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Post by telegonus on Mar 18, 2017 20:26:48 GMT
Yup, and the actors really help sell this one. It's sort of a comedy-nightmare, both men play it straight.
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kimgoo
Sophomore
wassanasong
@kimgoo
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Post by kimgoo on Mar 20, 2017 14:52:55 GMT
I'm not sure if this thread should be in the '50s or '60s. Are there any fans here? I slightly prefer the hour long episodes to the half hour. Partly because I love that early-mid '60s TV era. Favorite episodes: Breakdown (AHP), The Creeper (AHP), Where the Woodbine Twineth (AHH), An Unlocked Window (AHH), The Magic Shop (AHH), The Jar (AHH). I also prefer the hour-long episodes, especially the one's with the animated openings. You mentioned four of my all-time favorite AHH episodes: Where the Woodbine Twineth; An Unlocked Window; The Magic Shop, and The Jar. Here's something interesting: the musical score of The Magic Shop was regularly used on Thriller! It was also used in the Christopher Lee AHH episode, the one where he played a devil-worshiping European actor. The Creeper--is that the one with a young Richard Chamberlain? No Richard Chamberlain wasn't in The Creeper. What's interesting about The Jar was that I (and probably most) can see that ending coming from a mile away, but I kept thinking they wouldn't go there considering it originally aired in the early '60s. When I realized he was actually going to do it, I got scared and turned it off. Missed the ending. I was watching late at night and I scare easily. I had to wait for it to air again before I got to see the whole thing. Even though predictable, I love everything about The Jar: the music (I believe it's Bernard Herrmann if I'm remember correctly), the setting, etc. The suspense and creepiness make it the perfect scary story.
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Post by naterdawg on Mar 20, 2017 18:32:16 GMT
I also prefer the hour-long episodes, especially the one's with the animated openings. You mentioned four of my all-time favorite AHH episodes: Where the Woodbine Twineth; An Unlocked Window; The Magic Shop, and The Jar. Here's something interesting: the musical score of The Magic Shop was regularly used on Thriller! It was also used in the Christopher Lee AHH episode, the one where he played a devil-worshiping European actor. The Creeper--is that the one with a young Richard Chamberlain? No Richard Chamberlain wasn't in The Creeper. What's interesting about The Jar was that I (and probably most) can see that ending coming from a mile away, but I kept thinking they wouldn't go there considering it originally aired in the early '60s. When I realized he was actually going to do it, I got scared and turned it off. Missed the ending. I was watching late at night and I scare easily. I had to wait for it to air again before I got to see the whole thing. Even though predictable, I love everything about The Jar: the music (I believe it's Bernard Herrmann if I'm remember correctly), the setting, etc. The suspense and creepiness make it the perfect scary story. That's right. Richard Chamberlain was in THE WATCHER on Thriller!
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Post by telegonus on Mar 20, 2017 19:19:22 GMT
The Watcher is a creepy one even as it's not a true horror. Martin Gabel really sells it in what I suppose one would call the title role. It's as much character driven as plot driven, plays better the second and third time around.
Richard Chamberlin's AHP episode is Road Hog, in which he appears with his future Dr. Kildare mentor, Raymond Massey. It's a good one, revenge driven, like so many episodes in the series.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jul 20, 2017 8:35:22 GMT
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Post by naterdawg on Jul 20, 2017 12:22:47 GMT
Yeah, but how did they die? In an "accident?" What does that mean? What kind of accident could they have crossing to feed their cows?
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Post by telegonus on Sept 25, 2017 23:38:56 GMT
I've seen The Crystal Trench twice, came to it with high expectations, which were not met on either occasion. It was too set up, and it was obviously biding its time for the tragic Big Reveal. Good actors, but they couldn't save it.
Some of the better episodes of the half-hour are rather obscure. Coyote Moon is lots of fun. I'm one of the few people who actually likes Appointment At Eleven, with its anxious young fellow in meltdown over something that we don't learn the truth about till the very end.
I like damn near anything with Robert Emhardt and Jeanette Nolan in it, separately or, in The Right Kind Of House, together.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Sept 30, 2017 11:22:46 GMT
I've seen The Crystal Trench twice, came to it with high expectations, which were not met on either occasion. It was too set up, and it was obviously biding its time for the tragic Big Reveal. Good actors, but they couldn't save it. Some of the better episodes of the half-hour are rather obscure. Coyote Moon is lots of fun. I'm one of the few people who actually likes Appointment At Eleven, with its anxious young fellow in meltdown over something that we don't learn the truth about till the very end. I like damn near anything with Robert Emhardt and Jeanette Nolan in it, separately or, in The Right Kind Of House, together. I had never seen any of these last three, but watched then after your post. "Right Kind Of House" was by far my favorite. Emhardt (top billed over the title!), Nolan, flashbacks, and a spooky old house (is that the Psycho staircase?) -- who could ask for anything more? "Coyote Moon" was pretty flat. Some potentially very interesting heavies, but little is done with them -- they not only don't kill the guy, they don't even leave him stranded. Some criminals. "Appointment At Eleven" was no better. The payoff -- if you want to call it that -- wasn't anywhere near strong enough to make up for the terribly uninteresting goings-on in the bar. For those who note such things this episode was an Okie reunion -- Clint Kimbrough (from Allan) and Clu Gulager (Muskogee). "The Crystal Trench" was a much more successful example of the formula. While it's not really a mystery/thriller for almost all its running rime, the character drama is interesting enough that it keeps you diverted until the classic ending -- a real payoff.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 3, 2017 7:52:09 GMT
s.5 ep. 35 "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" Directed by Richard Dunlap Written by Marian Cockrell, from the short story by Saki An eccentric governess wreaks havoc in a stuffy Edwardian household. Does that summary sound familiar? One has to wonder if a certain Miss Travers ever read Saki's original story. This is a very atypical AHP episode in that there is no crime, and the biggest character conflict is over how to teach the kids biology. The resolution is pretty mild as well. Too bad neither Hitch nor Rod Serling (nor anyone else for that matter) ever filmed Saki's wonderful story "Laura", a favorite of mine for its air of macabre fantasy, as well as its British humor both dotty and dark. The Cartwright sisters appear as two of the children, while AH's daughter Pat plays a maid (and commits a goof I didn't notice at first, but an eagle-eyed IMDb reviewer spotted). Tom Conway is inexplicably unbilled as the father. He must have had a terrible agent by this point, if he even had an agent at all. All the episode's honors go to the delightful Hermione Gingold as the governess who insists on teaching by the very progressive-sounding Schartz-Metterklume Method. Her strange behavior is just plausible enough to be believable. The new governess locks horns with the lady of the house (Elspeth March)
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Post by Richard Kimble on Nov 29, 2017 20:28:44 GMT
"Portrait of Jocelyn" s1 e28 Directed by Robert Stevens Written by Harold Swanton (teleplay), Edgar Marvin (story) A happily remarried man is stunned to come across what seems to be a recent painting of his first wife, who disappeared five years earlier.The most intriguing thing about this episode is its plot, which bears a striking resemblance to the contemporary French play Trap For A Lonely Man, later filmed as the US TV movies Honeymoon With A Stranger and One Of My Wives Is Missing. IIRC Halliwell claims the plot goes back at least to a Whistler feature of the '40s. The writer Edgar Marvin is unknown to me. Judging from his few credits (of which "PoJ" was the last) and that "Edgar Marvin" is two first names, it may have been a front for a blacklistee. As for the episode itself, it's reasonably atmospheric and tense if you don't know the plot. I must confess I spent the whole episode wondering if the script could resolve the situation w/o resorting to the TFALM device -- although when you think about it, that's really the only logical way the story can end. Philip Abbott, who specialized in executive-types who turn out to be not quite so solid, is respectable in the lead. Raymond Bailey plays his former father-in-law in his usual solemn manner -- judging from most of his career you would never guess Bailey would be so good on The Beverly Hillbillies. An actor named John Baragrey is effective as the bohemian artist behind the portrait. His resonant voice and theatrical style stand out in this method-dominated era. IMDb says of him, "John Baragrey found steady work on TV soaps and in guest spots, but found regrettably few film offers...and those he did find were for the most part highly unmemorable." Philip Abbott is shocked to see the portrait of Jocelyn.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Dec 6, 2017 8:51:46 GMT
"Poison" s4 e1 Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Written by Casey Robinson, from the short story by Roald Dahl Malaya: Harry Pope is lying in bed and discovers that there is a sleeping snake on his stomach -- and his "friend" Timber Woods doesn't seem too insistent on helping the situation.Dahl's original story was a very short exercise in subtle tension, with a brief anti-racism message near the end. Hitchock has thrown the racism out completely and even more significantly, he has totally switched the characters around. Whereas in the story the villain finds the snake on his belly, here the heavy is the observer. It's the sympathetic weakling who is in jeopardy. IMHO this is actually an improvement on the Dahl story. I think making the heavy the onlooker multiplies the tension exponentially (whatever that means). The audience slowly realizes he's going to take his sweet time helping. Even more, he seems to be sadistically enjoying the game of cat and mouse. For me, that's much more effective than the one quick irony of the racist showing his colors at the end. Heavy-as-onlooker involves him in the drama as an emotional participant; innocent onlooker is simply that, an onlooker. I think Hitch showed the snake too early (FWIW there is actually no snake in Dahl's story). I would have had Donald sitting up in the bed, then glancing down at his pillow, and slowly looking back up at Corey. Then he stands up and maneuvers Corey onto the bed. "If you don't believe there's a snake in that bed let's see you lie down on it!"
Corey is almost drunk by this point as he laughingly does it: "Sure, after all this excitement I could use a good nap!" He lies down and... He's bitten! THEN shot of snake slithering by the pillow. This reminds me of how screenwriter Arthur Laurents complained AH had "double-crossed" him on Rope by showing the murder. AL's idea was to begin with the dinner party, and GRADUALLY we realize they've killed the guy, and his body is in the trunk. I think I prefer that way. Episode writer Casey Robinson worked on the Casablanca script (mostly the Paris section). Star Wendell Corey is very unflatteringly made-up and photographed. Not quite as bad as his Perry Mason episode (where he looked like a corpse who had just risen from the grave) but bad enough. Was this Hitchcock's intention? Great performance by Donald (a virtuoso exercise in emotional expression with only his face and right hand to work with), good ones by Corey and Arnold Moss as a native doctor (Abraham Sofaer must have been busy), solid scripting of a classic suspense situation, superbly shot and lighted (though Corey might argue about his makeup). A high point for the series. "Don't come any closer!"
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 20, 2018 7:24:08 GMT
"The West Warlock Time Capsule" s2 e35 Directed by Justus Addiss Written by Marian Cockrell, from a story by J.P. Cahn George is a small town taxidermist and quite satisfied with his life, until his no-account brother-in-law Waldron moves in. There must be some way to get rid of Waldron...Darkly amusing entry, with the pre- Psycho depiction of taxidermy. Mildred Dunnock is kind of wasted as the wife, but Henry Jones (George) and the ill-fated Sam Buffington (cast against type as hypochondriacal Waldron) both hit the mark. George may have finally come up with a solution for his problem with brother-in-law Waldron.
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Post by bravomailer on Feb 20, 2018 13:56:09 GMT
An Unlocked Window scared the hell out of me.
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Post by Ass_E9 on Feb 20, 2018 19:24:16 GMT
Had the TV on late last night and came across one episode: "The Crooked Road".
Ratcheted up the tension pretty well, although it telegraphed the eventual twist a few beats early.
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Post by telegonus on Feb 20, 2018 21:19:35 GMT
Yeah. Good set-up, but the "artifice" gave away the not so Big Reveal. The acting was a save.
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Post by geode on Apr 25, 2018 16:20:16 GMT
They were actually quite different shows. Alike on the surface, both shows being products of the Hitchcock production company (Shamley), both hosted by Hitchcock, and both even featured adaptations of works of the same writers, yet they were different in emphasis, which far more room for characterization and changes in the storylines in the hour series. The hour show evolved from the half-hour (IMO). That it was an anthology gave it more flexibility. There were many TV shows that expanded from a half-hour to an hour during the same period, with one of the most successful being Gunsmoke, which became an hour long version of what had been a half-hour, and while there were some changes during the transition it was essentially the same series, only with longer stories. I will admit that I have only watched a handful of either the half hour shows or hour long shows in recent years but I find both to be essentially the same show just as "Twilight Zone" episodes of both lengths are the same, just as I did in the 60s when I was watching these shows. They are only really different in length, which of course does allow more time to develop a story in more detail. There is vastly more difference in some shows that bear the same running time in different seasons in terms of a change in tone, story material or the way principal characters act. "The Man From U.N.C.L.E" and "Lost in Space" come to mind. The change to color was not the only thing that was altered in these two series.
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Post by telegonus on Jul 10, 2018 6:14:20 GMT
Yes, Geode the tone (or tones, as the case may be) of the different UNCLE seasons are quite different. The first two seasons were more sophisticated, featured a dry sense of humor, seldom went over the top. I found the first season to be the best in this regard. Another show, Mission: Impossible, also changed, as it felt more serious and "international" (back lot style, but no matter)early on, while becoming somewhat more American in flavor, with the IM folks going after mobsters and counterfeiter types. In these cases, I don't think that the change to color was that big a deal; more like changing times. The move to all-color evening programming was in this sense emblematic of the way prime time television was changing rather than the cause of it.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 10, 2018 15:38:54 GMT
The other day, I watched the one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour that Hitch directed himself, “I Saw the Whole Thing.” It was—fine. Not bad, but a little sluggish, very Perry Mason-esque. Not as tight as the half-hours.
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Post by mikef6 on Jul 10, 2018 20:10:01 GMT
Yes, Geode the tone (or tones, as the case may be) of the different UNCLE seasons are quite different. The first two seasons were more sophisticated, featured a dry sense of humor, seldom went over the top. I found the first season to be the best in this regard. Another show, Mission: Impossible, also changed, as it felt more serious and "international" (back lot style, but no matter)early on, while becoming somewhat more American in flavor, with the IM folks going after mobsters and counterfeiter types. In these cases, I don't think that the change to color was that big a deal; more like changing times. The move to all-color evening programming was in this sense emblematic of the way prime time television was changing rather than the cause of it. One brief OT note about Mission: Impossible. MI ran for seven seasons. For the first four years (1966-1970), most of the missions took place in foreign lands, fictitious countries behind the Iron Curtain or Latin America. By season five (1970-1971), producers started to get worried about backlash from viewers influenced by changing attitudes to U.S. foreign policy due to the debacle of the Vietnam War. The idea of U.S. secret agents overthrowing the governments of other countries to install "pro-West" leaders was starting to sour. That is why in the last 3 seasons (1970-1973), the Impossible Missions Team mostly tackled organized crime (which they called "The Syndicate") instead of overseas dictators. The Syndicate had turned up a few times in previous years so the producers and writers turned to it full time.
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Post by telegonus on Jul 11, 2018 5:27:55 GMT
Yes, it seems that way, Mike, and the "new approach", while it probably helped the series in the short run, in the long term it sort of soured it in reruns. Who the hell wants to watch those final three seasons now? MI was sort of a spy show, all about intrigue, much of it foreign, not The F.B.I.. Most people who want to watch the show, which doesn't seem to have quite as big a fanbase as many other popular old series of the same era, want to see the Martin Landau-Barbara Bain episodes anyway. There was a general consensus even at the time, and this nothing against Leonard Nimoy as Landau's replacement, that when Martin left the show it went downhill; and nobody I knew cared for the new "babes" they hired a regulars. Hot and all that, but not Barbara.
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