* Please note that the first paragraph of this review contains a SPOILER for Hitchcock's 'Stage Fright (1950).' *
Unfortunately, the viewing of my second episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was rudely interrupted by technical difficulties, during which I inadvertently stumbled upon the twist earlier than I was supposed to. Nevertheless, "Premonition" (Season 1, Episode 2) is a worthy mystery. Though it lacks the full-on dramatic intensity of "Revenge" (Season 1, Episode 1), it is a subtle tale of premonitions, paranoia and potential murder, culminating in an unexpected twist that challenges perceptions of reality and questions the reliability of memory. When 'Stage Fright (1950)' was released, Hitchcock received some rather heated criticism for staging a false-flashback, during which the audience is shown a completely-fabricated telling of past events. Here, director Robert Stevens uses a similar tactic, opening the episode with shots of a landing passenger plane, passing off his main character's premonition as fact. It's a clever feat of misdirection, and one that successfully keeps the suspicion focused completely on the supporting characters.
Kim Stranger (John Forsythe), having lived the past four years abroad, returns home to America on a vague hunch that something terrible has happened. He arrives in the small country town to learn that his father, with whom he'd had a long-running feud, had passed away years earlier, and that nobody had informed him. Shocked and angry, Kim begins to suspect that foul play is involved, and every inquiry he makes leads him closer to the conclusion that Greg Stranger was murdered. He eventually discovers that he had murdered his father himself, and that his family and friends loyally covered up the crime, while he was sent to a mental hospital in Arizona. This episode's performances are solid, not only from Forsythe but also Warren Stevens, Cloris Leachman and George Macready. Frequent use of voice-over can sometimes be put down to lazy screen writing, but here it works nicely, underlining the mental degradation of a man who is clearly at the end of his tether.
Unfortunately, the viewing of my second episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was rudely interrupted by technical difficulties, during which I inadvertently stumbled upon the twist earlier than I was supposed to. Nevertheless, "Premonition" (Season 1, Episode 2) is a worthy mystery. Though it lacks the full-on dramatic intensity of "Revenge" (Season 1, Episode 1), it is a subtle tale of premonitions, paranoia and potential murder, culminating in an unexpected twist that challenges perceptions of reality and questions the reliability of memory. When 'Stage Fright (1950)' was released, Hitchcock received some rather heated criticism for staging a false-flashback, during which the audience is shown a completely-fabricated telling of past events. Here, director Robert Stevens uses a similar tactic, opening the episode with shots of a landing passenger plane, passing off his main character's premonition as fact. It's a clever feat of misdirection, and one that successfully keeps the suspicion focused completely on the supporting characters.
Kim Stranger (John Forsythe), having lived the past four years abroad, returns home to America on a vague hunch that something terrible has happened. He arrives in the small country town to learn that his father, with whom he'd had a long-running feud, had passed away years earlier, and that nobody had informed him. Shocked and angry, Kim begins to suspect that foul play is involved, and every inquiry he makes leads him closer to the conclusion that Greg Stranger was murdered. He eventually discovers that he had murdered his father himself, and that his family and friends loyally covered up the crime, while he was sent to a mental hospital in Arizona. This episode's performances are solid, not only from Forsythe but also Warren Stevens, Cloris Leachman and George Macready. Frequent use of voice-over can sometimes be put down to lazy screen writing, but here it works nicely, underlining the mental degradation of a man who is clearly at the end of his tether.