Suspicion

First of all, Alfred Hitchcock's introduction, station brake and wrap up monologues are worth the price of watching those commercials alone — which regularly were humorously ridiculed by Hitchcock himself. Watching these shows these many years later is therapy for the lightening fast world of the 21st century. Lots of husbands killing wives and wives killing husbands. And of course, then, nobody could get away with anything — if not in the story itself then in the ending wrap up by Hitchcock.

AND, it was an era when REAL ACTORS were on TV — not the pretty face empty nothing's on TV today. Living in impossible apartments and working in impossible work places and performing impossible plots.

I saw "Change of Address" several years ago and it stuck with me because of Arthur Kennedy's fabulous performance - up there with the best acting I've ever seen on television - don't miss it-he is superb, in a rare role in which he portrayed an unambiguously heinous individual (episode 321 - Oct. 64) Also, do not miss this great actor in the film "Too Late for Tears" - (1949) - with Lizabeth Scott as possibly the most repellent femme fatale in the history of the genre - this actor was superb at portraying the halfway decent man whose moral frailties could be uncovered with the scratch of a pin - he deserves to be more well remembered

They say the small things in life make a big difference and I am inclined to agree. It also makes fine acting. Films in the last 20-30 years costing up to 100 million. That takes a lot of footfall to break even. I recently bought a portable radio. Just turn a switch and move a dial for Mozart. Same with TV. Actor shining like never with so little time on screen.

I want to implore people to cancel all subscription plans and go for a few months through the Hitchcock TV library. I guarantee after seeing and hearing (some great music too, orchestra not synth) you will never venture back.

Start with: "Consider Her Ways" Great script (From real books and authors) and try to remember this was not written in 2020. Move on to a classic radio play turned to TV: The Evil of Adelaide Winters.

Happy viewing. Best wishes, Cliff Taylor

and many now famous (and infamous) actors from the past and present. This show is suspenseful and similar to the shorter version, albeit the stories are better, more involved.

One story which is quirky and interesting is the episode where a drunken man loses everything. Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield, 1962. Tony Randall delivers a perfect performance as frustrated ad executive (he and Mansfield reprising this role and story from the hysterical comedy "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?"). Since this is Hitchcock, however, there is a twist and pathos to the storyline.

Worth owning on DVD and also watching in the U.S. on Chiller channel. 9/10.

Alfred Hitchock Presents ran half-hour shows, which stuck strictly to whodunits. The Alfred Hitchock hour tended more toward one-hour dramas with twist endings. As usual, each episode boasted a pageant of stars. Stories were not as tightly knit. Some episodes were laconic. This was television's last attempt at the Playhouse 90s, Alcoa/Goodyear TV Playhouses, the Loretta Young Shows and Kraft Mystery Theatres. It was the last of an age of television, which story lines lasted an entire hour, rather than being broken up into various story lines and woven subplots. Here were the the last of the great playwrights, in their eleventh hour, just before Fred Silverman turned television into tedium.