Alfred Hitchcock Presents Collectors’ Guide

• One of the longest running and most critically acclaimed TV series ever made
• Its enduring popularity has done much to define the Master’s image in pop culture
• Murder most delicious: thrilling, often gruesome tales almost let the baddie triumph
• But strict TV censorship forced end explanation of how wicked were punished after all
• Horror masterpiece Psycho was made with his own Shamley Productions television crew
• Low budget shocker one of biggest post-war hits, helping kick down the doors of censorship
• Iconic TV series has different international versions; unpicking all their home video releases
• AHP in HD: Series has the potential for high definition remastering but there’s no sign as yet
• Can be seen via streaming worldwide but only DVD delivers every single unaltered episode
• Complete DVD sets have been issued in UK, France and Australia; the latter is US-friendly

Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.

AHP Collectors’ Guide, Part 2: Soundtracks and spin-offs

Suzanne Noël and the Master of Suspense in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “Don’t Look Behind You” (1962)

Contents

• Production
• Home video
  • Partial releases
  • Complete releases
• Related articles

Production

Deadpanning in the dead letter office: another witty intro to Alfred Hitchcock Presents (original)

The benign countenance of pudgy film director Alfred Hitchcock welcomed viewers to stories of terror, horror, suspense, and twisted endings for an entire decade. His clipped British accent and catlike theme music became symbols of Hitchcock’s black humour. The stories would often appear to end with evil triumphant, in strict violation of the television code of ethics [– the equivalent of the Motion Picture Production Code]. This situation was always resolved following the last commercial, when Hitchcock would return to explain, in his deadpan sardonic way, what silly mistake or chance occurrence had finally done the villain in. – Australia Classic TV VHS (198-)

When choosing the stories for his series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the Master of Suspense knew exactly what he wanted: tales of ordinary people, involved in extraordinary situations, that ended with a surprise twist or a chilling conclusion. His most delicious macabre morsels offer all the pleasantries… murder, lust, deceit, revenge, and greed… to ensure a “Good Evening.” – US MCA/Universal VHS (1993)

Alfred Hitchcock Resents – Bill Davidson

Alfred Hitchcock Presents by Annamaria Ward, 2023 (original)

Alfred Hitchcock, the pudgy master mystery teller whose Alfred Hitchcock Presents is now in its fourth year: “Personally, I don’t approve of violence. I believe in the nice, gentle murder, the kind, considerate murder, under plush circumstances.” – TV: Dial Anything for Murder, Newsweek

Presents rose to become the foremost and best remembered of the many popular thriller-suspense TV and radio series of its time – perhaps of all time: only Rod Serling’s similarly auteur-helmed The Twilight Zone can be claimed as a serious competitor. But the roots of Hitch’s long-gestating series go all the way back to his arrival in America and involvement with The Lodger’s 1940 radio play.

Good Evening: AH on Radio – Charles Huck and Martin Grams, Jr.

Hitch’s long-term scriptwriter Joan Harrison may well be cited as the master’s most frequently credited onscreen collaborator but an honourable mention must go to comedy writer James B. Allardice. He penned every one of Hitch’s pitch-perfect opening, middle and closing segments for 361 episodes of the half-hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) and its lengthier successor The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962–1965) during their 10-year run. But he did so without an official credit, as was also the case with Hitch’s witty, self-presented film trailers in the same period, and an unknown number of gags and speeches authored for the director’s many public appearances. However, their working relationship was brought to a premature end by Allardice’s tragic death from a heart attack at the age of only 46, a mere nine months after what was to be the final episode of Presents aired. Hitch’s lifelong friend Norman Lloyd, who was second only to Harrison with his tally of over 270 shared screen credits, claimed that after Allardice’s death, Hitch felt the voice of Presents died too and didn’t want to continue without him.

Creators speak: Television Academy video interviews with 28 cast and crew members of Presents and Hour

Presents YouTube channel | monologues, Cat, Ketchup | S.1 best openings | cellphone shorts

Ken Mogg episode reviews: “Back for Christmas” (1956), “Banquo’s Chair” (1959) and “An Unlocked Window” (1965).

Two episodes are in the public domain: “The Cheney Vase” (1955) and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (1961). According to film historian Nick Cooper, “The earlier episode was registered, with a copyright date of September 7, 1955 on the US Copyright Office database, a few months before the first transmission. However, unlike all other episodes of the series, there’s no record of a renewal [due by 1973]. This suggests that ‘The Cheney Vase’ is PD in the US due to failure to renew, surely an admin error, given that everything else [comprising 374 titles from Shamley Productions] appears to have been. Similarly, there’s no renewal for ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in the database, but then there doesn’t appear to have been an initial registration for it either, which [back then] would be grounds for “instant” PD status. Again, this was probably an oversight, presumably relating to it being pulled [for original broadcast] from the series.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Hour – Martin Purvis

Home video

Though they’ve long been available on DVD and streaming, there are repeated calls for both of Hitch’s iconic original TV series to be released on Blu-ray but despite being shot on 35mm film, there are simply no HD masters in existence. To make them would involve scanning the original negatives or earliest extant materials, and possibly reconstructing/editing each episode from scratch; don’t forget, there are well over 200 hours of programming. This has happened for various popular TV programmes of the era, perhaps most notably The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) and Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969). But it’s an extremely laborious, expensive process that’s only viable for shows capable of repaying the massive investment via physical and streaming releases, broadcast syndication rights, etc. I believe that, given time, Presents/Hour is up to the task but then I’m not the one holding the purse strings.

Digging your scene: Hitch was always happy to send himself up in any way that was suggested – all in the service of art, of course.

TV or Movies, Suspense is Golden – Newsweek

Partial releases

Both series can be streamed legitimately via US-only Hulu, MeTV (who have great Hitch puzzles!), Xumo and Universal-owned Peacock, or Roku (US, Canada, UK) and Sky UK, but all can also be had anywhere with a decent VPN. With all other countries and streaming platforms, only the first two seasons of AHP are available. Note that in all cases, a dozen episodes are missing for rights reasons including the six based on short stories by Roald Dahl, whose “The Way Up to Heaven” was also used for an episode of Suspicion (1957–1958).

For DVD, the US only has seasons 1-6 of the original Presents (NTSC, region 1) so far and none of Hour; note that the former’s first season was issued on double-sided ‘flipper’ discs, an experiment in the early years of the format. However, they’re prone to high player failure rates, so in this case were abandoned by season two and the afflicted set was eventually reissued as more reliable single-sided, dual-layer discs. Various sites such as US eBay, iOffer, etc, are awash with Presents season 7 and three-season Hour sets but they’re all ropy DVD-R bootlegs. Caveat emptor. The official US sets also have other minor flaws; for instance, Hitch’s intro is missing from S1 episode “The Baby Sitter”. Around the same time, Universal also released the first three seasons coded for PAL, region 2 in the UK (1/2/3) and various partial sets in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland with optional dubs or voiceovers where available – but that was as far as they got.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season One – Joe Valdez

Here’s a roundup of Universal’s US releases; Season…

• One: 6-DVD (2018, 3-DVD 2005) and Prime Video
• Two: 5-DVD (2006) and Prime Video
• Three: 5-DVD (2007)
• Four: 4-DVD (2009)
• Five: 5-DVD (2012)
• Six: 5-DVD (2013)

Complete releases

But the best DVD solution has finally arrived with Australia’s latest re-releases from Via Vision; their sets are all confirmed as NTSC and region 0, so will play in any machine worldwide. For good measure, season three of Hour also includes the superb, Hitch-directed “Incident at a Corner”, a standout episode from Startime, a 1959–1960 colour anthology series produced by Harrison and Hitch.

• Via Vision 35-DVD Presents Complete Series/alt (2022)
  • Via Vision 20-DVD Presents Seasons 1-4/alt (2021)
  • Via Vision 15-DVD Presents Seasons 5-7/alt (2021)
• Via Vision 24-DVD Hour Complete Series/alt (2021)

Madman Entertainment in Australia originally released both series complete and unedited but in 10 separate-season sets (2009–2013, PAL, region 4), clearly distinguishable by their large yellow ratings logo. They’re long deleted and quite pricey, and Oz eBay’s your best bet for them: Presents and Hour.

For most folk outside of the Americas, the best way to obtain the entire, unadulterated 1955–1965 run on disc is via Fabulous Films’ UK box sets (PAL, region 2), also available separately.

• Fabulous Films 35-DVD Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Seasons 1-7 (2015)
• Fabulous Films 24-DVD Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Seasons 1-3 (2016)

Note that Hitch frequently shot two similar but distinct English-language intros and outros, as his US sponsor plugs would not be allowed on British BBC TV. Further, his frequent jibes at said sponsors would also be lost on overseas audiences, so were replaced with generic jokes about Americans instead.

Promos: 1960s, 1970s, 1990s: Nick at Nite

France also has both series boxed complete and separate, courtesy of Elephant Films. But, along with Universal’s incomplete foreign-language DVDs, episodes frequently have localised titles and insert shots, and Hitch’s specially-shot French-language intros on many of the later episodes (and German/Hour, on the above).

• France: Elephant Films: 42-DVD AHP : Saisons 1 à 7 (2020)
  • Elephant Films 30-DVD AHP : Saisons 1 à 3 (2016)

More trailers

One other desirable release from Madman is Alfred Hitchcock Directs, a rare compilation of all 18 self-directed episodes of his series (17 AHP, one AHH), naturally featuring some of the best of their run. Note it also contains the aforementioned “Incident at a Corner” Startime episode.

• Australia: Madman 3-DVD AH Directs (2014)
• France: Universal 5-DVD AH présente (2016)

Even more comprehensive is Universal France’s Alfred Hitchcock présente set, which adds “Four O’Clock”, the Harrison-produced opening episode of Suspicion, to round up every TV programme Hitch directed. The set has optional French dubs for 12 of the episodes but as before, several are altered from their original versions. The three discs containing the dubbed episodes were also released singly and boxed.

Sadly, English-language subtitles are only available on the US and Spanish Universal DVDs and, strangely, solely on seasons 4 and 5 of Fabulous Films’ UK Presents discs; no other releases have them at all. The Spanish Universals also have Spanish and Portuguese; those from France, Germany and Holland their respective languages; and the Italian none.

The 20 Hitch-directed programmes were thoroughly appraised in a dedicated French book which was later expanded to cover all his works and translated into several languages.

• L’oeil domestique: AH et la télévision (2014) – Jean-François Rauger
• AH: All the Films: The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short (2024) French | German | Spanish | Dutch

Docu-series: Hitch20 | Hitch20 Extra

Still missing from official releases is “The Jail” (1962, 52min) originally made for Presents and produced by Hitch, Harrison and Lloyd. However, in the event it was broadcast as part of Alcoa Premiere (1961–1963), a thematically more varied anthology series presented by and occasionally starring Fred Astaire. It was scripted by sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who also penned nine episodes of Presents/Hour; he discusses his work on all three in this 1973 interview (p.238).

Good Evening: An AHP Podcast | Good Evening: An AH Podcast | The Shamley Silhouette | AHP Episode Reviews

The 2008 featurette above first appeared an extra in the US and Oz season four DVD sets and is now included in many of the latest box sets of Universal-owned Hitchcocks, which contain an extra DVD or two with a selection of Presents episodes. Oddly though, not all of them are directed by the Master and of those that aren’t, they’re not necessarily even among the better entries in the series! A real pity, as it would have been the perfect opportunity to include an unaltered version of the French Hitch-directed set, and a way to boost sales of the already endlessly reissued features discs. Chalk it up to yet another Hitchcock-up, as displayed repeatedly in Universal’s inept handling of their Hitch catalogue, especially with regard to Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain and Topaz.

US TV Guide magazine, 1985

Alfred Hitchcock Presents was revived from 1985 to 1989 for a four-season, 76-episode run which consisted of recycled Hitch bookends, newly colorized, and a mixture of new stories and remakes from the original series. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of it on physical home video anywhere as yet, though it can be viewed on NBC in the US and the entire run is available in excellent quality here.

AHP Collectors’ Guide, Part 2: Soundtracks and spin-offs

Related articles

This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.