up yet. I recommend it. It's a fun watch.

Do I detect some homoerotic tension in this one (featuring a young James Caan)?

Is that Walter Koenig, Chekov from "Star Wars" seated opposite Caan?

*Not "Star Wars." "Star Trek."

r58, yep, that's him

The Glass Eye is terrific

bump

When I was little, bedtime was 8pm. But I could hear my parents watching 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' from the living room. The music from the show's commercial bumper was much more ominous and sinister-sounding than anything else in the show, often scaring me so much that I hollered for my parents to come comfort me.

This one scared me as a kid, but I can only find a short clip of it

I’m watching right now after seeing this thread. Vera Miles is the lure for a serial killer. But her college professor bf seems a bit too interested in the murders ...

R51 I see that the series on ME TV has now moved on to the Alfred Hitchcock HOUR. I liked the original half-hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It will be interesting to see whether these longer episodes are as good.

A lot of the hour long episodes are good. I like The Jar.

Another vote for "The Jar."

I thought it was brilliant that Hitch got away with ending his TV shows on a gruesome, negative note where the bad guy gets away with murder and then pitch that "justice was done" verbally so that he didn't have to write a happy ending into the actual teleplay, clever fucker.

r69. The Head of The Production Code initially to refused grant approval to Vertigo because of suggested sexual content and an implication that the real killer escaped. So Hitch shot an alternate tacked on ending in which a radio news broadcast says that police in Europe were closing in on him. It wasn't used in the US but sources disagree on whether it was used elsewhere, perhaps in the UK.

[quote]I see that the series on ME TV has now moved on to the Alfred Hitchcock HOUR. I liked the original half-hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It will be interesting to see whether these longer episodes are as good.

I thought the hour-long AH series was a bore (the highly-regarded and terrifying "Unlocked Window" episode was more just a one-off compared to the rest of the series in my opinion). Me personally, I loved the half-hour AH series so much more. So many great episodes -- too many to count, really -- which is why it's always a bit disappointing any time MeTV sidelines it for the hour-long show.

Vera Miles seems to star in many of the episodes.

Change of Address has Arthur Kennedy having a middle-aged crisis and being drawn to a hippie chick rather than his wife Phyllis Thaxter.

R73 Bernard Hermann's beautiful score is a standout in that episode...

R64, The Dangerous People, S2E39, is available on Amazon for $1.99. In fact, it's the last Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Amazon, which carries (only) the first seasons.

Lonely Place has Bruce Dern as an evil drifter creeping out peach farmer's wife Teresa Wright though since she is married to Pat Buttram she already has troubles.

R76 Lonely Place! I won't give away the ending but the wife's realization was stunning. Great casting.

Didn't Gloria Swanson star in an episode? The episode was about a woman whose daughter and her fiance plot to get the mother's money by faking the daughter's death only it goes wrong...or "seems" to go wrong, I remember the ending was really disturbing.

That was Behind the Locked Door. With James MacArthur and Lynn Loring who Gloria keeps saying is homely.

I like One of the Family because it features the fabulous Olive Deering.

That's R79 the ending shot of her looking down at him was eerie.

Vera Miles is in Death Scene as well opposite James Farantino as a grease monkey and Buck Taylor as his dancer friend.

I love Vera Miles. I sometimes wonder if she didn't deliberately get herself pregnant to avoid having to work with Hitch on Vertigo knowing first hand the truth of his reputation with women.

And yet they worked together on TV several times afterwards.

Who knows?

I think her career was not as important to her as having children. But being married to Gordon Scott, who can blame her for wanting to have sex all the time.

Who could forget Vera Miles in the one of the creepiest Twilight Zone episodes, Mirror Image...

Power of Attorney is another on my favorites. Richard Johnson is a con man who targets wealthy dowager Fay Bainter and her spinster companion Geraldine Fitzgerald. There is a great scene where he slaps Geraldine and when he kisses her as she is pouring tea and the tea goes everywhere.

There's a youtube channel with a lot of the old episodes

OP, you need to watch this show near a toilet if it "scares the crap out of you".

"I like One of the Family because it features the fabulous Olive Deering."

She was in another episode called The Kind Waitress. She's really good in it.

Olive Deering was in one of the creepiest Outer Limits episodes, The Zanti Misfits, with Bruce Dern...

Yes I have seen The Kind Waitress. And The Zanti Misfits. Olive made her film debut in Gentlemen's Agreement (1947). She only has one line but it is a funny one.

The Lonely Hours has Nancy Kelly in a rare appearance after The Bad Seed. She plays a lady renting a room in the home of Gena Rowlands who becomes fascinated by Gena's baby. Of course Nancy looks a bit mature to want to play mother to an infant. With Joyce Van Patten and Juanita Moore.

When I was a kid I watched it but I don't remember any.

R64, for you.

R45, I love Saki too. I wonder how many of us there are now?

The Cuckoo Clock was rather stressful.

R94, thank you!

The Cuckoo Clock is a really good episode, too

The Waxwork episode scared me when I was a kid

Yes, R96. The Cuckoo Clock was a good one.

Beyond the Sea of Death, featuring the love of John Travolta's life, Diana Hyland!

I saw some episodes, I was hoping to like it but I think the Twilight Zone is so much better. Better acted, better scripts,less melodramatic, more thought-provoking, far ahead of it's time, etc.

Really? I like The Twilight Zone, but I'd say AHP had a better good episode/bad episode ratio. And the actors were always top notch.

I saw a few episodes, and I really wasn't impressed. The Twilight Zone seems so much better acted to me plus better directed, better scripts, bolder, etc. Apparently, this seems to be the consensus (on the internet at least).

The Twilight Zone is also funnier!

You need to watch more than "a few" episodes

The reason why viewers didn’t know the nurse in Unlocked Window was a man is because they were distracted by Stella. (And most Americans in those days had never seen a man in drag). Stella is pretty —— she’s thin but shapely, she’s nervous about the killer & it’s repeatedly pointed out that she is distracted. She makes mistakes. The patient, the other nurse & the housekeeper all note that Stella fouled up at one point or another. Stella says no, she’s sure she checked that oxygen tank & it was full.....but we see that she *is* distracted when a mouse scares her & she runs upstairs, leaving a basement window flapping open.

So the audience is watching Stella & barely noticing fat, scolding Nurse Ames. Then the patient wakes up and doesn’t look sick at all. He’s young & not normal. He bought this creepy house on purpose. He tells of how the housekeeper strangles chickens to make the chicken soup he is eating. He asks Stella to marry him out of nowhere. He’s a jerk.

Now that Sam the handyman had to go into town to get more oxygen, we find the housekeeper is a lush. She’s swilling booze, hallucinating, screaming & causing all kinds of problems. Nurse Ames wisely says they’d better sedate her or she might hit one of them over the head with a fireplace poker.

So we have all of this going on with the lead character & the supporting players. Nurse Betty Ames is a snippy, huffy peripheral character. Consider the show was made in 1965. No Ru Paul, no Drag Race, no Priscilla Queen of the Desert. There weren’t even hippies yet.

And immediately after the episode, every single tv detective show worked a killer dressed like a woman into the script. By 1970, male-killer-in-drag became a tired TV & film twist.

But in 1965, it was still new...

[quote] Vera Miles seems to star in many of the episodes.

She was under contract to work with Hitchcock but she got pregnant, so she couldn’t make the films he wanted her to make. He wanted Miles to be the new Grace Kelly after Kelly married Rainer, but Miles didn’t want it, she claims. Others have said Hitchcock harassed her, so she deliberately got pregnant to get away from him. She was supposed to play Judy/Madeline in Vertigo. In fact, the clothes Kim Novak wore were made for Vera Miles’ slim figure & had to be tailored for Novak’s more voluptuous shape.

Since Miles stopped working in Hitchcock films, she owed him time & appeared in Hitchcock’s tv shows instead.

[quote] And most Americans in those days had never seen a man in drag

Hey! What about us?

R103, from which season(s) were the episodes you watched?

I watched the first two seasons on Amazon and all but gave up. The tiny, cramped sets and endlessly repeated actors really turned me off. (What? Robert Harris AGAIN?!?) Fortunately, I had already ordered the DVDs from a few later seasons.

If you haven't seen episodes from post-1957 seasons, try them. I moved from S2 to S5 (1959-60), and difference was like night and day. The scenes opened up. People were no longer standing on each others' toes to talk, clustered in the middle of a tiny set. There were outdoor scenes - still a set but much less fake and crowded in appearance.

And, best of all, there was a wide variety of actors, some of them quite attractive. I began to see some of the same handsome men I love watching on Perry Mason. In fact, by S5, AHP was reminding me a lot of PM in terms of style.

So, anyway, try episodes from the full run of the series before you give up. It gets better.

R109, you're probably right. I like The Twilight zone because I just feel it's more ambitious, better shot and more thought-provoking overall. This does seem to be the general consensus--on IMDB, it has a better rating than The Alfred Hitchcock show. It's actually remarkable how ahead of its time the Twilight Show is. I don't remember too many other shows in between Twin Peaks and The Twlight Zone having noteable cinematography. Maybe I just have been watching the wrong shows. Even in the bad or mediocre episodes I've seen, I find myself thinking a lot.

Honey, we ALL were traumatized by the "Unlocked Window." Fifty years later, thinking about it still scares me.

This one is timely because it deals with a cop shooting an unarmed man. And it stars the very hot John Gavin. And it was directed by a young William Friedkin!

I had the pleasure of watching "Forty Detectives Later" last night. It's a pretty good story, to the extent I was able to follow it. I may have missed a few details because it starred James Franciscus at the age of 26. If there has ever been a handsomer man on a television screen, I can't imagine who it was. He was breathtakingly handsome and yet completely, confidently masculine.

Anyway, the point is that this is one of the great pleasures of watching AHP, Perry Mason and other shows from that era. Most episodes have at least one actor who is handsome, clean-cut and masculine in a way that has disappeared from Hollywood in the last decade or so. I only wish there were more series of that era available. I could happily watch them for years as my only entertainment.

Franciscus was very handsome, but he was also very dull

[quote]Since Miles stopped working in Hitchcock films, she owed him time & appeared in Hitchcock’s tv shows instead.

Not exclusively. You may recall that, post-"Vertigo," she did make one little Hitchcock film, called "Psycho."

[quote]. Last night, I saw "The Open Window" -- 'Stella, you're such a pretty nurse!' I had to sleep with the lights on. The shows are one-half hour long and pack a mighty punch.

You're a little confused, OP. "An Unlocked Window" was an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour."

Joan Fontaine in “The Paragon” is over-the-top fabulousness. Her coif steals the show.

Another interesting episode is “Ten Minutes From Now” starring handsome Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes, best known to American audiences as the character Dutch on Soap. Also appearing is the beautiful Eurasian actress Niele Adams, then wife of Steve McQueen and Sandra Gould, the second Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched.

In this episode, there is a strategically planned art theft of several unidentified paintings. However, keen eyes will notice that the one painting shown is Vermeer’s “The Concert” which was actually owned by the Elizabeth Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Prophetically, the original was stolen 26 years later in the biggest art heist in history in 1990. To this day, “The Concert” and several important art works stolen in that theft including Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee” (one of three Rembrandts stolen and his only seascape), along with five Degas, a Flinck and a Manet remain unrecovered. The missing artwork is estimated to be worth at least half a billion dollars

r117, don't mention that shew here!

"The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow"

Perfectly cast. Stars our beloved Jessica Walter, the hawt as fuck stud Don Chastain (in a scene wearing nothing but tight swimming trunks), and last but not least the incredible Irish actress Patricia Collinge as the wealthy cat lady aunt. Classic Hitch.

[quote](And most Americans in those days had never seen a man in drag).

Other than the millions who watched the Milton Berle show.

R121 ... and saw Some Like It Hot

Thanks DL family. You made me start watching them and I love them. I actually bought some seasons on Amazon and eBay. It was so good. Why don't they do shows like this anymore? I watched the new Twilight Zone. It had its moments, but was still disappointed. But I have really enjoyed the Black Mirror. You know any shows that are similar to this? I have watched all the Twilight Zones. Especially right now we're all stuck at home. I live in Utah and our numbers have gone up now I'm afraid to go anywhere.

R123, try the Outer Limits (the original), One Step Beyond, Thriller (with Boris Karloff)

All of these are available either through streaming or DVD

I especially enjoyed "One Step Beyond" (with your host, John Newland) because the stories were supposedly based on actual events. I loved the background music with the eerie chorus that would also chime in when something strange would happen.

(R124) and (R125) Thank you. I will watch it.

R126 You might like “Boris Karloff’s Thriller”, a creepy B&W anthology series of 67 episodes that ran from 1960-62. Guest stars include Leslie Nielsen,, William Shatner, Marion Ross, Natalie Schafer, Tom Poston, John Carradine, Ursula Andress, Dick York, Mary Tyler Moore, and so many others. The great Ida Lupino directed a couple of episodes.

This is not to be confused with the 70s British anthology series “Thriller” by Brian Clemens. Another great series. It includes many American actors such as Gary Collins, Donna Mills, Polly Bergen, Lynda Day George, Hayley Mills, sexy George Maharis and other familiar 70s faces to make it marketable on both sides of the pond. In the States, each episode was repackaged as a stand alone late night movie.

And finally, William Castle’s “Ghost Story” is a fun early 70s anthology series. It was hosted by Sebastian Cabot (aka Mr. French on Family Affair) until they dumped him and rebranded the series as “Circle of Fear”. It only ran for one season of 22 episodes but there are some really good ones in this short-lived series.

(I’m binging on Hitch as I type but I love all this shit!)

The Kraft Suspense Theatre is similar to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Not as good overall, but there were some decent episodes. It was never released on DVD but there are some episodes up on youtube

The one with Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is great. Kicker of an ending.

r123, you might also like The Veil. It was hosted by Boris Karloff and about ten episodes were filmed by never aired, because they production company that made them folded. All the episodes are up on youtube and some are available on DVD

(R130) I started watching Outer Limits and Boris Karloff's thriller. I am really enjoying Thriller. Never knew about that show. I've been able to find a few episodes on YouTube. Think I'm going to buy the collection on eBay. Thank you so much for the suggestions. I love these kinds of shows. I will watch look for The Veil.

The episode with the psychotic child was really crazy. The one where the couple moves in to a neighborhood and the boy next door ends up killing their dog out of spite, breaks into their home, attempts to kill the man's wife, etc.

R132 What show did that episode belong to? It doesn't sound like Hitchcock, Twilight Zone. or Outer Limits...

It's Alfred Hitchcock. I was really surprised that the censors would actually allow this in the early 60s.

R134, sometimes it's surprising what they got away with. "It's a Good Life" on TZ is similar in that the main character is an evil, crazy child. I've also seen a couple of horizontal kissing scenes on AHP that were pretty damn hot and not just for the times.

Ben Casey, the medical show, often dealt with sad, disturbing stories. In one 1st season (1961-62) episode, they dealt with abortion ... and, to my shock, actually said the word. Only once, but it was said by Ben in a matter-of-fact way, as any doctor would when talking to another doctor (which he was doing at the time, IIRC).

People were quite a bit more sophisticated in the postwar era than they are given credit for nowadays; it's not surprising that their worldliness would turn on up TV occasionally.

R135, I know the Hays Code was bad--particularly in respect to gays, women and minorities. But it also forced writers and directors to be very creative in what they revealed onscreen. Now, they are so lazy. CGI and tons of gore will not scare me.

I realize that the production values on the weekly series wouldn't be as more expensive as in his films, but those camera angles and characterizations that made Hitch's films so memorable and unique went largely missing in the weekly series's episodes--which in comparison seem creaky and stodgy, in an original "Twilight Zone" show episodes kind of way.

Tippi, you neglected Melanie and see what happened?

R137, Hitchcock didn’t direct very many episodes, and the ones that he did are not very interesting. Maybe he wasn’t that engaged if there was no time and $ for his chilly technical perfection.

I have been watching many episodes this week. It feels more sporadic than The Twilight Zone. And I still feel the latter is superior in just about every way. It has many good camera angles and the acting is less hammy. Plus, you can watch it on HD on prime/blu-ray.

R132 - the episode is called To Catch a Butterfly and features Bradford Dillman, Diana Hyland, and Ed Asner.

"The Jar" had quite a cast: Pat Buttram, Collin Wilcox Paxton, William Marshall, Jane Darwell, George Lindsey, Slim Pickens, James Best, Billy Barty. It really was a great episode.

I also liked the one called "Where The Woodbine Twineth', which was about an imaginative little girl who comes into possession of a Creole doll. It had a shocker of an ending. I never forgot it.

[quote]"The Jar" had quite a cast: Pat Buttram, Collin Wilcox Paxton, William Marshall, Jane Darwell, George Lindsey, Slim Pickens, James Best, Billy Barty.

"The Jar" was from 1964, the same year Jane Darwell made her final big-screen appearance as the Bird Woman in "Mary Poppins."

R95, I'm one! I still have my copy of his short stories from ca. 1965. High school is when I read him, Dahl, the "Alfred Hitchcock Magazine," and various sundry horror anthologies.

Love "TAHH" shows.

R131, I highly recommend "Thriller" Season 1, Episode 28: "Yours Truly...Jack the Ripper." My favorite still, for 59 years.

Thriller season one is available for free on the Roku channel. It does have a few commercials but you can't complain for free.

R140, I know what you mean. TZ is a theme show. Some aspects of the theme - the weirdness, the "somthing's wrong here" feeling, the outright horror - are great. On the other hand, I could live without Rod Serling's Nazis + nuclear annihilation = Man's Inhumanity to Man/Will We Ever Learn? obsession.

AHP doesn't really have a theme. It's also considerably stodgier than TZ, but remember that it started 4 years earlier. Television and the world changed a lot between 1955 and 1959. The best AHP is not nearly as good as the best TZ, but the worst AHP is just mildly boring and old-fashioned (by the standards of its time), whereas the worst TZ is excruciating preachy or treacly sweet.

Perry Mason beats them both (except the first and last seasons, which are best ignored). No message to shove down your throat like TZ, but modern and packed full of handsome male guest stars, as AHP often wasn't.

R147, I actually LOVE the messages that The Twilight Zone conveys. I think that's what puts it above so many other shows and puts it in a tier above AHP. It has surely influenced countless shows that came after it. I would have to say that TZ is on average and at it's best, a better show than AHP. AHP lows aren't as low but the average episode isn't as strong and neither are the highs. Thank you for mentioning Perry Mason, I will check that one out too. It's funny, I read an article a few years ago arguing that the so-called golden age of television we are in is actually not that great and we have already had plenty of great tv. I thought it was just the rantings of a curmudgeon, but after watching AHP and TZ, I realize that person may be onto something.

I forgot to include--I like that TZ includes themes/messages, it actually reminds me of the stories and mythology that the Ancient Greeks created. They all had a message behind them, morality was very important.

Great article on The Twilight Zone

Trivia: When Hitch made Psycho it was somewhat of an experiment in film making for him. Part of the challenge he set for himself was to make it as absolutely inexpensively as possible but still be more than a simple B movie. So he used, for the most part, the crew and tech people from his TV show, not the usual high priced Hollywood talent he would otherwise surround himself with. It worked in spades, didn't it?

If you thought To Catch a Butterfly was creepy.....

(R152) that was a creepy one, too.

MeTV inserts too many commercial breaks that kills watching nearly all vintage television series. Most of the other OTA networks are guilty of same thing, which is why gave up on watching DW and just went out and got series (cheap) on eBay.

What kills me is MeTV comes back from commercials for what should be last ten or so minutes of program when everything is wrapped up. Then they stop after five or six minutes and fade into yet another burst of commercials.

You can tell these breaks because they are very badly edited; program just stops where you can tell it shouldn't.

For things like Mannix or Cannon it isn't so bad; but Perry Mason, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (or Hour) it really breaks the suspense mood.

John Megna's teeth were creepy.

R154, the episodes on MeTV are cut, aren't they? TV shows had longer running times in the '50s and early '60s. Perry Mason episodes run 52 minutes, not 45; AHP episodes run 25 minutes, not 22. MeTV and similar channels run even more commercials than network channels, so they must have to cut quite a bit. I know they cut the credits, but they must have to take some of the regular showtime, too ... don't they?

From what I understand OTA channels aren't getting these old television show episodes cheaply. So to make their money the rest of us are subjected to endless Flex Tape/Seal, Colonial Penn, adult diapers, My Pillow, those ex-military flashlights and sunglasses, amazing copper cookware and other commercials about off the wall products.

R156 They're speeding them up.

"From what I understand OTA channels aren't getting these old television show episodes cheaply. So to make their money the rest of us are subjected to endless Flex Tape/Seal, Colonial Penn, adult diapers, My Pillow, those ex-military flashlights and sunglasses, amazing copper cookware and other commercials about off the wall products."

What's wrong with MyPillow?

r152/r153/r155 The kid in that episode of AHP played Dill, in the film "To Kill a Mockingbird." That predates the AHP episode by a little over one year. Billy Mumy's turn as an evil moppet eclipsed both, in time as well as creepiness.

Miss Roddy McDowall was in a couple of them

R161 Yes, Miss Roddy was appeared in multiple episodes of both TZ and AHP, plus a couple Night Gallery episodes. He was great.

Roddy McDowell was in a memorable Night Gallery episode called "The Cemetery." I thought he was miscast as a truly evil character but the episode was very scary.

The Cemetery - God, I haven't thought of that in ages.

I saw that as a kid & it was so creepy, it scared the crap out of me.

I prefer the porn version Alfred Hitchcock Presents Hole

R163 Joan Crawford starred in one of the three stories that included "The Cemetery."

Bette's episode...

Like many other actors from Hollywood's studio system golden age Roddy McDowell did lots of television; everything from Carol Burnett (he was in at least one Mama's Family skits), to dramas, sitcoms, etc....

If you go to IMDb and look up any random Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents (or Hour) episode and often you'll find at least one if not more "film star' or whatever.

Some were just starting out and became great film actors (Robert Redford), others like William Shatner pretty much would end up with a career mostly in television.

More stars than there are in the heavens.... Full cast list of AFP 1955-1962 when series ended.

The great Gloria Swanson in one of my favorite Alfred Hitchock Hour episodes; Behind The Locked Door.

1962 isn't really the year the series ended. That's the year the series switched to a one hour format and was retitled "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" to make sure people knew that that's what was going on. Most of the creative and tech talent was the same.

I'll admit I have an overall preference for the half hour version but the hour long version was excellent and hit several episodes out of the ballpark too.

Joan Crawford's Night Gallery segment was directed by a very young Steven Spielberg. It was his first professional tv job. And directing Joan Crawford! According to Wikipedia:

Crawford, however, was "speechless, and then horrified" at the thought of a twenty-one-year-old newcomer directing her, one of Hollywood's leading stars. "Why was this happening to me?" she asked the producer. Her attitude changed after they began working on her scenes:

"When I began to work with Steven, I understood everything. It was immediately obvious to me, and probably everyone else, that here was a young genius. I thought maybe more experience was important, but then I thought of all of those experienced directors who didn't have Steven's intuitive inspiration and who just kept repeating the same old routine performances. That was called "experience." I knew then that Steven Spielberg had a brilliant future ahead of him. Hollywood doesn't always recognize talent, but Steven's was not going to be overlooked. I told him so in a note I wrote him. I wrote to Rod Serling, too. I was so grateful that he had approved Steven as the director. I told him he had been totally right."

John Gavin is so attrative. And this is one of Hitchcock's best episodes.

Thanks for posting that, r172. That's a well known note but an amazing admission from the usually conservative and rigid Crawford.

DL fav the great Joan Fontaine in "The Paragon", playing a wife that likely isn't unlike too many people around here character wise.

^ Joan the bitch was just playing herself in that one

R171

TY for clearing that up... Sort of prefer many of the hour long episodes as it leaves more time for plot to slowly unwind. If MeTV would cut down on the commercials things would be perfect.

John Gavin was sex on a stick, and for my money gave both Rock Hudson and Tony Perkins a run for their money.

More scary on average to me than Alfred Hitchcock presents or hour are the old Thriller episodes with Boris Karloff.

Edward Andrews most certainly DL membership material.....

Edward Andrews had memorable episodes on TZ, AH, Thriller and a lot of other shows. That's one reason why those shows are so good. The used the very best character actors in LA. Perry Mason too.

William Shatner is in a lot of these shows. He was actually quite handsome. And he's one of the few that is still alive.

r173, that ep also has a very young Tom Skerritt in it

R181

Yes, William Shatner was an attractive young man, but his acting was hammy even then IMHO.

Think he saw himself as the next hot stud to be a leading man in films. It just didn't happen, but WS did get Star Trek where his "Captain Kirk" was supposed to be some sort of lady killer.

John Gavin was indeed sex on a stick. He was also an ultra right wing Republican who accepted Reagan's nomination to be his Ambassador to Mexico.

His wife was the gorgeous Constance Towers, who was a 1950/60s sex kitten onscreen but had a beautiful singing voice and ended up on Broadway starring in such musicals as Anya (based on the play Anastasia) and as Mrs. Anna in Yul Brynner's first tour/revival of The King and I. Their 1977 recording of that score may be the best ever.

Gorgeous, terribly handsome and talented couple. Repugnant politics. What do you do?

R184, Constance Towers?? Wasn't she in that one movie The Naked Kiss as a former hooker? I liked her and that movie.

R185, Yes, i said she was a sex kitten onscreen before she gained greater respectability and recognition for her fine singing and acting later on Broadway.

R184

As Margaret DeLorca quips in Dead Ringer; old California up to their necks!

That being said from what one understands most of Hollywood was republican and conservative back then, Jane Russell and so on.. However also from what one understands republican then wasn't same as what party became by 1990's or certainly now.

Yes, John Gavin was gorgeous. I think the last time I saw him he played a villain in an episode of "Hart to Hart."

[quote]Edward Andrews had memorable episodes on TZ, AH, Thriller and a lot of other shows. That's one reason why those shows are so good. The used the very best character actors in LA. Perry Mason too.

In the original pilot for "Hazel," which was on YouTube at one point, Edward Andrews plays Mr. Baxter. The rest of the cast was the same as in the subsequent series. I wonder whether he was replaced by Don DeFore because it was felt he would be too associated with the rather shady characters he often played on those anthology series. Don DeFore seemed a lot more amiable. Or maybe he was replaced because he looked more like Whitney Blake's father than her husband.

R189

Though not far apart in actual age, appearance wise Edward Andrews looked older than Don DeFore. When paired with Whitney Blake it just seemed "off" with EA, so changes were made when series was picked up.

R185, Constance Towers was also in another Sam Fuller movie, Shock Corridor, which starred Peter Breck, who went on to play Nick Barclay on The Big Valley. Shock Corridor is a weird movie indeed, and it features the (in)famous scene where Breck's character is attacked by a gang of man-hungry "nymphos".

Dead Ringer was released in 1964, and that quip from Margaret DeLorca in a way portended what was to come in terms of California's republican party if not politics overall in state.

R169 Great list, thank you. The list of writers was also interesting, including John Cheever, Roald Dahl, A.A. Milne...I never knew that the man who created Winnie the Pooh wrote two episodes of AHP.

[quote]Sort of prefer many of the hour long episodes

R171 I found the transition from half-hour to hour episodes a bit jarring. I liked the tight writing on the half-hour stories but I learned to appreciate the hour longs after awhile.

R154, The trick is to record the shows.

R45 Saki (H.H.Munro) is one of my favorites. I was surprised to learn he wrote under two names.

Shit, r191!

R193, A.A. Milne was a big fan of Saki.

R193

It is interesting to see just how much great talent was both in front and behind cameras for these old television shows. It clearly indicates people saw the still young medium as a growing force in entertainment world. And those paychecks obviously didn't hurt either.

Have always thought of Gary Merrill a great old school Hollywood actor famous for All About Eve and so forth. Had no idea he did so much television work.

r199 He was the poor man's Humphrey Bogart.

R199 Gary Merrill was married to Bette Davis. They toured in a play together and she fired him; she said he was a terrible stage actor. He went on to a great career in TV and film.

Like this one

R202, I couldn't finish that one, that shrieking teenage girl was so annoying, like Sandra Dee.

The girl was annoying but she doesn't even have that much screentime....looking at imdb, this was her ONLY credit. I guess a lot of other people found her annoying!

R204, I could have sworn I saw her in another episode. But maybe Hitchcock didn't like her and refused to give her credit. That reminds me, that girl in the Gloria Swanson episode also had an annoying voice, no wonder she died.

Colleen Dewhurst guest stars in this episode. The ending isn't really a surprise, but the tone of it is very unsettling.

R205, "that girl" was Lynn Loring, who went into producing and eventually became president of MGM/UA Television. She was one of the first women in Hollywood to hold such a powerful position. I don't know if that made her voice any less irritating.

R206, thank you. The quality on that one doesn't look too bad. The first season of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour on youtube is generally very good quality. The second-season ones are awful to the point of being unwatchable. I hope the third-season episodes are all as good as this one.

It's funny; this show is pretty popular in reruns, and the episodes are in the public domain. You'd think somebody would have invested a few bucks to clean them up a little (not necessarily a full digital re-mastering, which I guess is expensive) and sell decent quality DVDs.

Lynn Loring had a decent enough acting career before moving behind the camera. For a woman that was a ballsy move at time but served her well as actresses then and still now have a shelf life when it comes to big or small screen.

[quote]Another interesting episode is “Ten Minutes From Now” starring handsome Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes, best known to American audiences as the character Dutch on Soap.

Excuse me?

[quote]AHP shows up on My Stuff on Hulu, but there's no option to start watching it.

Based on your other programming choices, Hulu's algorithms have determined that you probably couldn't handle it, Mary.

r206's episode also has a very young Peggy Lipton in it

I can't remember which Alfred Hitchcock this was but it was about a woman that gets drunk and forgets the night before. But I remember after the episode Mr. Hitchcock came out and talked about alcoholism. I remember thinking it was really cool that he did that. Especially for that time period.

R213, I believe you're talking about the episode Never Again, with Phyllis Thaxter

Back in the day, that Phyllis Thaxter chick was absolutely ubiquitous.

[quote]But I remember after the episode Mr. Hitchcock came out and talked about alcoholism. I remember thinking it was really cool that he did that. Especially for that time period.

R213 He did the same thing after Bang, You're Dead - speaking out about keeping loaded guns in the house. It was a chilling episode; Billy Mumy was excellent as the child with the gun.

[quote] He did the same thing after Bang, You're Dead - speaking out about keeping loaded guns in the house. It was a chilling episode; Billy Mumy was excellent as the child with the gun.

The best way to make a usually amiable Billy Mumy become bitter and outspoken is to bring up the subject of Hitchcock. Billy hated him.

R215

Phyllis Thaxter, was in about six AHP episodes, and a few AHH shows. Mr. Hitchcock must really liked her or something.

A few of my favorites are:

The Deadly - Ms. Thaxter plays a suburban housewife being blackmailed by the studly looking plumber Lee Philips.

The Five-Forty-Eight - Ms. Thaxter plays a mentally unstable secretary who gets back at her boss ( Zachary Scott) for playing with her affections.

I don't actually love Thaxter but she was always perfect in her Htichcock parts.

R218 The Five-Forty-Eight is one of my favorites, too. It's based on a story by John Cheever. Yes, Phyllis Thaxter seemed to be a Hitchcock favorite which is surprising because she wasn't blond!

R217, why did Billy Mumy hate Hitchcock?

For R221:

R222 Wow! Thank you so much. Not only is the clip very revealing about Hitchcock's mindset at the time but I've never seen Billy Mumy as an adult. He comes off like a very well-spoken, genuine guy.

Women's Prison (1955) was on the other night. Ida Lupino was the ruthless superintendent. It's like she was preparing for her butch prison matron role in that '70s movie of the week with poor Miss Lois Nettleton. The cast featured Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, and the always fantabulous Miss Jan (got an Oscar nom for takin' off her make-up) Sterling. It was a poor man's Caged. Miss Phyllis Thaxter was basically a poor man's Eleanor Parker.

Thanks, R222. Not surprising, I've heard lots of stories about actresses feeling intimidated by him -- not "Me Too" type stuff, just general bullying. I wonder if Hitchcock behaved the same way with adult men who could fight back, or if he only enjoyed scaring women and children -- power plays.

How did Mumy feel about Rod Serling?

R225 In this clip about his Twilight Zone work, Mumy doesn't talk about Sterling per se, but you can sense his deep regard for Serling's legacy, the episode "It's a Good Life," the director James Sheldon and the sequel he developed with Ira Behr, "It's Still a Good Life" that was part of the revival series in 2003.

"Phyllis Thaxter, was in about six AHP episodes, and a few AHH shows. Mr. Hitchcock must really liked her or something."

Having a big shot husband probably helped her, although I do think she was a good actress

Billy Mumy took what Hitchcock did WAY too seriously. Obviously it was a last resort attempt by Hitchcock to get him to hold still. Of course Hitchcock could have said something different, but I think he pretty angry and just wanted to get the work done. I think after becoming an adult Mumy should have just shrugged it off as something a pissed off director did to get his shot. And directors do stuff like that all the time; they do it to ADULT actors. In order to get the performance he wanted from Winona Ryder in "Dracula" Francis Ford Coppola screamed at her "YOU'RE A WHORE! YOU'RE A WHORE!"What Hitchcock dide wasn't a big deal. Mumy seems like a little snowflake, still whining about how bad Alfred Hitchcock treated him. What a baby.

Don't be too surprised that Hithcock was a dick. This was a man who sexually harassed Tippi Hedren, blacklisted her and then gave Melanie Griffith a toy coffin with some kind of carving or figurine of Tippi inside. What a dick.

[quote] In order to get the performance he wanted from Winona Ryder in "Dracula" Francis Ford Coppola screamed at her "YOU'RE A WHORE! YOU'RE A WHORE!"

Apparently, it didn't work.

"Don't be too surprised that Hithcock was a dick. This was a man who sexually harassed Tippi Hedren, blacklisted her and then gave Melanie Griffith a toy coffin with some kind of carving or figurine of Tippi inside. What a dick."

He was an eccentric man, but he wasn't any more of a "dick" than most other directors. Most people who worked with him have nothing bad to say about him. And I don't know exactly how much truth there is to Tippi Hedren's stories. He wanted to make her a star and that didn't happen and she blamed him for that. But she went nowhere as an actress for one simple reason: she had no talent. And just how did he "blacklist" her? Seems to me there was nothing he could have done to prevent other people from hiring her. If she couldn't find work after Hitchcock's movies that was no doing of his.

R231, her costar confirmed he tried to hit on her repeatedly and he became pissed off when she rejected him. And giving a toy coffin with a minitiature version of Tippi Hedrin inside of it was messed up.

"her costar confirmed he tried to hit on her repeatedly and he became pissed off when she rejected him. And giving a toy coffin with a minitiature version of Tippi Hedrin inside of it was messed up."

He tried to hit on an actress he was directing? Sounds like standard Hollywood director behavior to me. As for the coffin bit...well, that seems like a Hitchcockian attempt at humor. He was an odd guy, but I don't think he was nearly as offensive as a lot of other Hollywood directors.

Right, nothing innapropriate about giving a child a toy coffin of their mother in retaliation for her rejecting your advances.

I agree with 228 up to a point. Mumy seems like a nice man, and overall pretty mature. I wouldn't call him a baby or a snowflake.

That said, it's obvious that Mumy is still furious and shaken up by Hitchcock's actions and can't get past his anger and dislike to see Hitchcock's work and personality in a broader perspective. I think many people - especially actors, who are used to the eccentric and often shitty behavior exhibited by so many in the entertainment business - would have been able to move past even that traumatic experience once they reached adulthood. It's not a matter of excusing the behavior, which was indeed awful, but simply moving on and seeing the bigger picture, which we don't expect from children but do expect from adults.

Sorry! That's "I agree with R228 ..."

"Right, nothing innapropriate about giving a child a toy coffin of their mother in retaliation for her rejecting your advances."

"Inappropriate?" Well, Tippi Hedren is in no position to throw stones at Hitchcock when it comes to inappropriate. She allowed her baby daughter Melanie to become the live-in lover of 24 year old Don Johnson. That seems pretty inappropriate. And bizarre behavior is something she's no stranger to, either. She and one of her husbands kept LIONS in their home. One of them mauled her little precious Melanie. Tippi Hedren is quite the weirdo herself.

Film crew and others were interviewed about Tippi's book when it came out. Most seemed baffled...

Her hot male costar in The Birds confirmed he sexually harassed her

What director isn't a jerk? I always thought that was a requirement.

R228, I find it funny when gay men use the language of straight Republican bullies by screaming "snowflake" at anyone they don't like.

[quote]In this clip about his Twilight Zone work, Mumy doesn't talk about Sterling per se, but you can sense his deep regard for Serling's legacy, the episode "It's a Good Life," the director James Sheldon and the sequel he developed with Ira Behr, "It's Still a Good Life" that was part of the revival series in 2003.

Want some off topic gossip? I slept with James Sheldon. Fire Island Pines, 1970s. I was a young twink, cute but no beauty, and he was a fairly hot middle aged Daddy. I had no idea he was a highly successful director or even in the business until he told me later, I think he was very flattered that I made passes at him without knowing who he was. My best friend had a coop in the Pines and Sheldon rented the adjoining apartment for a few weeks. We got together several times after that. He was a butch bottom, although sweet and undemanding, other than "harder, deeper." .

More about James Sheldon:

Speaking of Phyllis Thaxter-- It's weird the things you remember from your youth. I remember reading this line in the TIME magazine review of "Myra Breckinridge" (the book, not the movie.)

[quote] In that vein, he offers metaphor after metaphor based upon far-out late-show conceits ("I whispered like Phyllis Thaxter in Thirty Seconds over Tokyo").

To this day, it's the first thing I think of when I hear the name "Phyllis Thaxter."

The great Phyllis Thaxter also played Martha Kent in "Superman: The Movie" (1978).

Phyllis Thaxter is in this one:

There was a story of Hitchcock betting a member of the crew that he wouldn't spend the night in the studio handcuffed to a piece of equipment(for some reason)the guy took the bet and was handcuffed but what the guy didn't know was that Hitchcock had slipped him a laxative before he was cuffed for the night so he does sound like a mean spirited asshole.

"There was a story of Hitchcock betting a member of the crew that he wouldn't spend the night in the studio handcuffed to a piece of equipment(for some reason)the guy took the bet and was handcuffed but what the guy didn't know was that Hitchcock had slipped him a laxative before he was cuffed for the night so he does sound like a mean spirited asshole."

Seems to me he just had a morbid sense of humor. There are a lot of directors I find a lot more offensive than Hitchcock: Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Peter Bogdanovich, Quentin Tarantino, John Landis. I find ALL of them a lot more revolting and disgusting than Alfred Hitchcock ever was.

Well, it's not like someone can't be both talented and also an asshole. I guess some fans think that if Hitchcock was a great director that means he must have been a saint, and anyone who says otherwise is a "snowflake" or a liar

I don't think anybody has said Hitchcock was a "saint." But he's not as bad as he's been made out to be. Donald Spoto, for some bizarre reason, hates him. He's done not one, not two, but THREE books vilifying him. But no one should take Donald Spoto too seriously. He hates Hitchcock and has done smear jobs on him. But he absolutely adores Marilyn Monroe, and insists that she was NOT a drug addict, NOT promiscuous, NOT any more unprofessional than most other movies stars and NOT seriously mentally ill. She was just an unfairly treated, unfairly maligned sensitive artist. Donald Spoto, it would seem, is full of shit.

If he "hates" Hitchcock then maybe there's a reason for that. Just because someone wrote something bad about someone you like doesn't mean he's lying. And if you hate his books, why do you keep reading them?

Alfred hitchcock fans are like MJ fans I guess...well, OK, that's a bit harsh. But still apt.

"If he "hates" Hitchcock then maybe there's a reason for that."

Biographers are supposed to be objective, When it comes to Hitchcock (and Monroe) Spoto isn't. His hatred of Hitchcock is pathological, as is his love of Monroe. As for his books...well, I read some of the first one he did on Hitchcock, "The Dark Side of Genus: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock." But I didn't like it; it was so nasty and mean spirited, not unlike Albert Goldman's "Elvis." A much better biography of Hitchcock is "Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and LIght" by Patrick McGilligan. I flipped through the other two Spoto did on Hitchcock but that was all; it was just more of the same. He even suggested that Hitchcock's wife was glad he was dead! I also read some of his biography on Marilyn Monroe; he kisses her ass all the way though it. And that was the end of my reading anything by Donald Spoto. I read some of his stuff out of curiosity; I read a lot of biographies. But he's crap as a writer. He is, as stated before, full of shit.

All I know is, I have really enjoyed watching his Alfred Hitchcock hour during this quarantine. Yeah, he probably wasn't the nicest guy in the world. What director is? Especially with all the stories we're hearing about them now. But he was a brilliant filmmaker.

Nobody denied that he is brilliant. Being brilliant doesn't mean he's not an abuser or horrible person.

"Being brilliant doesn't mean he's not an abuser or horrible person."

His being an "abuser" and "horrible person" has been greatly exaggerated. The people who have worked with Hitchcock have, by and large, nothing bad to say about him. But there are always going to be crybabies like Billy Mumy and grudge holders like Tippi Hedren (she thought Hitchcock would be her ticket to stardom; didn't happen) who want to sully his reputation with their whining.

So Billy Mumy thinks that Alfred Hitchcock treated him SO bad? He was a child star; did he expect to be treated sweetly by every director he encountered? And by the way, what Hitchcock did was nothing. Jackie Cooper was doing a crying scene with a director named Norman Taurog; to get the reaction he wanted from the child star, Taurog ordered a security guard to take away his dog and pretend to shoot him backstage. Jackie Cooper derived the title of his autobiography from the incident: "Please Don't Shoot My Dog." Mumy had nothing to complain about.

Thaxter had a great role in a Twilight Zone episode called "A Young Man's Fancy", I believe.

Wow, this thread has taken a downturn. Yes, let's defend a man who was mean to a child for no reason and act like it's the child's fault!

Can we get back on topic?

"Yes, let's defend a man who was mean to a child for no reason and act like it's the child's fault!"

Actually, he DID have a reason. He was a director trying to get his shot. He was a little harsh, but nothing earth shattering. It's not like he was John Landis. In order to get HIS shot, he ended up killing three people, two of them children. I think Alfred Hitchcock was small potatoes when it came to child abuse.

Geez, you don't have to act like an asshole to kids to get a shot.

I've been watching Boris karloff's thrillers. Really good. And pleasantly surprised. I'm enjoying this so much more than the crap that's on Netflix right now. I want to thank my DL family for suggesting it to me. I'm going to try to watch The Veil next. Thank you for giving me an escape from the stressful world right now.

R262,

Yes, love me some Thriller! Those episodes are often far more spooky than AHP.

Dialogues with Death is one of my favorites.

I was able to watch a few on YouTube. I bought the box set from eBay. Should be coming any time. Excited.

Another favorite AHP features Cloris Leachman as a sister with an unnatural and unhealthy attraction to her bother (the gorgeous George Nader).

Name of episode is "Where Beauty Lies..."

^ I love that episode

George Nader and partner, Mark Miller.

For benefit of younger gays who don't know George Nader was close to Rock Hudson and worked as his personal secretary from 1972 until the actor's death.

That's Rock in the picture with him, not Mark Miller

R269

Didn't look too carefully before adding link. Sorry.....

Think this one is it however.

Mark Miller was the father on "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (the TV series, not the movie.)

Nader reminds me somewhat of the actor Stephen Boyd(played opposite Charleton Heston in "Ben-Hur)

Had read years ago that Nader's lover was named Mark Miller, but never realized he was the dad character that r271 alerted us to.

Am slogging through a book(a translation from French) entitled "Hitchcock, the First Forty-Four Films," by Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol. It's heavy on the technical side so far, I hope it lightens up a bit as I keep reading.

Going by above picture, for all his hunk status Rock Hudson could have done with a bit more work in his body. George Nader OTOH was fit.

Alfred Hitchcock never tried anything funny with me!

I wish I could see it.

This one is awesome:

Speaking of film Dead Ringer, did you know it was directed by Paul Henreid who played Jerry Durrance in Now Voyager?

Henreid directed at least a few episodes, I believe

Handsome James Drury stars along with Jeanette Nolan in "The Right Kind Of House", proving that patience is indeed a virtue.

Also staring Robert Emhardt who was a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock, doing six AHP and one AHH episodes. RE had an extensive television career mostly playing villains and other despicable persons.

Robert Emhardt was a great character actor

r279/r280 One of the best parts he ever played was on "The Andy Griffith Show," as a big, impatient, blustery type whose car broke down and it could not be repaired for several days. The good people of Mayberry showed him how to slow down and appreciate the finer things that life has to offer.

R281, I remember that episode. I think it's the one where Opie talks about having to sleep on the ironing board because the guest is using his bed. I don't remember whether Opie hated that experience or loved it -- sounded like fun to me.

r282 Opie was very excited about getting to sleep on the ironing board.

I still peel apples the way they did it in that episode.

Simpler times.

Phyllis Thaxter reminds me of Teresa Wright. Teresa is in a good one called Three Wives Too Many with Dan Duryea.

Someone upthread mentioned about how much they liked the "Young Man's Fancy" episode of The Twilight Zone with Phyllis Thaxter. Well, I just turned to MeTV and it's on right now.

Who would you say is the Phyllis Thaxter of today?

[quote]Who would you say is the Phyllis Thaxter of today?

G.

Ride the Nightmare, with Gena Rowlands and Hugh O'Brian, was pretty good

Anybody see the new Twilight zone? Is it any good?

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing "Enough Rope for Two" (S3E7, 1957). It was a good story, although, like so many AHP plots the general shape of the outcome was predictable from the beginning. It was nice to see outdoor scenes so early in the series, when most episodes were pretty claustrophobic.

Anyway, one of the actors was a guy named Steve Hill, who I would have sworn I had never heard of. He was quite handsome an austere, serious way, so I looked him up on imdb, and [feeling like the idiot I am] I realized he was none other than Steven Hill, who played DA Adam Schiff on Law & Order for so many years. Duh! I had no idea that DA Schiff was such a good-looking guy when he was young. (He was 35 in 1957.)

[quote]Anyway, one of the actors was a guy named Steve Hill, who I would have sworn I had never heard of. He was quite handsome an austere, serious way, so I looked him up on imdb, and [feeling like the idiot I am] I realized he was none other than Steven Hill, who played DA Adam Schiff on Law & Order for so many years. Duh! I had no idea that DA Schiff was such a good-looking guy when he was young. (He was 35 in 1957.)

Steven Hill was the star of "Mission: Impossible" in the first season. He was let go because of his strict adherence to Orthodox Judaism caused all kinds of problems and he was replaced by Peter Graves for the rest of the run of the series.

Look who directed that "Enough Rope" episode: Paul Henreid! Bette Davis' lover in "Now Voyager" and Ingrid Bergman's husband in "Casablanca". According to the linked site, he directed over 25 other episodes -- I had no idea!

Here's another episode with Steven Hill

Don Taylor, who directed 7 AHP episodes (along with a bunch of other stuff), was also an actor. He appeared in the Season 3 episode Silent Witness, one of Pat Hitchcock's appearances on Daddy's show. The episode is perhaps most notable for featuring a pre-Where the Boys Are (and pre-nunnery) Dolores Hart. She was absolutely gorgeous, wasn't she? Don and Dolo are below.

Speaking of Patricia Hitchcock, she seems to have led a stable and happy life. Although her career never took off, with few roles outside her father's work, she was married to the same man for 42 years, until her husband's death, and had 3 children with him.

She remained active in various business activities related to her father's work and legacy. Pat is currently 92 and living in Santa Barbara County.

Below is the Hitchcock family in about 1957 or so. Not the most photogenic bunch, but looks aren't everything, except at the DL.

R292, Henreid directed the fantastic film noir “Hollow Triumph,” which he plays a crook who takes on the identity of a lookalike psychiatrist. Great L.A. setting.

Hill also played Kim's husband in The Goddess....

Roddy McDowall was in a couple episodes

Watched it last night. A super-youno Bob Newhart played an unhappily married man. His wife looked familiar. I knew I’d seen her before. Halfway through I recognized her - Jane the Plumber!

Millie from the Dick Van Dyke Show was also in the episode.

Pat Hitchcock looks almost like a clone of her mother - except she had Alfred’s eyes.

She was born and lived in the UK until she was 11 years old. But to me, her English accent sounded affected.

r299 The plumber's name was JOSEPHINE, and the actress is former child star Jane Withers.

Ok. Thanks, R301.

Celebrated her 94th birthday just this past April, Jane Withers is still with us!

There was at least one film, maybe more, where young Jane Withers was a mean girl to young Shirley Temple.

FABULOUS!

R304 A bit of trivia: I saw a TCM special about child stars and everyone mentioned how wonderful Jane Withers' mother was to all the kids on set. The kids would gravitate to her mom. Makes me think that Jane had a better family life than some of those child stars.

She was lucky not to have a nightmare stage parent like some others

R152 R153 R155 mention The Magic Shop. It's on toniight 7/21 on MeTV.

MeTV took Gilligan’s Island off in June of this year because of this kind of stuff.

The Jar is on tonight 7/26. One of the best episodes ever!

The Jar is awesome

It's on ME TV tonight. Looking forward to it. Who knew Pat Buttram could really act? And the rest of the cast is great. Exceptional episode!

The Jar

I saw that episode last night. Strange as fuck. Someone was clearly on a major acid trip when they wrote that.

" Strange as fuck. Someone was clearly on a major acid trip when they wrote that."

"The Jar" was based on a story by Ray Bradbury. I don't think he was on acid when he wrote it. It was standard story telling for him. He was expert at writing disturbing fiction.

The Jar has stayed in my memory since it first aired. Every time I see it, I realize what a great cast it had. Pat Buttram was surprisingly good but the real breakout for me was Goober! I can't think of his real name but that scene where he talks about having to drown a kitten was heartbreaking. I expected good performances from Jane Darwell and Slim Pikens but Goober was a revelation!

I was actually trippin balls when I wrote that. Just totally strung out.

R315, the actor's name is George Lindsey, 1928-2012. He was a science teacher before deciding to become an actor. I've never heard anything but nice things about him as a person.

A few people upthread mentioned "Waters Edge" as being a favorite. It was on last night and I have to agree. Great story and Ann Sothern and John Cassavetes were outstanding.

Tonight 8/19 is "Lonely Place" with Pat Buttram, Teresa Wright, and Bruce Dern. One of my favorites and mentioned a few times upthread.

I watched Lonely Place last night. Very disturbing. The attempted rape scene between Bruce Dern and Teresa Wright reminded me of the Ned Beatty scene in Deliverance. It was chilling.

Yes, A Lonely Place is upseting and stays with you long after. The thriller and crime where fascinating. But it is the sense of betrayal and the discover that one life is built on nothing that leaves an impression.

At the time, in the fifties, I wonder how many women uncomfortably and silently identified with the wife. It was before feminism.

I just watched the Waters Edge. Well, it is engrossing and well acted. A good suspense. It is strange though how moralism and nihilism bland together in that one. It annoyed me that immoral people got punished in that one. And... Eeewwwwww !!!!!!!!

* WERE... discovery.

Sheesh !

R321 Why would it annoy that immortal people got punished?

I know it is exactly what we should expect from this (and most) kind of shows and that the protagonists were neither moral nor likable.

But they had been so smart and plucky in their treasure hunting ! And that money will go to no one ! The paper it is made of will be eaten by the rats. Downer ! I know it is to be expected, but I would have prefere to see petty criminals get away with it only to have Hitchcock confirm outside the story they had been arrested.

Maybe it is because their comuppance was a bit disproportionate for the crime. Still an excellent suspense !

R324 Thanks for the explanation of your original post. I had the same question as R323.

[quote] Why would it annoy that immortal people got punished?

This year has been such a bitch so far, I get the feeling that immortality is its own punishment (kinda like bigamy).

"An Unlocked Window" is on tomorrow (1 a.m. EST, MeTV).

This one I saw when I as in Junior High and I still remember the basic plot. A young married couiple with a hyperactive-chatterbox five year old boy are on a train. The train comes to a stop and they meet an old man in the lounge car who is yarn spinner. The only way he can tell his tale is if the boy shuts up, so they bribe him with a dollar to do just that. The man's story takes a dark turn: it's about a man dying in the snow. They way the four are seated, the now mute boy is the only one who can see out of the nearest window of the train. And guess what's happening on the other side of the window?

Thank you, R327. I've been waiting for it.

I love the Hitchcock and also The Twilight Zone. Amazing what they could do in a minimalist black and white set.

R328, that's "Don't Interrupt"'. It's from AH Presents (Season 4, episode 2, October 12, 1958). The boy's mother is played by DL fave Cloris Leachman.

Thanks, R327. I've been waiting for that one and The Jar. That's a sweet block that ME runs late at night: Twilight Zone followed by Hitchcock.

R328 Your memory of "Don't Interrupt" is similar to my memory of "The Unlocked Window." After I saw it, I couldn't shake it -- "Stella, you're such a pretty nurse" gave me bad dreams.

Thanks, R331. Did I get the storyline right, or about right? I'd say it was 1977 when I saw it last.

Exactly right, R333. Good memory!

Thanks to you, R328 and R331, I watched the episode called Don't Interupt on YouTube.

Good one. Very cynical about human's greed.

I first thought the old cowboy would be the evaded mental patient, but it went somewhere else ! The thing that makes you go :" Oh nooo ! "

Great suggestion.

Throughout the summer, I followed several of the suggestion on this thread and made fun discovries.

R335, when I saw "Don't Interrupt" again recently, the first thing I thought was how nowadays that kid would be medicated to near unconsciousness for his obvious ADHD.

Interesting, too, how both parents were so negatively portrayed. Dad (played by Biff McGuire, a milquetoast actor if ever there was one) is inadequate and a total wimp who's incapable of properly disciplining his son. Mom (Cloris Leachman ... no more need be said) is not a warm or loving parent; she mostly just seems to want another cocktail. I'll admit to a sneaking sympathy for her because that boy was exhausting to watch, let alone parent.

Anyway, good episode.

"The Monkey's Paw: Retelling" was on last night. Based on the HH Munro short story and starred Jane Wyatt and Collin Wilcox (Thedy Sue from The Jar). I was familiar with the original story and this updating was just as suspenseful.

MeTV has a good block at night. First Twilight Zone and then Alfred Hitchcock.

The Twilight Zone episode last night was one of my faves -- Burgess Meredith as the meek teller who survives an atomic blast and is happy to be alone with an entire library full of books and then..

It looks like Alfred Hitchcock Hour will be starting on 9/17 with season 1, episode 1. It is on WJLP, which I had never heard of but from the interwebs: WJLP, virtual channel 33, is a MeTV-affiliated television station, licensed to Middletown Township, New Jersey.

I'm watching episode "Anyone for Murder?" It's not a great episode but it includes a young Richard Dawson with a very believable American accent!

I like The Magic Shop

So, thanks to someone's comment on the Twilight Zone thread, I just watched the Change of Address episode. That was a good one. Didn't see the final twist coming.

Of course you suspect right away why he is digging so deep in the cellar. You also know he will be punished one way or another. But, ha ! That was clever.

The atmosphere was also moody and musical score by Hermann way better than a TV program deserves and made it memorable.

Any episodes with a ventriloquist's doll gave me nightmares.

R341 On some level, Herrmann's score works to build empathy for the old guy and his longing for the girl and his lost youth, a universal human experience. The music celebrates the fleeting, stolen moments while building an undercurrent of foreboding.

Thanks R343. I thought the music built empathy for both the husband and his wife. There was something a bit melancholy for her,

R185 Constance Towers was in two very good John Ford movies as the female lead. The Horse Soldiers (1959) with John Wayne and William Holden, and Sergeant Rutledge (1960), with Jeffrey Hunter and Woody Strode

[quote}Any episodes with a ventriloquist's doll gave me nightmares.

R342 Try "Magic" from 1978 with Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret. Yikes.

Magic was creepy as hell

R344 Nice observation. I'll have to rewatch it with the wife in mind.

Any more suggestions?

One of my favorites is the first episode of the series, Revenge, starring Ralph Meeker and Vera Miles. Hitchcock himself directed this episode, about a husband and wife living in a trailer park, after the wife, a dancer, has suffered a nervous breakdown but is on the road to recovery. The husband and wife seem to be very much in love and to have a good sex life (in some ways, it's a sexy episode for the time - 1955). He leaves for work and later returns to find the wife has been raped. He wants to get revenge. Out for a drive, the traumatized wife suddenly spot a man and says "That's him." The husband stops the car and beats the man up, and kills him. He gets back in the car and stats to drive again. As they're driving along the wife spots another man and says "That's him".

R350 YES! That was a great episode and, of course, it was sexy because it gave AH an opportunity to work with his Vera again.

Funny you guys should be talking about "Revenge," as it's on this coming Tuesday morning at 1AM.

MeTV is apparently showing the series in chronological order beginning Tuesday night, and "Revenge" is episode 1, with episode 2 - "Premonition" starring John Forsythe - to follow.

R352 Thank you! I've been waiting for the repeats to start at the beginning. Those early episodes had everything - great writing, acting and directing. I'm not interested in bingeing on AH episodes; one per evening is a treat.

R353 - BTW I didn't mean to suggest that it's a marathon showing of the episodes beginning at 1. They're showing only two episodes per night - so it's really only an hour of shows per night.

R354 Thanks for clarifying but I didn't think it was a marathon from your description. Like I wrote, I don't want to binge. One - or two episodes - per evening is perfect. Thank you again for the heads up.

R350 Thanks for the spoiler, asshole.

Watching the last episode of Alfred Hitchcock and it is a mini reunion between John Gavin and the set of the Bates motel (the cabins). Just looked up and there was Gavin talking to a weird motel owner with his arm resting on the set from Psycho.

By the way, to add to R354's scheduling note, the hour-long Hitchcock episodes are moving to Sunday nights permanently on MeTV. The half-hour episodes will replace them through the week.

Agreed, R356. What the fuck is with people casually giving away plot twists and endings when they fondly discuss something that not everyone has seen? Surely they understand that just because a film or TV show is old, it doesn’t mean it’s okay to spoil it. WTF?

I see this happening all the time on this site.

R359, I agree also, though in R350's defense, I will assume they meant no harm in this case and were posting from the (mistaken) idea that we've all seen these episodes many times before (as is usually the case in the TZ threads that happen here quite often). But you're right, no one should ever spoil any plot twists no matter how old the show is.

R358 Thanks for the scheduling note. I always preferred the half-hour shows although some of the hour length episodes are classics.

356 It's 65 years old and I think the ending has been mentioned in about 50 books, but I'm the asshole for repeating it on a forum.

*R356

R350 Don't take it so seriously. We've all spoiled endings at one time or another.

They showed a great season one episode on MeTV last week called "Breakdown" starring the late, great Joseph Cotten. And tonight they're showing another great one from season one, "Guilty Witness," which had a nice twist at the end (which I won't give away here).

I watched several seasons of this, but the only screencap I made was this one, for some reason.

Alfred Hitchcock’s presents and Alfred Hitchcock hour is available for streaming on the Peacock channel. All episodes and seasons. Enjoy!