#ALFRED HITCHCOCK VICIOUS CIRCLE TV#

Some episodes are limited to just two or three people in a room, yet the show also made frequent ventures into elaborate second-unit work, and the occasional story with a larger than normal cast. Some say they are too much like radio shows, but few of these shows would work if the characters weren't visible. Episodes vary but most come off as miniature playlets and exercises in minimalism with fat parts for actors. The show has now settled into its winning formula. The classic season is still the first, as it had more experimental episodes. The show also gave Hitchcock a proving ground for his big screen ideas, an audition platform for new faces, and perhaps a way of rewarding old friends and helpers. The industry admired Hitchcock's television show as a marketing gimmick almost as effective as Walt Disney's - his name became synonymous with mystery, murder and intrigue. so perhaps Hitchcock was induced to forego them. Maybe that practice came later? Note: 10.27.06: Reader Michael Adams informs me that the sponsor jokes are in season 1. What we don't get in Season two are monologues in which Hitchcock makes fun of the sponsor. In one Hitchcock appears as his own Cockney stand-in, and he's so good, we can imagine 'Alfie' being a successful minor comedy actor, dead-panning his way through stories of the East End markets. In another he stands amid a line of bathing beauties, too shy to use his measuring tape. In this second season Hitch can be seen holding his own head under his arm, trapped in a box and holding a large switch to electrocute channel-changers (what did the FCC say to that?). By 1959 Hitchcock's screen persona was so well established that he carried it over to the trailers for his major feature films.Įvery Hitchcock intro is different. They were a perfect kind of 'product branding' that made him easily the most visible film director working in Hollywood. Hitch's funny on-screen intros made one reach to 'get' his brand of humor.

The music brought our heads up out of our homework for a chance to see Hitchcock in person, a stout man with a vacant expression and a controlled English voice.

#ALFRED HITCHCOCK VICIOUS CIRCLE TV#

According to an online source about the TV show, Hitchcock liked the tune when he heard it in 1927's Sunrise. Each of the 39 episodes in Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season Two begins with a musical piece that became Hitchock's personal signature tune, Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod.

Alfred hitchcock vicious circle