My Dad used to watch "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" when I was a kid, but because it didn't have cowboys, monsters or gorillas, I don't think I ever watched a complete single episode. But I've grown to love this kind of stuff, which brings me to the first episode of his outstanding TV series. "Revenge" was directed by Hitchcock himself, hosting before and after each segment to offer his unique critique on the story at hand, or simply to offer some amusing comment or other as apropos.
This opener for the series featured a trailer park newlywed couple (Ralph Meeker and Vera Miles), with a strange sense of foreboding as the husband goes off to work, with his wife contemplating what her first day alone will be like. Neighbor Mrs. Fergusen (Frances Bavier) stops by to chat with Elsa Spann (Miles), resulting in an odd, long pause when she says her good-bye which didn't seem to fit at that particular point in the story. It was probably meant to preface what was to happen next, but seemed strange coming out of nowhere.
You can almost predict what will happen next when Carl (Meeker) comes home and finds his wife in a catatonic state. The implication is that she'd been violated, with repeated turns of the phrase 'He killed me'. With little to go on, the police hit a brick wall in their investigation, while Carl's anger ratchets up enough to take matters into his own hands. However his reliance on his wife's rationality to identify her attacker is seriously compromised after he beats one man to death, and she points out yet another suspect while driving around town. At that point, the horrific realization occurs that Carl killed the wrong man for no reason.
It's an effective story that sets the tone for what would follow in the Hitchcock vein. A slightly different take on the bizarre from the stories Rod Serling would host with his series 'The Twilight Zone', but provocative nonetheless. I now look forward to more episodes in the series.
This opener for the series featured a trailer park newlywed couple (Ralph Meeker and Vera Miles), with a strange sense of foreboding as the husband goes off to work, with his wife contemplating what her first day alone will be like. Neighbor Mrs. Fergusen (Frances Bavier) stops by to chat with Elsa Spann (Miles), resulting in an odd, long pause when she says her good-bye which didn't seem to fit at that particular point in the story. It was probably meant to preface what was to happen next, but seemed strange coming out of nowhere.
You can almost predict what will happen next when Carl (Meeker) comes home and finds his wife in a catatonic state. The implication is that she'd been violated, with repeated turns of the phrase 'He killed me'. With little to go on, the police hit a brick wall in their investigation, while Carl's anger ratchets up enough to take matters into his own hands. However his reliance on his wife's rationality to identify her attacker is seriously compromised after he beats one man to death, and she points out yet another suspect while driving around town. At that point, the horrific realization occurs that Carl killed the wrong man for no reason.
It's an effective story that sets the tone for what would follow in the Hitchcock vein. A slightly different take on the bizarre from the stories Rod Serling would host with his series 'The Twilight Zone', but provocative nonetheless. I now look forward to more episodes in the series.