Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One

Long before the auteur theory had any impact in the United States, the two directors most familiar to the masses were Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock. In addition to appearing in the trailers for most of his films, DeMille was the host of Lux Radio Theater, which adapted popular movies into one-hour dramas, from 1936 to 1944. Hitchcock, of course, had cameos in his films, but his real fame came as the host of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which ran from 1955 to 1962, and The Alfred Hitcock Hour, which lasted from 1962 to 1965. The appearance of the first season on DVD offers the chance to understand how the television series made the greatest director of all time famous to the general American public and to glimpse similarities between these half-hour episodes and the Hitchcock movies.

This set provides all 39 episodes (yes, children, once upon a time the networks did more than 22 episodes a season), including four directed by the master. The episodes are based on stories by such writers as Dorothy L. Sayers, Cornell Woolrich (source of Hitchcock's Rear Window), and Ray Bradbury. The directors include television hacks, as well as filmmakers like Robert Stevenson, who made Jane Eyre with Orson Welles and later directed Mary Poppins.

The actors include several who had worked or would appear in Hitchcock films: Patricia Collinge, Ellen Corby, Joseph Cotton, John Forsythe, Pat Hitchcock, Vera Miles, Mildred Natwick, Claude Rains, Thelma Ritter, and John Williams. Also appearing were such future stars as Charles Bronson (in two episodes), John Cassavetes, and Joanne Woodward, as well as wonderful character actors like Elisha Cook, Jr. and Percy Helton.

Since most of the episodes are based on popular-magazine stories, they rely heavily on trick endings: an escaped convict is caught because he didn't realize his hostage was deaf, a man plotting to poison his rich aunt accidentally kills himself instead, etc. Others pave the way for the appearance four years later of The Twilight Zone, as when a man searching for his father's killer discovers it is...guess who?

While some episodes have their darker moments -- especially the first episode, "Revenge," directed by Hitchcock -- most are whimsical, matching the black-comedy tone of The Trouble with Harry, one of two Hitchcock movies that most closely resemble the series (the other being Psycho). Typical of these is "Whodunit," which presents the always excellent John Williams as a murdered mystery writer who is granted leave from heaven to find out who killed him.

Best of all are the tongue-in-cheek introductions, in which Hitchcock pokes fun at himself, the viewers, and (especially) the sponsors, a television first. He acknowledges that the audience finds commercials intrusive and irritating with such observations as "You see, crime does not pay. Not even on television. You must have a sponsor." His playful nature is best illustrated by his walking off the set at the end of "Into Thin Air," which stars his daughter, only to return, stick his face right into the camera and exclaim, "Incidentally, I thought the little leading lady was rather good. Didn't you?"

In the only extra, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back," Pat Hitchcock, assistant director Hilton Green, Norman Lloyd -- who temporarily interrupted his acting career to oversee the program -- and co-executive producer Joan Harrison, Hitchcock's longtime assistant, reminisce about the show, revealing that the master had very little direct involvement. In addition, each pays tribute to the contributions of James Allardice, who wrote the host's delightful comments.

All this is a pleasant diversion, an especially nostalgic one for those of us who grew up during television's infancy. But the pleasure is dampened by Universal's abject failure to provide the best possible product. The picture, though grainy in spots, is generally good, but the soundtrack has too much hiss in several episodes.

The biggest problem, however, is one for which Universal is unfortunately becoming infamous. The 39 episodes and the extra appear on three double-sided discs, with six or seven episodes per side. If a program appears after the fourth episode, its picture often breaks up or freezes because too much information has been compressed. Thus, "Breakdown," one of the best Hitchcock-directed entries, freezes during the introduction and is unwatchable.

"And So Died Riabouchinska," in which Claude Rains gives a masterfully subtle performance as a mad ventriloquist, freezes just as Rains is about to explain the major plot point to policeman Charles Bronson. Scanning forward and back does not unstick the disc. Perhaps a sufficient public outcry can convince Universal not to repeat this defect on the second season. -- Michael Adams