What a great first episode!
No one was expecting Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, to fail in the delivery of a proper premiere to his own television series, which either he or the network executives decided to call, oddly enough, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and he most certainly did not. Aside from his duties as the presenter, Hitchcock was also the creator of this series and the director of the very first episode, which was written by Francis M. Cockrell based on a story by Samuel Blas. This episode, titled "Revenge", focuses on a couple of newlyweds, Carl Spann (Ralph Meeker) and Elsa Spann (Vera Miles), who had just moved into a mobile home, located somewhere near the ocean alongside the California coast. While Carl is initially portrayed as caring and loving husband to his psychologically troubled wife, he soon becomes exasperated and sullen upon arriving at their trailer, one day, and finding her lying unconscious on the bedroom floor. Shaken and clearly disturbed, she tells him that she has been attacked by an unknown salesman, who tried to kill her when she refused to give him money. Feeling incredibly frustrated after being told by the police that they don't have enough information to go on, he decides to take matters into his own hands and goes looking for the assailant himself. What transpires next, all the way up to the inevitable twist at the end, is what makes this a very satisfying episode and would inevitably set the tone of the entire series. The performances of both Ralph Meeker and Vera Miles stand out under Hitchcock's direction. The man was truly a genius and it's quite an amazing experience to observe what he could achieve in so little time, even when working from such an unremarkable script. Although the episode is quite short in length, with a runtime of only twenty six minutes, he proves that he was still able to provide so much information in the opening shots and establish a lot of its elements early on, without resorting to blatant exposition. We can easily identify his distinctive filmmaking style in this episode, such as the employment of upward angles to create depth, close-ups that are designed to build up tension and the clever use of shadows on the wall and reflections on mirrors to show the audience what is going on without displaying too much violence or breaching any of the restrictions that television had at the time. Overall, this was a very satisfying start to this series and I can't wait to see the next episode.
A man's wife is assaulted, an she has a mental breakdown. Her husband decides to take revenge upon the man his wife identifies as the culprit. But as it turns out, the husband kills the wrong man, a twist reveals at the end. A true twist it is, because the audience doesn't see it coming.
Shout by gabriel henriqueBlockedParent2024-02-25T10:37:38Z
You see, crime does not pay. Not even on television. You must have a sponsor. Here is ours. After which I'll return.