Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1 Viewer)

The first season of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour has been made available for download by Universal on various sites. It's also running on the Chiller channel in restored prints. Could a DVD release be far behind? Instead of seeing Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 4, could we see Alfred Hitchcock Hour Season 1, Volume 1, or something like that, if Universal decides to do another Hitchcock release this fall?

Personally, I'd like to see Universal go with Season 4 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hopefully they'll at least release something...

It seems Universal is on a once a year schedule with AHP, which means we should get the next set in October. The first 3 seasons were in October 2005, 2006 and 2007. So that means it'll finish in 2011. If they then start the hours as a continuation we are looking at 2014.

Naturally, I want to see all the remaining 1950s/60s AHP and all the ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR episodes released on R1 DVD, a.s.a.p.
As noted on my wish list, I hope Universal will also someday give us the 20 shot-on-film episodes (half of the series' 40 episodes were shot live, the other half were filmed) of the hour-long anthology series, SUSPICION (1957-58), that Hitchcock's "Shamley Productions" made, which was a dry run for the later ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR.
I've only seen two episodes so far, and both were excellent:
1.) "Four O'Clock", directed by Hitchcock, in which mild-mannered E.G. Marshall, who runs a watch repair business, suspects wife Nancy Kelly of having an affair (with Richard Long), and plans to murder her via a time bomb in the basement, but gets bound-and-gagged by some burglars (one of whom is Harry Dean Stanton), trapping him with the lethal device. TV LAND ran it a couple of times, in the good old days, on their MUSEUM OF TV & RADIO SHOWCASE program.
2.) "The Voice in the Night", an adaptation of William Hope Hodgson's creepy short story, directed by Arthur Hiller and adapted by Stirling Silliphant, about a couple (James Donald & Barbara Rush) who are shipwrecked on a small, fog-enshrouded island, which contains no signs of life or food, except for a slimy fungus. If the fungus is touched, it sticks, and continues to grow, like an infection. The tale is related to two seamen (Patrick MacNee & James Coburn). The basic plot was later used/updated (with a larger cast of characters) for the Japanese sci-fi/horror film, MATANGO (1963, aka ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE), and Stephen King's "Jordy Verrill" segment of CREEPSHOW (1982) owes something to the concept, as well.
And if such a collection was produced, an ideal extra would be the hour-long, shot-on-film, RASHOMON-like episode of FORD STARTIME THEATER, "Incident at a Corner" (1960, starring Vera Miles, George Peppard, Paul Hartman & Jack Albertson), that Hitchcock directed (his only color production for TV, and filmed the week after he wrapped PSYCHO). I believe Universal owns it, as well.

Peter M Fitzgerald said:

(1957-58), that Hitchcock's "Shamley Productions" made, which was a dry run for the later ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR....

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Maybe TIMELESS will release this.

On a more general note, how has Universal been on re-packaging TV series for complete releases? I know that there have been countless shows done in this manner, but I'm not sure how many of them are Universal.

I'm asking, because I avoided many Universal TV shows due to the DVD-18s that they have now stopped using. This is one of those shows along with "The Munsters" and several others that I would like to own. I'm wondering whether I'm not just better off waiting for the complete release which is almost always cheaper than buying individual releases.

Sorry, but I was disappointed with the release of AHP, stopped buying them after season 1, mainly due to the inconsistancies of each episode versus the original broadcasts. Many episodes were the edited syndicated versions. But I suppose it's better than nothing...

It would still be nice to see the Alfred Hitchcock Hour come to DVD, since most of the episodes seem to have been restored and are running on Hulu.

The first season of AHH was set to expire yesterday, but the episodes are still on there. Maybe they reached an agreement to keep them up there. Good news, as I haven't finished watching them all!

After a marathon running today, the show starts airing from episode number one on Encore Suspense every weeknight at 11PM ET. Complete and uncut!

These all ran a few years ago locally here in L.A. I watched the entire run and wound up being VERY disappointed in how lackluster most of the series was. I had such fondly haunting memories of it from seeing it in syndication when I was a kid. The production values are first rate, but the stories are a real mix of dreck and less dreck. Some absolute masterpieces, like the Stanley Cortez photographed AN UNLOCKED WINDOW, but they are few and far between.

Well, its been decades since I've seen most of the hours. I'm going to DVDR them all because at the rate Universal is going, I doubt I'll be alive to see them release the series on DVD.

Neil Brock said:

...I doubt I'll be alive to see them release the series on DVD.

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Me neither and I'm in my early 30's. Thanks for the headsup!

Neil Brock said:

Well, its been decades since I've seen most of the hours. I'm going to DVDR them all because at the rate Universal is going, I doubt I'll be alive to see them release the series on DVD.

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I thought about recording them too for my collection, but I just don't think I would ever watch them again. And I'm getting to be too short on storage space to add stuff I will probably never watch. But I hope you enjoy seeing it again.

We've been DVR-ing and DVD-R-ing these as well.
It's not an oft-seen show and I have to say these episodes look to be re-mastered in Hi-Def. The Encore prints are pristine!

I DVR'ed these and Alfred Hitchock Presents a few years ago when Chiller ran them, and the quality was excellent then too. Speaking of Chiller, what a sorry degradation in quality of their programs, compared to when they first debuted. Nothing but shlock, direct to DVD, ultra low budget productions.

If you have a region-free DVD player and are a fan of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour then you may be interested to know that all three seasons are going to be released in May in Australia. EZYDVD has them listed for pre-order with all three season available on May 22, 2013. The following link has more information.

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/search?q=alfred+hitchcock+hour&t=all

"Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen. This Alfred 'I'm on DVD and Blu-ray' Hitchcock speaking."

There are still two more seasons of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS tv series still outstanding (the sixth and seventh) and hopefully things will (smoothly) segue into the three seasons of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR tv series. This entire thing lasted ten seasons?!

But with the increased number of discs required for the e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d hour long dramas this will surely be a more expensive proposition so be prepared.

As I suggested before I wish that the first season (1955-56) of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS would be made available again on single-sided standard DVDs.



Jeff T.

potnoodle said:

If you have a region-free DVD player and are a fan of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour then you may be interested to know that all three seasons are going to be released in May in Australia. EZYDVD has them listed for pre-order with all three season available on May 22, 2013. The following link has more information.

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/search?q=alfred+hitchcock+hour&t=all

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Interesting news but I'm happy with the ones I recorded off Encore last year. Quality is superb and the only negative is the one episode that for some reason they don't air.

It is also available in quality single-sided standard DVD pressings in Australia (Region 4) unfortunately I do not have a multi-region DVD player. The first season (1955-56) is really good too!

But thank you for the much appreciated suggestion nonetheless. We ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS-THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR fans have to stick together.

Jeff T.