139. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962-65)

by Sam Juliano

There are two ways to frame The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The first is to categorize it as an extension of sorts to the seven-season Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which it immediately followed.  the other is to count it as a standalone show with many distinct contrasts, including the obvious running time, temperament and general disavowal of the patented twist ending that was common with its celebrated predecessor.  It could be argued that the three season Hour had a more persuasive kinship with Boris Karloff’s Thriller, which ran in 1960-61, even if Gothic horror is only part of the Hitchcock equation in this sadly underrated and under aired television property.  In addition to dual categorization there is a similar disagreement among television fans about the quality of the final product.  Some prefer the taut, economical and more pointed Presents while others see the successor as the opportunity to expand material and develop stories more comprehensively.  While I do appreciate Presents greatly, and consider it one of anthology television’s finest entries, I am with those who find that at its very best Hour eclipses Presents, but there is as there would be with the daunting challenging of maintaining quality every week in a one-hour shows far more duds and shows that simply do not work.  To be sure the scripts are generally more complex, and the production values more elaborate and interesting, not to mention character development obviously a stronger thrust with extended duration.

Yet writers for the most part were partial to Presents.  Says Henry Slesar:  “There was always the possibility of doing what I call ‘gems.’  The half-hours were compact and full of sharp point-making, bringing the audience in at the middle, and then hitting them with the climax.  Very clean.  This got a little difficult to achieve in the hour shows, which  were more like features except that they weren’t, not really.  They were actually more like extended half-hours.  More was told about the same thing.  I think the show suffered because of it, and I think the Hitchcock people felt so too.”  Still there were some that disagreed.  Gilbert Seldes in TV Guide opined “When Alfred Hitchcock decided to extend his show to a full hour, he ended one of the best series in television history and brilliantly began another which is even better.  With more time at his disposal, Hitchcock adds a new dimension to his work.  You may call it depth and you may also say that to the mystery of action, of which he is a great master, he now adds to the mystery of human beings.”

The true of the matter is that both positions are accurate.  The conciseness of the half-hour format presented greater opportunities for genuinely surprising the viewer at the conclusion of an episode, whereas the stretched-out length of the hour shows frequently resulted in a twist ending being telegraphed way too early, thus destroying its dramatic impact.  Generally, the hour episodes were more talky and less action oriented, but they still allow for more time to get into the head of the characters.  The episodes in Presents may have been more consistently more suspenseful because of their emphasis on sudden and unexpected turns of plot, but many of the hour shows were just as dramatic because of the very different emphasis they places on psychology over story.  This shift in emphasis also allowed the actors greater opportunities to show their stuff, and as a result, there were more than a few tour-de-force performances turned in over the years.  Half hour episodes like “Revenge,” “The Horseplayer,” “Bang You’re Dead,” “Breakdown,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Man from the South” remained ingrained because of their diabolically clever plots,  but it is perhaps more difficult to remember who was in them, Barbara Bel Geddes and a few others aside.  Hour shows like “The Paragon,” “The 31st of February,” and “Hangover” remain just as vivid in the memory because of the powerhouse performances turned in respectively by Joan Fontaine, David Wayne, and Tony Randall–performances which are among the best these actors have delivered in their careers for either the small screen or the large.

Said 103 year-old Hitchcock friend and producer Norman Lloyd:  “One must remember  that in the early half-hour days, we were getting the cream of the crop–some of the best stories of their type in English literature, such as “The Glass Eye.”  In the latter days of the hour show, however, we occasionally had to develop stories from scratch, and the results didn’t always measure up.  The half-hour show–which actually ran twenty-two and a fraction minutes – was sometimes a delight in its brevity and its point.  But that doesn’t mean it was a better format.  With the one hour shows we were able to inject a good measure of humanity.”

My Best Alfred Hitchcock Hour shows:

1.  An Unlocked Window
2. The Paragon
3. The Jar
4. Annabel
5. The Sign of Satan
6. The Magic Shop
7. I Saw the Whole Thing
8. Body in the Barn
9. The Life Work of Juan Diaz
10. The Dark Pool