Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection (DVD Review)
Director
VariousRelease Date(s)
1955-1962 (October 24, 2025)Studio(s)
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions/Shamley Productions/Revue Studios (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: B
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: C
- Overall Grade: B
Review
Before premiering as the sardonic host of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series on CBS in 1955, Hitchcock was well known for directing feature films and making a cameo appearance in each. At the height of the TV series’ popularity, the stories he presented achieved popularity for their twist endings and his name and appearance became known to millions.
When Hitchcock’s friend Lew Wasserman, the president of MCA, suggested that Hitchcock host a weekly anthology series of mystery and crime dramas, the director agreed, provided it wouldn’t interfere with his feature-film career. The series didn’t always make the Top Ten, but it consistently received high ratings and was influential in spawning other anthology shows such as The Twilight Zone on CBS (1959-1965), One Step Beyond on ABC (1959-1961), and Thriller on NBC (1960-1962).
At the start of each show, Hitchcock would walk on camera in silhouette and step into a line drawing of his profile to the show’s theme music, Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette. He would then introduce the evening’s story in a droll monologue written by James Allerdyce, frequently poking fun at the sponsors. He would return at the end of the program to assure audiences that the characters who seemed to get away with murder eventually got their comeuppance. In a nod to censors insisting that crimes could not go unpunished, Hitchcock delivered these assertions tongue-in-cheek.
Scripts were adapted from previously published material, often from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Authors whose short stories were chosen include Alexander Woollcott, Ambrose Bierce, John Collier, Dorothy L. Sayers, Cornell Woolrich, Stanley Ellin, Adela Rogers St.John, Evan Hunter, A.A. Milne, and Ira Levin. Most of the episodes were helmed by directors other than Hitchcock including Robert Stevens, John Brahm, Robert Florey, Paul Henreid, John Newland, and Arthur Hiller. Hitchcock himself directed 17 episodes, among them One More Mile to Go, Breakdown, Back for Christmas, Mr. Blanchard’s Secret, Wet Saturday, and perhaps the most famous of the series, Lamb to the Slaughter.
In that episode, adapted from a Roald Dahl story, Barbara Bel Geddes stars as a devoted housewife who murders her policeman husband with a frozen leg of lamb after he says he’s leaving her. Her alibi is that she was out shopping when the killing occurred. Her husband’s colleagues determine that he was killed with a blunt instrument. To cover her tracks, she cooks the lamb and feigns shock as she serves the murder weapon to the men for dinner.
In Revenge, directed by Hitchcock, a man (Ralph Meeker) attempts to find and murder the man who assaulted his wife (Vera Miles). He takes her for a drive to identify him. She points out a man and her husband kills him only to discover that trauma she suffered made her unreliable, as she continues to point out random men as her assailant.
Bang! You’re Dead is a fine example of Hitchcock’s masterful use of suspense. Five-year-old Jackie (Billy Mumy) finds a loaded revolver in his uncle’s luggage, thinks it’s a toy, and takes it outside to play with his friends. When his uncle discovers that the gun is missing he and the boy’s parents desperately search for the him, knowing what might happen if Jackie pulls the trigger.
Hitchcock also put his special touch on Banquo’s Chair, starring John Williams as retired Scotland Yard detective William Brent. When wealthy Mrs. Ferguson is found brutally murdered, suspicion falls on her nephew, John Bedford (Kenneth Haigh), but since he had a strong alibi, the crime has gone unsolved. Convinced Bedford is guilty, Brent sets up a dinner party at the victim’s home, invites Bradford and others, and hires an actress to play the ghost of the deceased. As the dinner progresses, the ghost appears but only Bradford seems to see it. Unnerved, he finally blurts out that he killed his aunt. Brent is pleased his plan worked until the actress hired to play the ghost turns up, apologizing for being late.
Memorable episodes not directed by Hitchcock include Special Delivery, adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury and directed by long-time Hitchcock associate Norman Lloyd. Young Tom Fortnam (Peter Lazer) is excited when he receives his guaranteed-to-grow mushroom seeds by special delivery mail. His father, Bill (Steve Dunne), hears from neighbor Roger that people are disappearing. Bill isn’t sure what to think. Then Roger’s wife calls him to say that Roger has disappeared. Bill visits Roger’s wife and sees that Roger’s son, who’s the same age as Tom, is also growing mushrooms in the basement. Convinced there’s a connection, Bill confronts his son and makes a grim discovery.
Many of the stories deal with terrorized characters. In the first-season episode The Creeper, a housewife (Constance Ford) lives in a rundown New York City neighborhood where a serial strangler is on the loose. Terrified that she might be next, she’s spooked by the slightest noise and suspects everyone she encounters might be the killer. She begins to feel safer with the arrival of a locksmith she has called to install a new lock until she gets a frantic phone call from her husband.
Some episodes are lighter in tone and deal with quirky characters. In The Shartz-Metterklume Method, Hermione Gingold stars as a new governess hired by a wealthy couple to tutor their four children. On arrival, she shocks the parents by announcing that she uses the Shartz-Metterklume method, an unconventional, eccentric teaching style. History lessons involve acting out scenarios of past events and math is taught by playing poker. The parents fire her after only one day, but her stay disrupts their conservative lifestyle and leads to unforeseen consequences.
Over the course of its original run, the half-hour episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents featured many familiar faces, including Steve McQueen, Claude Rains, Walter Matthau, Vincent Price, Thelma Ritter, Joseph Cotten, Robert Redford, Peter Falk, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Lorre, Everett Sloan, Claire Trevor, Vera Miles, Tom Ewell, Anne Francis, Dick York, Michel Rennie, Robert Duvall, Vivienne Segal, and Brandon De Wilde. Hitchcock’s daughter, Pat, appeared in a number of episodes.
In 1962, the series was expanded to an hour and retitled The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, but those episodes are not included in the set.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents was shot by directors of photography John L. Russell and John F. Warren on 35mm black & white film with spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Overall clarity on DVD is very good, reflecting the show’s use of film rather than videotape. However, due to the fast pace of TV production, photography is rudimentary, without extended tracking shots, odd angles, special visual effects, or inventive lighting. Hitchcock’s openings consist mostly of the director speaking directly to the audience, but props are often incorporated for variety and visual humor. The episodes have a consistent look with emphasis on close-ups and medium shots. Long establishing shots are rare. Most of the shows were shot entirely on interior sets. Outdoor scenes were usually filmed on Universal’s backlot.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono Dolby Digital. English SDH subtitles are an option. There are no problems with dialogue reproduction, which is distinct and easy to understand. Sound effects vary from episode to episode and include car engines, gun shots, screams, bodies being pummeled, a body splashing into the sea, a foghorn, a train’s steam engine, a horse-drawn carriage, crackling fire, and small explosions. Scores for the episodes were provided by Bernard Herrmann, Frederick Herbert, Lyn Murray, Joseph Romero, and Stanley Wilson.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection is a 34-disc DVD boxset containing all 263 episodes of the show’s seven-season run. Four to five discs per season are packaged in seven separate cases, all collected in a single slipcase. Episode titles are listed on the inside of each case while each disc contains an episode index. A booklet with detailed production information would have been helpful to provide interesting background for each episode. Disc-based bonus materials include the following:
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back (14:44)
- Fasten Your Seat Belt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock (6:25)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back – Pat Hitchcock O’Connell, Norman Lloyd, and assistant director Hilton A. Green discuss the creation and success of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. After Lew Wasserman pitched the idea of an anthology TV show hosted by Alfred Hitchcock and Hitchcock agreed, a team was assembled. Joan Harrison, who had worked with the director in England, became the show’s producer and Norman Lloyd, who had appeared in two Hitchcock features, came on as associate producer. Their job was to take care of day-to-day requirements, including selecting stories, hiring writers and assembling casts. Today, they would be known as show runners. Lloyd notes that he was hired for six months and stayed for eight years. The caricature that opens each show was drawn by Hitchcock himself. Though he only directed 17 of the episodes Hitchcock approved every story of the program’s seven-year run. Harrison and Lloyd had to make sure each show’s plot and tone reflected Hitchcock. The lead-ins and lead-outs—monologues delivered by Hitchcock—were written by James Allerdyce with the director’s ironic delivery in mind. Hitchcock would film several of these in a single day. Allerdyce also wrote the trailer for Psycho, in which Hitchcock takes the viewer on a tour of the Bates house and motel.
Fasten Your Seat Belt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock - A colorized Alfred Hitchcock from one of the lead-ins to Alfred Hitchcock Presents introduces this featurette about his methodical approach to filmmaking. Directors Martin Scorsese, William Friedkin, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, and Eli Roth offer sound bite accolades about Hitchcock’s ability to manipulate audiences, create suspense, and instill terror. Referred to as a “genius on the dark side,” Hitchcock told captivating stories in movies featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Brief clips are shown from many of the director’s best-known films.
Like any long-running series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents had its highs and lows but, for the most part, the shows are well acted, have a trademark plot twist, and exhibit quality production values. Hitchcock is always entertaining in his unique way. During the original run of the series, he was very busy directing the feature films The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie. Two of the TV show’s episodes directed by Hitchcock were nominated for Emmys: Lamb to the Slaughter and The Case of Mr. Pelham. The third season opener, The Glass Eye, won an Emmy for director Robert Stevens.
- Dennis Seuling