Note: This post contains spoilers.
One of the best TV shows of its time, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was an anthology series that played like shorter versions of Hitch's movies. The same themes that made his feature films so memorable were equally present in each episode of the show. Even though Hitch did not direct most episodes, each one had his personal stamp on it. Each episode opened with Hitch himself talking to the audience and introducing each week's story. These introductions feature Hitch not as a brilliant artist but rather as a great entertainer. This is the side of the master of suspense that is often overlooked but is just as worthy as study as the more artistic auteur side. These intros show his dark sense of humor and playfulness that helped make him just as popular with the average person as those who tend to intellectually dissect films. Even today Hitch's work remains just as popular with average audiences as well as intellectual cinephiles.
To audiences at the time Hitch was just as well for this series as he was for his movies. Though never intended as a children's show, this series was very popular with kids and Hitch would receive many fan letters from kids who had never watched his movies about this show. One of these kids was Gus Van Sant, who would later direct the 1998 remake of Psycho (1960). As a child in the 1960's he and his sister were transfixed whenever Hitch's TV show appeared on screen. They also became addicted to the Alfred Hitchcock Magazine (which came during this series' popularity), which featured a series of written suspense stories. This magazine was so popular with kids that an official fan club which kids could join for sending only fifty cents. There was even a series of children's books entitled Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. Van Sant admitted despite this he never actually delved into Hitchcock's movies until adulthood.
In this premiere episode (one of the few directed by Hitch himself), a couple moves to a trailer park after the wife (a ballerina) has a nervous breakdown. One evening the husband returns home and discovers his wife in an awful state. She tells him that she was attacked and almost killed. One day while out driving, she tells her husband she just saw the man who attacked her. He then follows the man and kills him. Later, they are stilling driving and she sees another man and claims that different man is the one that attacked her. Hitch then narrates the story's ending telling us, "Well, they were a pathetic couple. We had intended to call that one 'Death of a Salesman', but there were protests from certain quarters. Naturally, Elsa's husband was caught, indicted, tried, convicted, sentenced and paid his debt to society for taking the law into his own hands. You see, crime does not pay. Not even on television. You must have a sponsor. Here is ours, after which I'll return." These type of endings, where Hitch would briefly and dismissively tell us that a criminal was caught would be common in this series. The censors would not allow criminal behavior to go unpunished. Yet some stories simply worked better if the criminal didn’t get caught. This allowed Hitch to have it both ways, essentially having his cake and eating it too.
This is a very simple little murder story. It is short, simple and to the point. It may not have the depth of Hitch's more complex work but that doesn't mean it isn't effective. Ralph Meeker (who would go on to star in three more episodes (Malice Domestic (1957), Total Loss (1959), I'll Take Care of You (1959)) and Vera Miles (who appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock movies The Wrong Man (1956) and Psycho as well as two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Don't Look Behind You (1962) and Death Scene (1965)) are wonderful in their lead roles here and make you truly care about these characters. Vera Miles is especially wonderful here, showing a real vulnerability that adds to the suspense. Also, while the story is simple, the twist ending is very clever and effectively dark. Balancing out with this dark and serious story is the humor in the intro and outro is wonderfully funny.
The writers for this episode are Francis M. Cockrell and Samuel Blas. Cockell would go to write seventeen episodes of this series and direct two.
The cinematographer is John L. Russell, who would be cinematographer on most episodes of this series and its follow-up The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as well as the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Psycho.
In 1985, NBC would launch a revival of this series. The first episode of that new show would in fact be a remake of this episode. The remake would star Linda Purl and David Clennon and be directed by R. E. Young.
Resources Used
The Twleve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock by Edward White
https://hitchcock.fandom.com/wiki/Revenge
https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents_-_Revenge
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