Lorre and McQueen co-starred in perhaps the show’s most famous episode – 1960’s Man from the South, which was written by Roald Dahl and later loosely remade by Quentin Tarantino in the portmanteau film Four Rooms. Among the phalanx of established stars and young actors with big futures were Joseph Cotten, Bette Davis, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Peter Falk, Joan Fontaine, Lawrence Harvey, Peter Lorre, Steve McQueen, Walter Matthau, Roger Moore, Vincent Price, Claude Rains, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, Robert Vaughn and many others. Over the years, many notable names cropped up in the casts. As well as these cameos and the show’s title, Hitchcock also appeared in the show’s logo – a line-drawing caricature, which he himself designed. He’d set the story up, tease the twist, mention the series’s sponsor, then return at the end to wrap things up. Although rarely involved in the production of the episodes proper, Hitch did appear each week – he delivered short speeches at the top and tail of each instalment, talking directly into the camera in his lugubriously cheeky style. Sometimes the tone was lighthearted, sometimes exceedingly dark, and there were often rug-pull twists and ironic developments – in other words, the same kind of material that Hitchcock had been mining for the cinema. Each week brought a new, self-contained playlet with a fresh cast there were thriller plots, mystery stories and oddball character tales. However, Miles and Hitchcock had a fascinating collaboration and it began when the director was given his own TV show…ĭebuting in 1955, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was an anthology series that ran for 10 seasons on CBS and NBC. This is partly because one of her roles was on television, partly because the others were not lead characters. Students of Hitchcock’s early career could point to the Czech actress Anny Ondra ( The Manxman, Blackmail) as his prototype heroine, while Margaret Lockwood ( The Lady Vanishes), Madeleine Carroll ( The 39 Steps), Joan Fontaine ( Rebecca, Suspicion), Carole Lombard ( Mr & Mrs Smith), Janet Leigh ( Psycho), Julie Andrews ( Torn Curtain) and others will have their champions.īut while the Oklahoma-born Vera Miles worked with the director several times, and was handpicked to be his next big muse, she’s never quite been considered part of the conversation. Others may cite Tippi Hedren ( The Birds, Marnie) or Kim Novak ( Vertigo), while having to acknowledge that those films are clouded by accusations of deplorable behaviour on the director’s part. If asked which actress best embodied this woman, most people would say either Ingrid Bergman ( Spellbound, Notorious, Under Capricorn) or Grace Kelly ( Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief). So he decides to take the law into his own hands…Īlfred Hitchcock was obsessed with a certain type of female character – attractive, bright, resourceful, aged about 30, usually blonde, optimistic but emotionally vulnerable – and he relished stories that put them through turbulent experiences. Spoiler warning: these reviews reveal plot twists.Īfter his wife Elsa is brutally attacked, engineer Carl is frustrated when the police fail to identify the culprit. An occasional series where I review a randomly selected movie – or in this case, a TV episode – directed by Alfred Hitchcock…
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