They were also tasked to leave them in just as much shock and awe with what would transpire as they did with the films. They had to speed up the exposition and action, while still keeping the audience on the edge of their seats for the duration. The films may have allowed more creative freedom and more creative control, but having to compact the story to fit tight time constraints and having to adhere to the respective television network’s standards and practices gave the writers, directors, and producers quite a challenge. Who could forget one set of his opening credits: Charles Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette” playing as Hitch’s silhouette walks into the famous drawing of his profile, and then he utters the best known line throughout the whole series, “Good Evening.” He would often give a monologue before the episode began, another at the midpoint, and a closer, usually throwing quips in his dry, yet macabre sense of humor.Īt that point, you know what to expect, or do you? These works were (and are) special in their own right. Hosted and produced by Hitchcock, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” premiered on CBS in October 1955 and any lover of his body of work cannot say that these shows pale in comparison to his films. (photo courtesy of Maddy Loves Her Classic Films)īy the time the 1950s rolled in, Alfred Hitchcock had a well-established career in both his native England as well as the United States, earning that storied reputation as the Master of Suspense, when he took on a project that was yet another testament to his truly enormous talent, drive, and ingenuity.Īlong with “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits”, these shows completed the trifecta of popular anthologies of the ‘50s and ’60s that were fraught with drama, mystery, suspense, the occult, and horror.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |