The first major Hollywood film director to venture into the world of series television, Alfred Hitchcock hosted this long-running dramatic anthology, which was seen on two different networks for ten seasons beginning October 2, 1955. While Hitchcock's films were generally suspense thrillers or romantic melodramas, most of the playlets on Alfred Hitchcock Presents were macabre character studies and mysteries with twist endings. The stories, written by the talented likes of Roald Dahl, Cornell Woolrich, Francis Cockrell, ...
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The first major Hollywood film director to venture into the world of series television, Alfred Hitchcock hosted this long-running dramatic anthology, which was seen on two different networks for ten seasons beginning October 2, 1955. While Hitchcock's films were generally suspense thrillers or romantic melodramas, most of the playlets on Alfred Hitchcock Presents were macabre character studies and mysteries with twist endings. The stories, written by the talented likes of Roald Dahl, Cornell Woolrich, Francis Cockrell, Henry Slesar, and Robert Bloch, trafficked heavily in faithless spouses, world-weary blackmailers, neurotic "innocents" trapped in horrible circumstances, and meticulous murderers who tirelessly plotted "the perfect crime." Intoning his trademarked "Good e-v-ening," the cherubic Hitchcock would appear at the beginning of each episode in a wryly humorous prologue setting up the basic situation, with occasional barbs at the intrusions of his sponsors' commercials, and would return for the epilogue to tie up loose plot ends, make a few more comical observations, and bid the audiences a fond "Good night." In those episodes in which the criminal or murderer seemingly got away with his or her crimes scot-free, Hitchcock would show up at the end to calmly assure the viewer -- and the network censors -- that justice had eventually been meted out and the villain had been punished, though no one was really fooled by these cynical codas. When the series expanded from 30 to 60 minutes at the outset of its eighth season, Hitchcock added a third appearance per episode just before station break, in which he would generally rip his sponsor for the "tiresome" advertisements to follow. All of these act breaks were written without screen credit by James Allardice, who'd been instructed in the satirical approach he was supposed to take via compulsory screenings of Hitch's 1955 black comedy theatrical feature The Trouble with Harry. Since he was still quite busy with his film career throughout the run of his TV series, Hitchcock himself directed a mere handful of the half-hour programs, and only one of the hour-long episodes. Arguably the best and most famous of Hitchcock's TV directorial efforts was the third-season "Lamb to the Slaughter," in which a housewife murders her cheating husband with a frozen leg of lamb -- and then cooks up and serves the "evidence" to the unwitting police investigators. The talent roster on Alfred Hitchcock Presents including several of The Master's movie colleagues, among them actors Vera Miles, John Forsythe, Judith Evelyn, John Williams, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Edmund Gwenn, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Bel Geddes, Bruce Dern, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Marshall, Ray Milland, and musical composer Bernard Herrmann. Norman Lloyd, who had appeared as the slimy title character in Hitch's 1942 feature Saboteur, directed and produced a number of episodes. Other frequent directors included Robert Stevens, Paul Henreid, Arthur Hiller, Boris Sagal, and John Brahm. The series was executive-produced by Joan Harrison (who had started her career as Hitchcock's secretary in 1933) and utilized Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette as its theme music. Seen on CBS for its first five seasons, Alfred Hitchcock Presents moved to NBC for its sixth and seventh years on the air, then back to CBS in 1962, when the series was reformatted as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The program was brought back to NBC for its tenth and final season, which ended in September of 1965. Twenty years later, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was revived for a four-season run on both NBC and the USA cable network. Though Hitchcock had died in 1980, he remained a presence on the series via colorized reruns of his original opening and closing remarks -- a rather ghoulish creative decision that Hitch might well have approved of. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Add this copy of Alfred Hitchcock (2-Pk) to cart. $4.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT.
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Sylvia Sidney, Horace Hodges, Herbert Marshall, Charles Laughton. Very good. 1939 Run time: 261. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Disk is in good condition with minor to no wear. All disks are refinished to improve condition as needed. Case and artwork are in good condition with no tears or cracks. Thank you for shopping Goodwill Southern California. Your purchase helps create jobs and transforms lives through the power of work.
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Fair. Ex-Library rental. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and free of scratches. Includes disc(s), case, and artwork. Disc(s), case, and artwork may contain library/security stickers and ink writing. ARTWORK MAY BE UNORIGINAL AND PRINTED BY LIBRARY. Case and artwork may show some wear. If applicable, digital copies may not be redeemable. All disc(s) are authentic.
Add this copy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One to cart. $8.74, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Universal Pictures Home Entertai.
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Very good. 2018 Run time: 1004. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Alfred Hitchcock Collection: the Best of Hitchcock, to cart. $10.69, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Industries rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2001.
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Good. May have very light or no surface scratches. Case and cover artwork are included but may show minimal signs of wear. If applicable: Digital copy or ultraviolet codes may be expired or not included. Slipcover may not be included.
Add this copy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One to cart. $13.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Universal Pictures Home Entertai.
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Very good. 2018 Run time: 1004. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One to cart. $17.49, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Universal Pictures Home Entertai.
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Very good. 2018 Run time: 1004. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One [Dvd] to cart. $25.30, new condition, Sold by GW Spokane Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Spokane, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2018.
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Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Doris Day, Farley Granger, John Dall, Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Janet Leigh,... Very good. 1976 Run time: 902. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!