Everything about The Alfred Hitchcock Hour totally explained
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an
anthology television series hosted by
Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured both
mysteries and
melodramas. By the premiere of the show on
October 2,
1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades.
Time names it one of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".
History
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its
title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock's rotund profile. As the program's theme music,
Charles Gounod's
Funeral March of a Marionette, plays, Hitchcock himself appears in silhouette from the right edge of the screen, and then walks to center screen to eclipse the caricature. The camera then pans to a scene in which Hitchcock provides a humorous introduction to the episode. He often begins by saying "Good evening."
The drawing was the work of Hitchcock himself. He'd begun his career as an illustrator for silent movie title cards. The sequence has been parodied countless times in films and on television. The caricature and
Funeral March of a Marionette music have become indelibly associated with Hitchcock in popular culture.
Hitchcock appears again after the title sequence and drolly introduces the story from a mostly-empty studio or from the set of the current episode. At least two versions of the opening were shot for every episode. A version intended for the American audience would often spoof a recent popular commercial or poke fun at the sponsor, leading into the commercial. For later seasons, opening remarks were also filmed with Hitchcock speaking in
French and
German for the show's international presentations, reflecting his real-life fluency in both languages. Hitchcock himself only directed 17 of the 270 filmed episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents It was followed by
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, which lasted for three seasons, September 1962 to June 1965, adding another 93 episodes to the 270 already produced for
Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Two episodes, both directed by Hitchcock himself, were nominated for
Emmy Awards: "The Case of Mr. Pelham" (1955) with
Tom Ewell and "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1958) with
Barbara Bel Geddes. An episode of
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled "An Unlocked Window" (1965) earned an
Edgar Award for writer
James Bridges in 1966.
One 1963 episode ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice") wasn't initially broadcast by NBC because the
FCC felt that the ending was too gruesome. The plot has a magician's assistant performing a "sawing a woman in half" trick, not knowing it's a gimmick, and he cuts the unconscious woman in half. The episode has since been shown in syndication.
DVD releases
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents on DVD in
Region 1.
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://alfred_hitchcock_presents.totallyexplained.com">Alfred Hitchcock Presents Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
