Presenting Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Ann Arbor District Library: Recent Episodes
Ann Arbor District Library
In 'Presenting Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' Al Sjoerdsma is dedicated to examining each episode of the original 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' television series, show by show in chronological order, in depth and with an eye to the popular culture of the 1950s and 1960s.
In this installment, Johnny Gin believes the world will end in three hours, so how should he spend the rest of his life? Plus, Al picks the actor that he thinks is the best known in the episode. It is not a character you'd expect.
In this installment, Ernest Findlater has three dreams. One involves Lalage, a South Sea Island woman. The other two involve the death of his wife.
In this installment, Manny Cole kills a man to rise in Mr. Williams' criminal organization. But they don't call it "Vicious Circle" for nothing.
In this installment, Sam Jacoby murders his wife and tries to dispose of her body but is hampered by the most helpful and least helpful cop in the world. Then, Amy and Al discuss the library archives, Hitch rehearsing for his later films, and how the cop seems to have nothing else to do but follow Sam around. Al throws out some possible interpretations and Amy wonders, up to this point, how many episodes feature a husband murdering his wife.
In this installment, Count Mattoni is STILL dead and the list of confessed killers has expanded to four. But which one them actually did it? Then, Al engages in a little silent "Blackmail."
In this installment, Count Mattoni is still dead and Inspector Davidson is still investigating but the list of confessed killers only grows longer. Then, Al pays a visit to "The Manxman."
It's March 12th, National Alfred Hitchcock Day! To quote the Hitchcock Festival website: "It is not the birthday or the death of Hitchcock, and it is unclear why it is celebrated on this date." But what a perfect time to present the first episode of the only multi-part story in the series. Who killed Count Mattoni? You won't find out in THIS episode! Then, Al takes a sip of "Champagne."
In this installment, Charles Hannover Gresham resorts to blackmail to play a blackmailer in Wayne Campbell's new play. But that's just a taste of the cream of the jest. Then, Al flirts with "The Farmer's Wife."
In this installment, as Hitch tells us, we have a story of the eternal triangle...where two of the three are willing to commit murder. Then, Al puts on the gloves and enters "The Ring."
In this installment, insurance man Joe Rogers investigates a woman whose previous two husbands died under mysterious circumstances. And it looks like she's preparing to marry again. Then, Al indulges in a little Easy Virtue.
In this installment, Steve Morgan becomes a number...number 22...when he is arrested and enters a police line-up. Steve thinks it's a game but it is more serious than Steve thinks. Then, Al counts down from Number Twenty-Two to Number Seventeen.
In this installment, there's some arsenic poisoning going on in the home of Carl and Annette Borden. But who is the poisoner and who is the victim? Then, it's Downhill from there.
In this installment, the Judge invites young Wallace, who is running off with the Judge's wife, to share a bottle of wine, which he just may have poisoned. In stories pitting young and old rivals, one or the other invariably comes to a tragic end. But which one in this story?
In this installment, Stephen Fontaine is a prisoner, saddled with an "Oregon Boot," a manacle around his ankle. He is sure that he can convince police Sgt. Rockwell to free him for $50,000 but things do not go as planned.
In this special installment, Al takes a look at the Hitchcock film that came out in the middle of the show's second season; a film very much like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in tone, look, and feeling.
In this installment, Richard Ross murders his brother's political rival, then can't believe that his district attorney brother doesn't appreciate it. There's nothing else to do but threaten the life of his brother's wife to make him cooperate.
In this installment, Harry has a nightmare in 4D, then helps to clean up a murder in 3D. So where does the nightmare end and reality begin?
In this installment, newlyweds Meg and Ray encounter Mr. Moon who may be a dangerous crackpot. On the other hand, he may be something else.
In this installment, how do Harold and Vera get her husband John Brown out of the way? Easy. They commit him to a rest home. But maybe that isn't the best idea.
In this installment, Babs Fenton hasn't ever seen her new neighbor, Mrs. Blanchard, and wonders whether Mr. Blanchard has done away with her. Al and Amy completely disagree on the merits of "Mr. Blanchard's Secret" and even on whether Mr. Blanchard HAS a secret. Alfred Hitchcock directs.
In this installment, Miss Julia has written a murder mystery that appears to take place in her house. Did a murder actually take place in her house, too? And, Al looks at "Dial M For Murder," which, as does this episode, features John Williams.
In this installment, mobster Louis "King" Koster wants to find out who his wife's lover is so he can have him bumped off. The answer is likely more of a surprise to King than it is to us.
In this installment, Gil wants to know how his stepmother, Rosine, managed to murder his father, Jonathan. Little does he know that he had something to do with it himself.
In this installment, Mason Bridges has always been an honest man...except once when, thanks to poker, for a few hours, he was a thief. But when is a thief a thief?
In this installment, Cissy's sister wants to murder Mr. Brenner. She poisons him but things are not what they seem. For one thing, Mr. Brenner isn't dead. For another, Cissy's sister isn't her sister.
In this installment, Georgie has bumped off his old rival Lucky and is sure to be the prime suspect unless he can come up with an alibi. But from who, Who, WHO???
In this installment, Albert has prepared an apartment for his long-lost love Edwina whom he hasn't seen for twenty years, but she shows up with a baby named Toby. Or maybe not.
Alfred Hitchcock appeared on the cover of TV Guide magazine four different times. The first was the October 27-November 2, 1956 issue with a listing for episode 44 "None Are So Blind" and an article about Hitch. Here's a short look at that magazine.
In our last installment, Hitch promoted a new magazine that would soon be the source of many episodes. Here is a look at that first issue, along with the first story to find its way from the magazine to the series.
In this installment, Seymour plans to disguise himself to murder his Aunt Muriel. But there's one crucial blip in his plan that he just refuses to see.
In this surprise installment, Al and Tom Elliott, the host of the Award-Winning "The Twilight Zone Podcast," discuss Richard Matheson's sentimental Amazing Stories tale. The surprise is that it has nothing to do with Alfred Hitchcock except that the 80s AHP was on at the same time.
In this installment, Fitz and Katherine invite the homeless Mr. Jorgy into their home. They plan to kill him but they may as well kill him with kindness.
In this installment, short story writer John Collier and teleplay writer Francis Cockrell put a different spin on Collier's "Back for Christmas"in which a man digs a hole in his cellar to bury his murdered wife. Here, the Prof fills a cellar hole with concrete, but has he murdered his wife? His friends think he did.
In this installment, Mary is always frightened but it is not until Ted, an escaped psychiatric patient, breaks into her home that she finds out what she actually is afraid of.
In this installment, Millicent has committed murder but her father is not going to let that stand in the way of the family's reputation. Enter Captain Smollett, the perfect fall guy.
So, it's June of 1956, you've come to the end of the first season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and you've seen all the repeats that are being shown through the summer. What do you do? Well, there's always that Hitchcock film starring James Stewart and Doris Day currently playing in the theaters.
In this special installment, Al talks to Jack Seabrook, the author of "The Hitchcock Project" blog, about the AHP first season, Batman of the 1980s, author Jack Finney, and the crazy number of hits Jack's blog of the later episode "A Bottle of Wine" gets.
In this installment, Dick Paine misses all the hints that would tell him that his wife Beth has already taken care of the errand that, instead, puts him on the road to murder. It's all a bit contrived which may be why they made it the last episode of the season.
In this installment, a mysterious killer known as the Creeper is strangling blonde women whose husbands work at night, leaving them alone. And as Ellen Grant's husband Steve realizes, "Ellen's alone and she's blonde."
In this installment, Gil Larkin is set up for murder. He is a "patsy, a fall guy, a clay pigeon." A decoy. He tries to find a witness that will clear him but instead finds the vulnerability that can accompany unrequited love.
In this installment, Paula Hudson buys a mink stole at the "too good to be true" price of $400, getting her in trouble with the law. Police Sgt. Delaney wonders "What's mink got for you women, anyway?" A question with broader social ramifications than he realizes.
In this installment, Al looks at the idle rich of Palm Beach as Prince Burhan of India romances "mousey little thing" Irene Cole, much to the surprise of their fellow visitors. But is it love? Or is it something else?
In this installment, Al looks at a Hitchcockian Shaggy Dog story as Dana Edwards uses total recall (with Arnold Schwarzenegger nowhere in sight) to track the hit and run driver who killed his fiancee. But like all Shaggy Dog stories, the ending is sure to be a letdown.
In this installment, Clint Ringle murders Walt Norton in a jealous rage because he wants to marry Walt's fiancee, Ellie. With a posse pursuing him, Clint knows just where to hide...in the belfry on the roof of the one-room schoolhouse, where Ellie is the schoolteacher.
In this installment, the woman for whom Lottie Slocum has been baby sitting has been murdered. Lottie seems to know something but, unfortunately, she doesn't tell the police, she doesn't tell her daughter, she doesn't tell anyone...including us!
In this installment, Howard Latimer, the Gentleman From America, makes a bet that he can spend the night in a room that is supposed to be haunted. It is a room that ends up haunting him, as well as the two men with whom he wagered.
In this installment, Karen wakes up, hungover, in a strange bed. Her memory vague, she tries to piece things together only for reality to be far worse than she ever imagined. A harrowing tale of alcohol and excess with a nasty kick of an ending.
In episode #18, Robert H. Harris played a man committed to preventing murder but in this installment, he is Mr. Appleby, a man committed to committing murder, all in the name of his "old curios."
In this installment, Mark Halliday buys a painting for his wife, Debbie, that somehow is replaced with a portrait of his first wife, Jocelyn. So, who made the switch? And why?
In this installment, John Qualen makes his final AHP appearance, playing a man so desperate for a job that he accepts a position with an anonymous employer. Surely, nothing good will come of that. Or will it?
In this installment, Alexander Arlington, our protagonist, finds himself in Heaven, where he learns that he's been murdered. So, what is he going to do about it?
Charles Bronson returns, this time as a crook, as he and Norma Crane come up against Estelle Winwood's alternate reality. So, which reality wins out?
It's Sir Alfred's 121st birthday and what better way to celebrate than with a character who thinks he can pull off the perfect murder.
In this installment, Al and Amy look at the last Hitchcock-directed episode of the first season. Is it Hitch's best one so far? Al thinks so but Amy has a different opinion.
In this installment, Al adjusts to podcasting from home by presenting a bonus episode: the radio version of "Breakdown" starring Joseph Cotten.
In this installment, Al wanders into a monastery with a man seeking revenge but will forgiveness be found within those walls...or retribution?
In this installment, Al enters the Cold War on a train from the East with a reporter who believes she has safe conduct out of the country.
In this installment, Al looks at the story of a love between a man and his puppet and the murder that occurs as a result of it.
In this installment, Al looks at the consequences of murdering your silent partner in a public park where a derelict can spy on you and blackmail you.
In this installment, Al looks at the Lizzie Borden story and somehow manages to examine Hitchcock's "Stage Fright," too.
In this installment, Al looks at a story about an escaped prisoner who doesn't have the luck he thinks he has, starring John Cassavetes, the father of American independent film.
In this installment, Al looks at the first episode based on a story by Cornell Woolrich naturally leading to a look into a Rear Window.
In this installment, Al looks at Mr. Stepp's murder of Mr. Baldwin. But did Mr. Stepp really murder Mr. Baldwin or is it all in his head?
In this installment, Al celebrates Sir Alfred's 120th birthday with a popular little piece of pottery called the Cheney Vase.
In this installment, Al celebrates Christmas in July with Barry Fitzgerald as the original Bad Santa.
In this installment, Al looks at an episode that seeks to determine if an abused wife has murdered her husband. But who is the witness and why are they guilty?
In this installment, Al and Amy Cantu look at the one episode for which Hitchcock earned an Emmy nomination; a strange story in a literary tradition that runs from Euripides to Jordan Peele.
In this installment, Al looks at a story dealing not with who the murderer is but who the murderer murdered.
In this installment, Al looks at an adaptation of Dorothy Sayers' story “Suspicion,” offering a perfect excuse to also talk about Hitchcock’s film “Suspicion.”
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma discusses the second Hitchcock-directed episode along with Hitchcock films "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Under Capricorn," somehow managing to bring up Zane Grey more than once. Amy Cantu joins Al for a discussion that doesn't bring Zane Grey up at all.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma examines "Salvage," the first of the "retribution" stories but without the "retribution" closing narration as Gene Barry returns as a vengeful criminal three episodes after playing a cowboy.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma delves into a story with roots in "The Lady Vanishes," Alexander Woolcott, Ernest Hemingway, Marie Belloc Lowndes, old-time radio, and the Detroit Free Press of the 1890s; an episode starring Pat Hitchcock, Sir Alfred's daughter.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma looks at the first of thirty episodes scripted by Robert C. Dennis and finds something in common between Irene Dunne, Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma looks at Hitchcock's aversion to directing a Western then examines the third episode, a Western.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma examines "The Trouble With Harry," Hitchcock's sense of humor, and "Premonition," the second episode.
In this installment, Al Sjoerdsma delves into "Revenge," the first episode. Amy Cantu later joins Al for a discussion of "Revenge," "Vertigo," and Hitchcock's treatment of women.
In this initial installment, launched on Hitchcocks 119th birthday, Al Sjoerdsma explores the details behind the series' creation.