International DVD Announcement: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (The Complete Series) (1 Viewer)

[sjbradford]

It likely would have been in color, as almost all NBC primetime shows were in 1965-66. That would have seemed so odd.

 

[Lecagr]

Reportedly, AH was getting tired of the series and James Allardice, who had written all the intros for ten years had recently died and AH didn't want to continue without him.

I did not know this, thanks for sharing the info. Too bad there was not a 4th season of Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965-66.

I just recently watched two episodes from season 3, first I watched "Misadventure", and then "The McGregor Affair". Misadventure is an interesting story with some bizarre goings on. McGregor Affair is a little less interesting but still a decent story. I enjoyed both. One of my favorites from season 3 is "Memo From Purgatory", superb story.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour complete series DVD from Via Vision is very good, episodes appear to be complete and are not speeded up or time compressed, episodes are at the correct speed and run in the 50 minute range. The season 3 DVD has a bonus feature, the Hitchcock directed episode "Incident At A Corner" from the Ford Startime series. It was nice for Via Vision to include this episode, season 3 has 29 episodes so the bonus feature sort of serves as a 30th episode.

 

[Lecagr]

On Via Visions Alfred Hitchcock Hour DVD set, the season 1 episode Annabel has some video issues, image appears too grainy at times. I don't know if the problem was with the source material or if an error occurred during the transfer. The grainy video is a little annoying but the episode is still watchable. The only blemish I've come across so far in an otherwise fine DVD set, love these classic old Hitchcock shows. I prefer the hour long series compared to the half hour series, wish there were more hour seasons and fewer of the half hour.

 

[rjd0309]

Contemplating a purchase, but don't know whether to order the Fabulous Films set or the Viavision set. Is there a difference in video quality?

 

[smithbrad]

Contemplating a purchase, but don't know whether to order the Fabulous Films set or the Viavision set. Is there a difference in video quality?

I don't know about video quality differences. I have the Fabulous Films set and the video quality is very good. However, the Fabulous Films set is in PAL format, which means 4% speedup. I don't know if that would bother you, but it did me, so I had to extract the content and convert it to NTSC for playback. If it were me, and Via Vision is already NTSC, I would go that route.

 

[Lecagr]

I don't know about video quality differences. I have the Fabulous Films set and the video quality is very good. However, the Fabulous Films set is in PAL format, which means 4% speedup. I don't know if that would bother you, but it did me, so I had to extract the content and convert it to NTSC for playback. If it were me, and Via Vision is already NTSC, I would go that route.

Agreed, the Via Vision set is the one to get.

 

[Neil Brock]

I have to say, I'm happy with the recordings I did from Encore Mystery. They were all uncut. For whatever reason, they skipped the episode To Catch a Butterfly, so I took that from a 16mm film transfer.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've only saved four on my DVR from the Me-TV late night showings: "The Magic Shop," "Where the Woodbine Twineth," "The Jar." and "An Unlocked Window." These are the four that have haunted my dreams from childhood and continue to creep me out years later.

 

[Lecagr]

A favorite episode of mine from the 1st season is Forecast: Low Clouds And Coastal Fog. A good suspenseful story with the usual Hitchcock twist at the end, although the first time I watched the episode I have to say that I didn't see the twist coming, it was a surprise to me but in a good way not a bad way. A good episode, highly recommended.

Another episode from season 1 that I like is Last Seen Wearing Blue Jeans. Another good story although this one is a little less suspenseful and it has a happy resolution/ending which is unusual for Hitchcock.

 

[Tom.W]

A favorite episode of mine from the 1st season is Forecast: Low Clouds And Coastal Fog. A good suspenseful story with the usual Hitchcock twist at the end, although the first time I watched the episode I have to say that I didn't see the twist coming, it was a surprise to me but in a good way not a bad way. A good episode, highly recommended.

I like those episodes too. Forecast: Low Clouds And Coastal Fog has a nice dramatic performance by Inger Stevens. An interesting contrast from her role in Farmer's Daughter. A couple of others with nice twists and good suspense are Goodbye George and Final Performance. Probably my favorite episode of the Hours is You'll Be the Death of Me with powerful performances by Robert Loggia and Pilar Seurat.

The episodes with happy endings are less satisfying for me as I don't get the the dramatic punch at the end. An example which I recently watched is Number 22 from the 30 minute episodes.