Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hitch x 3: "Four O'Clock"

Three rare -- in two cases out of circulation -- television works directed by Alfred Hitchcock have been unveiled over at the best movie site on the net, Karagarga. (By invite only, so contact me if interested.) Will be posting all three, for each is top notch.

First up, "Four O'Clock" (1957): A watchmaker (E.G. Marshall) constructs a time-bomb to go off at 4:00pm, intending to kill his wife (Nancy Kelly) and her suspected lover (Richard Long). After planting the bomb in the basement of his house, the watchmaker runs into a couple of juvenile delinquent burglars (one played by the young Harry Dean Stanton), who gag him and tie him to a basement post. Hoping for rescue, he learns the truth about his wife's "lover" -- but loses her anyway.

Made between The Wrong Man and Vertigo (for the NBC omnibus Suspicion), Hitchcock really turns the screws, in a breathless 45 minutes.