Which alfred hitchcock presents is best

This unusual episode breaks the fourth wall beyond the weekly Hitchcock framing device. The first few minutes involve the murderer speaking directly to the audience which is disconcerting at first, even cheesy. The performances are quite theatrical. The story gets its kicks out of depicting a clever scheme to get away with murder. The twist is predictable, but delightfully morbid. This one stars John Williams — no, not the famed composer — a talented actor who worked with Hitchcock in Dial M for Murder.

Williams is always something of a stiff archetype, but suggests hidden layers here. The plot is rather straightforward, offering yet another planned murder, and the ironic ending is fairly expected.

The episode relies entirely on Williams, who carries it above its routine nature. Williams hides behind a corner, and tension escalates as the neighbors casually discuss searching the house. Again, this is a particularly off-brand story that bears little suspense until the end. Dahl has a macabre sense of humor, which compliments Hitchcock's.

The ironic twist here is absolute gold. Heavily indebted Charlie Raymond is hired to accompany a British visitor on a trip across the USA, and looks for a way to take advantage of his employer. A lawyer, with blackmail in mind, meets with a famous detective who prides himself on never having committed a single mistake in his long and distinguished career, to prove that he convicted an innocent man.

In London, a killer is stalking the streets, and residents look to a police sergeant Bikel to catch the culprit.

After murdering his shrewish spouse, a man finds that disposing of her body may be the challenge of his life. Cemetery owners bribe an allegedly dying man to be their first customer for business reasons A handsome homicide detective is befriended by four old ladies who invite him for tea and proceed to play out a variation of Arsenic and Old Lace for his benefit.

A reporter discovers the truth about the infamous Lizzie Borden murder case. A precocious, pigtailed girl attaches herself to a grumpy loner in the hopes of learning his secrets.

A man fears that the new cook he's hired is actually a murderess. A retired Scotland Yard inspector goes to extreme lengths to prove the guilt of a suspect in an old murder case. A series of troubling incidents lead Mr. Pelham to believe that he has a double who is deliberately impersonating him. Herbert Carpenter plans to murder his wife Hermione, bury her body in the basement, and then leave on a long business trip.

William Callew is involved in a bad traffic accident on a rural road, that leaves him so paralyzed he appears lifeless, and when help arrives they think he's really dead. While investigating a murder in a theater, Detective Krovitch uncovers a strange web of tensions revolving around ventriloquist John Fabian and his female dummy. Dishonest Frank and Lorna Bramwell visit the home of wealthy, eccentric Monica Laughton, with the intention of robbing her.

Unscrupulous brothers Paul and Henri Tallendier plan to murder their Aunt Rosalie so that they can get their uncle's inheritance. Domestic bliss comes to a rapid halt when a housewife discovers that her police chief husband has been having an affair while she's been pregnant. After the death of her troubled son, a mother decides to sell her house, but a potential buyer discovers she may be hiding something.

Hitchcock directed, and Roald Dahl adapted his own story about a housewife who does in her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. This time, viewers know his character is irredeemable, as he first appears stomping on a butterfly that a small girl is admiring, before cackling in her face. Haney on Green Acres becomes obsessed with a glass jar and its unidentifiable contents, purchased from a carnival sideshow, in this eerie adaptation of a Ray Bradbury story.

A squashed-up octopus? The remains of a missing boy? The source of life itself? And if we do, we might not want to. James Bridges was nominated for an Emmy for his teleplay, which justifies the hour-long running time. It aired a year before the Richard Speck murders that freaked out everyone on Mad Men. Two nurses listen to radio reports about the killing spree and try to make it through the night in a secluded house with their invalid patient and an increasingly drunk and hysterical housekeeper , unaware of that one little security lapse in the title.

The episode is more efficient than stylish, moving through horror-movie tropes like a howling rainstorm and a jumpy housecat. Herman And Mrs. Availability: The first five seasons are available on DVD. At least the first two seasons can be viewed through Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, and Hulu. The tale deeply affects both See full summary ».

Harry Pope is lying in bed and discovers that there is a sleeping snake on his stomach. Newspaperman Bradley's habit of playing practical jokes puts morgue attendant Pop Henderson in danger of losing his job.

Harry Adams and his wife are driving cross-country through a rural Deep South town when a local speed trap ensnares the young couple. The corrupt redneck police officer, Chandler, arrests Karen Adams' infidelity drives her husband Carl to attempt suicide by jumping from a high window ledge at a hotel. Can police officer Barrett stop him?

Blanche Herbert invites Iris Teleton to tea at a posh restaurant. Blanche and Iris' husband Oliver have been having an affair for some time and she now wants Iris to grant her husband a A married businessman keeps his naive young mistress in an apartment, assuring her with costly gifts that he will marry her as soon as he can secure a divorce from his harpy wife.

The young woman's mother is not so easily persuaded. Miss Fox is a rich old widow who falsely identifies one of the building's employees as the guy who robbed her, and later she wants to help him but it may be too late. Brad Taylor is a real-estate entrepreneur who is engaged to Janice Wright. Unbeknownst to her, Brad is still seeing an old flame, Leslie Lenox, a writer.

Leslie doesn't take to Brad's A jewelry firm casts out the last of a family who've been employees for years, and the company won't hire the last of the line because she's a woman. Faithful service goes unrewarded Thelma Tompkins is a waitress in a hotel restaurant. She's a good waitress and has always been kind to old Mrs.

Mannerheim who eats in the restaurant every evening. Thelma is shocked when A retired detective plans to make a suspect in a murder think he's seeing the victim's ghost on the anniversary of her death in the home she was murdered in.

Others are invited to pretend they see nothing, hoping to jar a confession.