tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post324012005270473519..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: Robert Bloch on TV Part Fifteen-The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Final PerformanceJohn Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-39008023951941187662022-04-09T05:39:22.177-07:002022-04-09T05:39:22.177-07:00I love the hour shows. Though I haven't writte...I love the hour shows. Though I haven't written about all of them yet, my impression is that the first season was shaky because they tried to adapt too many novels. When they realized expanding stories worked better than condensing novels, things improved. The second and third seasons are filled with strong episodes. Of course, "The Jar" may be the best of them all.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-68833930980888045502022-04-08T00:31:21.359-07:002022-04-08T00:31:21.359-07:00Much appreciated, Jack.
An Unlocked Window may b...Much appreciated, Jack. <br /><br />An Unlocked Window may be, as much for its "incidentals" as its story, the most technically perfect entry of the Hitchcock hours. Tonight's The Trap (Donnelly Rhodes, Anne Francis, Robert Strauss), is highly impressive, though for some reason I can't pinpoint its cast fails to draw me into it in an empathetic way. They are all solid pros, with homely butterball Robert Strauss easy to want to kill, Miss Francis easy to want to kill for, and the handsome, dashing Mr. Rhodes easy to like and sympathize with.<br /><br />Of all the "hours", The Life Work Of Juan Diaz moved me the most, and it still does (they reran it recently on MeTV; as the reruns are chronological, the final season is winding down). Yet Unlocked Window has brilliant touches of another sort, with some nicely integrated humor; and yet Juan Diaz's Frank Silvera's near comic turn as the gravekeeper is in itself master class. This Hitchcock series was nearer to horror than suspense, and it got more horror-ish as it moved along. Its last season could almost have been (Boris Karloff's) Thriller's third.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-12249720274005490502022-04-07T13:13:48.585-07:002022-04-07T13:13:48.585-07:00Thanks for your comment, John. I love "An Unl...Thanks for your comment, John. I love "An Unlocked Window." It's a brilliant hour of TV and one of the best episodes of the entire series.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-32998081708669860642022-04-07T00:39:39.147-07:002022-04-07T00:39:39.147-07:00It's great to see your blog still alive and ki...It's great to see your blog still alive and kicking, whatever they pay you, Jack. I saw Final Performance last week, was drawn into once again. Of the actors,--no fault on their part. Perry impressed me a lot; as a writer, as an All-American guy. I wished he'd had a better career; star level, I mean. He was probably too straight a type for the years he'd likely have become a major star, if that was in the cards for him, which it apparently wasn't. Why Martin Milner but not Roger Perry? I like Milner, find him excellent on Route 66,among many other things, including his surprise, offbeat in Willian Castle horror. At least Marty had his time in the sun, but maybe the young chicks just didn't flip out over him. We can't all be Edd Byrnes or Robert Redford.<br /><br />Tonight, Hitch had An Unlocked Window. Sheer perfection for what it was. Can you think of anything that would have made it better? I can't. Oh, maybe an extra line of dialogue here, more thorough exposition there. I'm puzzled why Nurse Ames didn't quite lunge at Dana Wynter even just after her voice changed. She was (or so it sounded to me) too busy lecturing the younger, prettier woman. It was Nurse Wynter who lunged at her, actually, grabbing at "her" blouse, clearly exposing the nurse's hairy chest. The Psycho house was a perfect choice for the setting, It's not like it was the only gloomy old Victorian era house on the Uni back lot. I'd probably, if a paid author, and offered the job of rewriting and directing the episode, have toned down he thunder and lightning, especially in the first half, and allowed for a "normal" scene or two,--and I know there are more, and that this aspect of the episode was well handled. Still, the continual cuts back to the cat in and around the window, then just the window, then what looks like it has to be the perp sort of gives the game away too much, too fast.<br /><br />In other words, I'd rather it had been made as a movie, with Hitch producing, (a la William Castle, with Rosemary's Baby), which could have added a lot to this "less is more" shocker. It's nearly Too Much to be an episode of a television show<br /><br />Johnjohn kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-16056668293610952372020-12-15T14:18:38.481-08:002020-12-15T14:18:38.481-08:00Thanks. They certainly don't!Thanks. They certainly don't!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-66659624262371578652020-12-15T10:10:25.037-08:002020-12-15T10:10:25.037-08:00Great Review As Usual! I Thouroughly Enjoyed This ...Great Review As Usual! I Thouroughly Enjoyed This Episode! Tho Old Saying Applies. They Do Not Make Them, Like They Used Too!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-24990055520527753272020-12-05T09:32:56.779-08:002020-12-05T09:32:56.779-08:00Yes, that's true. I view Hitchcock's post-...Yes, that's true. I view Hitchcock's post-show remarks as tongue in cheek. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-53931171057611431332020-12-03T20:52:52.643-08:002020-12-03T20:52:52.643-08:00"The show compounds the suspense and horror b..."The show compounds the suspense and horror by having it end this way, rather than with Rudolph being found dead and the police coming to the scene."<br /><br />Hitchcock does say in his post-narration that the perp was ultimately arrested (he does that in every story so it's clear the bad guys don't get away with it)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-25202014014472943452016-07-28T11:00:59.886-07:002016-07-28T11:00:59.886-07:00Yes, Tone was fine in The Long Silence, however pl...Yes, Tone was fine in The Long Silence, however playing a clubman type was well within his range. Familiar territory, in other words. When I first saw the episode I didn't know Franchot Tone's look or style, and he seemed awfully beat up looking to be playing a Social Registry type,--O, the irony!--yet he was a product of that class. Still, even now, just looking at the guy, how aged and life-weary he looks, he really doesn't seem right for the part at that (admittedly superficial) level. By that time, John Hoyt or George Macready would have been better casting. Tone's actual performance was fine.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-14144209203868013472016-07-28T06:43:37.668-07:002016-07-28T06:43:37.668-07:00What did you think of him in "The Long Silenc...What did you think of him in "The Long Silence" on the Twilight Zone? I recall thinking he was very good there, too.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-79157699071459871022016-07-27T21:19:51.747-07:002016-07-27T21:19:51.747-07:00Fine episode, but the ending was a bit gimmicky, i...Fine episode, but the ending was a bit gimmicky, if necessary, shocking as it was. Roger Perry and Sharon Farrell were quite good as the young 'uns, but it was Franchot Tone's bravura, near jubilant performance as the ex-vaudevillean that really sells the episode. This may be the best I've ever seen him,--so out of his usual character, nearly always urbane--and seeming to love every moment of shedding his upper class Ivy League shell, like Mr. Hyde emerging from the persona of Dr. Jekyll, crying out "at last!".john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-66568294761820812382012-05-18T09:43:44.158-07:002012-05-18T09:43:44.158-07:00The title FINAL PERFORMANCE is better, more ominou...The title FINAL PERFORMANCE is better, more ominous-sounding. Imagine if Robert Bloch had titled his masterwork THE PSYCHO. Or if his other classic Hitchcock Hour episode were titled THE WATER'S EDGE. I rest my case.Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-32471338703947548092012-05-18T06:49:26.729-07:002012-05-18T06:49:26.729-07:00My copy of LAST RITES consistently has the initial...My copy of LAST RITES consistently has the initial article in the title, which is why I made the same observation regarding the change in my Bloch-on-TV overview in Benjamin Szumskyj's THE MAN WHO COLLECTED PSYCHOS.Matthew Bradleyhttp://bradleyonfilm.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-46891979364172620272012-05-17T22:22:00.135-07:002012-05-17T22:22:00.135-07:00I naturally assumed it was Jack padding his articl...I naturally assumed it was Jack padding his article since he's paid by the word. Don't think I'm not on to you, Seabrook! You owe us a word.Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-7522957749042932512012-05-17T16:00:53.286-07:002012-05-17T16:00:53.286-07:00Todd--thanks for your comments. I see that on the ...Todd--thanks for your comments. I see that on the cover of Shock it is listed without the definite article. I was working from the reprint in Such Stuff, where (as you note) it has the article added. I have seen instances of magazines where the title varies from cover to table of contents to first story page, so without opening up Shock I can't be sure. But you make a good point about "The" possibly being Bloch's preference, since he did write an afterword to Such Stuff and presumably had a hand in putting it together.<br /><br />I leave such things to the bibliographers. The one time I can think of where it really mattered was in the translation of the Italian film title Ladri di bicyclette--first translated as The Bicycle Thief (incorrectly) and later revised to Bicycle Thieves, the change from singular to plural and removal of the definite article is quite significant.<br /><br />Harvey--I agree that the episode has a quality of doom, mainly due to Franchot Tone's performance. I don't get Encore but I suspect that a good print would be interesting. The final scene is pretty great, even in a washed out print. Watch the audience in the barn--it consists of the sheriff and Cliff, with no mouth-breathing locals. That sounds more like The Jar!IMDB says that Roger Perry was in a movie called Wreckage in 2010 playing a sheriff, so he's still working.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-63855866018883890642012-05-17T14:20:14.743-07:002012-05-17T14:20:14.743-07:00Cool. The source story is also noirish as hell, as...Cool. The source story is also noirish as hell, as that first sentence suggests.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-52226442606744371162012-05-17T11:16:34.637-07:002012-05-17T11:16:34.637-07:00I remember FINAL PERFORMANCE’s shock ending, but t...I remember FINAL PERFORMANCE’s shock ending, but the entire episode has a morbid, doom-laden quality that made me feel quite uneasy. Even the hopelessly old-fashioned vaudeville act in the barn, with the audience of mouth-breathing locals and the fat sheriff’s beer belly rippling with laughter, was creepy. Franchot Tone was a great actor: the man was decrepit, probably dying from lung cancer, but he exuded a strange sort of menace and one just knew that Sharon Farrell would never get out of that rustic motel alive. FINAL PERFORMANCE is one of the best of the hour-long HITCHCOCK shows. Veiled references to PSYCHO abound in this masterpiece of horror that could have been directed by Hitchcock himself. <br /><br />Whatever happened to Roger Perry?Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-61758245461914735292012-05-17T09:09:02.455-07:002012-05-17T09:09:02.455-07:00Hm. I see it is listed in some indices, from the S...Hm. I see it is listed in some indices, from the SUCH STUFF appearance, as "The Final Performance"...wonder if that was Bloch's preferred title, or not. Don't have copies of the SELECTED STORIES (v. 3) or STUFF at hand to compare.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-78200106921259688582012-05-17T08:46:24.121-07:002012-05-17T08:46:24.121-07:00The Encore Suspense channel will be offering this ...The Encore Suspense channel will be offering this one to subscribers on 23 May at 10:50pm ET, and repeating the next morning at 7:15am. (Part of the Encore package that is the corporate sibling of Starz.)<br /><br />Possibly Bloch's best suspense story at shorter length (just "Final Performance," btw, no article). SHOCK as a magazine should've done better than it did...less jokey covers might've helped. I look forward to seeing this adaptation...the comics adaptation for IDW's anthology comic DOOMED a few years back, was well-put-together but like most of DOOMED not quite up to the excellent source-fiction.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.com