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By
WAYNE KLEIN
"Good Evening tonight we're
going to examine a boxed set full of murder. The
reasons as in all murders are really unimportant
what is important is not who done it but how they
did it and whether or not the victim objects.
Trust me before the end of this set of 39 examples
of human ingenuity you'll think of one or two
people you'd like to get rid of...."
Well that's how I would have imagined Hitch to
introduce this set if he were alive. The "Master
of Suspense" was a star. His cameos became a game
for moviegoers much like "Where's Waldo?" but
knowing that adult fun would follow after you
found him. Lew Wasserman Hitch's agent knew all of
this and pitched an idea to Hitch; why not host
your own series of droll TV episodes featuring the
finest actors, writers and directors (including
yourself occasionally) around? I'm sure Hitch
heard the sound of coins dropping into his pocket
when this was proposed but, more importantly, he
also recognized that it would probably be fun.
Hitch's seven year run on "Alfred Hitchcock
Presents" began this way making him truly the
first personality film director and he had more
talent than most personalities and celebrities of
the day in his pinky. Featuring a stunning roster
of talented writers (Ray Bradbury, A. A. Milne,
Charles Beaumont, Cornell Woolrich, Robert Bloch)
and directors (Gene "MASH" Reynolds,
actress/director Ida Lupino, Robert Stevenson,
Robert Altman and, of course, Hitch himself)
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" routinely murdered the
competition during its run. Universal has finally
begun releasing all of these classic segments on
DVD.
As much as I enjoyed this set there are a couple
of issues I have to be upfront about; 1) It
appears that some of these episodes have been
edited. I'm not referring to the syndicated
versions that floated around for years either.
Evidently some of the ending comments that Hitch
made prior to the final credits rolling have been
trimmed. I'm not exactly sure who did this or why
but it will be disconcerting for "Presents" fans.
2) These have been released on the nefarious DVD18
dual sided dual layered discs. On the one hand
it's more compact than other sets and maximizes
the amount of shows available in the set;
Universal has been having major problems with many
of their DVD18 releases freezing up and being
unplayable because of quality control issues in
the manufacturing of these discs. I did have one
disc completely freeze up on me on three different
players (not including my computer DVD players),
which is very, very frustrating. To be fair,
Universal has taken great care with this set doing
a marvelous job with just about everything
(although a booklet with each episode listed,
actors, writers and directors would have been
helpful as well as a plot synopsis much like "The
Outer Limits: Season One" set did). While
manufacturing snafus can get any studio producing
any DVD (I went through three "Star Trek:
Enterprise: Complete Season Three" sets before
finding one where there were no
manufacturing/playing issues), Universal has been
hit particularly hard by them. I'm not sure if
it's because of QC issues with their plant in
Mexico but the nature of DVD18's make them risky
to begin with; the discs have to go through the
pressing process THREE times insuring that the
rate of defects will be higher. I'd suggest
purchasing this set (or any DVD18s for that
matter) with a liberal/exchange policy if you do
have a set that has flaws.
All of these episodes were produced originally in
black and white (color TV was not the standard in
1955 when these shows were shot and produced) and
while there is noticeable grain it's not any
larger an issue here than any other vintage series
from the same time frame. There are occasional
white flecks and bits of dirt that crop up during
the opening title or during episodes but they are
minimal. Clearly some of these episodes are going
to look better than others, depending on the
condition of the show. Quality varied quite a bit
throughout the set but it's good overall. The set
would have been improved with chapter stops within
each episode and placing a chapter stop after the
opening titles would be nice as well. The mono
sound doesn't offer much potential for improvement
but Universal has done a fine job of insuring that
it has nice presence, appears without distortion
and that the dialogue comes across with remarkable
clarity. This isn't a set that's designed to work
out your home theater system but it was never
intended to anyway.
The first season set comes with a fine featurette
with actor/producer/director Norman Lloyd who was
associate producer for the first season before
being promoted to full producer in 1957. Lloyd
worked closely with producer Joan Harrison (a long
time Hitchcock collaborator who contributed to
many of Hitch's screenplays going as far back as
"Rebecca") and discusses the challenges of
producing a weekly series during the 50s that
needed to meet cinematic standards. Make no
mistake while this is a TV series, Hitch's
episodes and many of the other ones as well
demanded creative direction, writing and strong
performances to sell these shows to a skeptical
public that could be watching something else.
Network TV dominated the airwaves during the 50's
so while there were limited options there was
always something else on. Lloyd comments about
Hitch's comically concise assessment of each
week's episode (which he viewed prior to airing).
If he thought it was terrific he'd comment "good."
If he felt it was sub par he would simply say
"thank you" as he left the screening room. Lloyd
and producer Harrison ran the show submitting the
stories they selected for production send them up
to Hitchcock to read and approve. If they didn't
hear anything they knew they had passed the test.
Hitch's daughter Pat Hitchcock O'Connell also
appears during the featurette discussing the
working conditions on her father's show. She
appeared in a number of episodes (and also her
father's films "Strangers on a Train" and "Stage
Fright" prior to the series as "Psycho" during its
run before retiring to raise her family). Her
insightful comments on her father's commitment to
high quality brings further appreciation from this
viewer who grew up watching this show in
syndication. She also discusses the history of the
show and those who worked on the series including
the late Joan Harrison. Assistant Director Hilton
Green discusses the production of the practical
day-to-day side of things. He also discusses why
"Presents" went from a half hour to an hour during
its early run. All three also discuss Lew
Wasserman and the importance of his relationship
with Hitchcock. Wasserman first proposed doing the
TV show to Hitchcock. Lloyd and Green discuss the
importance of writer James B. Allardice to the
droll introductory segments and closing comments.
Behind-the-scenes photographs, the reproduction of
important scripts that might be in the UCLA
archive would be nice additions to future sets.
With some of the important talent involved in the
show, I'd hope that the papers from the UCLA
archive would be scoured for extras. Perhaps we'll
see something of the sort in future sets. Again,
to give credit where it is due Universal elected
to give us bonus materials unlike, say, MGM with
"The Outer Limits."
Commentary tracks would have been nice and this is
another failing of this set outside of the DVD18
dual sided/dual layered discs and the lack of
chapter stops for each episode. While many of the
participants have passed away, Patricia Hitchcock,
Lloyd, Green and others could have provided one or
two commentary tracks on the production of key
episodes. Hopefully with luminaries such as Robert
Altman, Gordon Hessler, Arthur Hiller and others
(at the time of this writing) still with us,
Universal will ask them for comments on the
episodes they directed (or at the very least
include them in future featurettes).
Universal has done a good job transferring these
classic episodes of television (there's only so
much that can be done to clean up and restore
these given the current state of technology.
Unfortunately, this series doesn't warrant the
full-scale restoration that Hitch's films deserve
in Universal's eyes). Unfortunately, they are
being presented on DVD18, which can be a problem
when quality control is an issue. I only had one
issue with this set (compared to some others) but
I'd suggest buying from a retailer that has a
liberal return/exchange policy with the set. Also
observe the set immediately upon buying the set to
see if there are any visible flaws in the set. A
terrific featurette on Hitchcock and the series is
included with producer Norman Lloyd, actresses
(and Hitch's daughter) Patricia Hitchcock
O'Connell and assistant director Hilton Green. |
