Revenge
- Episode aired Oct 2, 1955
- TV-14
- 26m
When Carl Spann's wife Elsa is assaulted by an unknown attacker, he drives his still-incoherent wife around town, hoping she can point him out, so he can kill him.When Carl Spann's wife Elsa is assaulted by an unknown attacker, he drives his still-incoherent wife around town, hoping she can point him out, so he can kill him.When Carl Spann's wife Elsa is assaulted by an unknown attacker, he drives his still-incoherent wife around town, hoping she can point him out, so he can kill him.
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBased on the short story "Revenge" by Samuel Blas. This story was first published in Colliers (January 11, 1947).
- GoofsWhen Carl and Elsa leave the trailer after she is attacked and are driving in the city, they pass by the same "See's Candy Store" twice in quick succession.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: [introduction] Good evening. I'm Alfred Hitchcock. And tonight, I'm presenting the first in a series of stories of suspense and mystery called, oddly enough, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". I shall not act in these stories, but will only make appearances. Something in the nature of an accessory before and after the fact - to give the title to those of you who can't read, and to tidy up afterwards for those who don't understand the endings. Tonight's playlet is really a sweet little story. It is called "Revenge". It will follow...
[Hitchcock looks off camera then back to the viewer]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: Oh, dear. I see the actors won't be ready for another 60 seconds. However, thanks to our sponsor's remarkable foresight, we have a message that will fit in here nicely.
- ConnectionsFeatured in A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009)
- SoundtracksFuneral March of a Marionette
Written by Charles Gounod
But then he comes home from work to find her terror-stricken and mortified after, evidently, a man assaulted her in the trailer. The police investigate, but find but a few generic details to go on. Meeker spirals into swelling rage about what has happened, and he is obstinate in his resolution to kill the man accountable, if he can find him. Yet this story is not only playing on the violent in the mind of the spectator, us, pertaining to the murder, but in the assault on his wife, too.
The exposition not directly heading to the story's turning point, Alfred Hitchcock knew how to tell a story without having to tell us anything. Rape. Murder. Uncertainty. The dialogue is never corroborated or denied by the visual text, which is why there is such great tension owing to the incomprehensible eyewitness testimony of Miles, who pre-Psycho here shows us how riveting she can be in terrified close-up. There is even an interesting moment of fleeting lesbian undertones, yet the moment is not placed for such reasons.
The first episode ever of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by the master himself, half an hour long, aired at 9:30 on CBS on a 1955 Sunday night, is not just a little thriller yarn watered down for the new medium; it is an indictment of the human belief that we can ever be certain of anything, ever. It is a commentary on appearance profiling in a decade when that probably was not something of which your average viewer could claim to be innocent.
- jzappa
- Jul 31, 2009
Details
- Runtime26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1