tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post4171378220602220908..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: Ray Bradbury on TV Part Four: Alfred Hitchcock Presents "Special Delivery"John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-1846084033158279092020-11-03T15:05:10.013-08:002020-11-03T15:05:10.013-08:00Thanks for the clarification, Matthew! Eller is do...Thanks for the clarification, Matthew! Eller is doing great work.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-33923040077245994382020-11-02T09:05:24.902-08:002020-11-02T09:05:24.902-08:00Great job as always, Jack. For what it's wort...Great job as always, Jack. For what it's worth, Touponce and Eller state categorically in <i>Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction</i> that "Come into My Cellar" (later “Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in <i>Your</i> Cellar!”) was adapted from the "Special Delivery" teleplay, rather than the other way around. I certainly found it surprising that the Hitchcock series would feature an episode about an alien invasion, even one by proxy and <i>sans</i> special effects. Of Frank Maxwell's many fine performances, I remember him best as the kindly Dr. Willet (<i>sic</i>) in Roger Corman's Charles Beaumont-scripted H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, <i>The Haunted Palace</i>. Others include the director in Richard Matheson's <i>Twilight Zone</i> episode "A World of Difference" and the courageous newspaper publisher in Beaumont and Corman's <i>The Intruder</i>.Matthew Bradleyhttps://bradleyonfilm.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-59924824534719871992019-11-20T14:08:18.925-08:002019-11-20T14:08:18.925-08:00It's been seven years (!) since I last saw thi...It's been seven years (!) since I last saw this episode, but I remember it as a good one. Thanks for the comments! I think there are more sci-fi and horror episodes in later seasons but I wouldn't say they were ever a majority.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-18230999713520363572019-11-19T23:51:30.874-08:002019-11-19T23:51:30.874-08:00Well, Jack, I watch Hitchcock Presents regularly n...Well, Jack, I watch Hitchcock Presents regularly now, and this time I was more pleased by Special Delivery. It delivered the goods. The dark tone was set as soon as Frank Maxwell turned up, asked Steve Dunne to play shrink for him. His actual words did sound paranoid, but I suppose at the time, in the Cold War era, it was fitting. <br /><br />Also, America was in the process of redefining "normal" back then. We've always had social norms, rules, regulations and manners, yet in those postwar years there was, beneath the monolithic presence of the New Suburbia, something unsettling. Nor was it something to talk about unless one was a beatnick sort.<br /><br />Special Delivery caught this mood to near perfection, then added a few touches of its own. The presentation was deceptively prosaic, and thus a wise choice for telling this particular kind of tale. I liked the pace they used for the show, not quite slow but steady. It wasn't filmed for shock effects and what was truly shocking wasn't accompanied by the usual Hollywood bells and whistles.<br /><br />A solid entry; intelligent without pushing its ideas too strongly. I was particularly impressed by Steve Dunne as the father. The rest of the cast was well above average, too, but Dunne showed true leading man potential, thus he held the episode together. I found his voice particularly effective, and his presence reassuring, as in "if this guy believes it, it must be true". <br /><br />Also, is it me or was the Hitchcock series moving in a sci-fi, horror and macabre direction in its later seasons? I'll have to check this out by going over the episodes list. When something peculiar happened in the early seasons madness was usually, the explanation for the strange goings on; while now a sense of the Uncanny permeates many episodes..john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-38652630264414025462019-11-19T23:33:10.548-08:002019-11-19T23:33:10.548-08:00Me too! And my wife and I agree this seemed more l...Me too! And my wife and I agree this seemed more like it should have been on the "Twilight zone"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12665900031502314595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-5994903240660335342019-11-19T23:30:46.161-08:002019-11-19T23:30:46.161-08:00I Love all the episodes. No matter how good or bad...I Love all the episodes. No matter how good or bad.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12665900031502314595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-7848604095490076972017-09-17T06:55:03.284-07:002017-09-17T06:55:03.284-07:00Thanks for your comment, John. I guess I'm jus...Thanks for your comment, John. I guess I'm just a big fan of this episode.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-29300868303963367812017-09-17T01:44:16.027-07:002017-09-17T01:44:16.027-07:00I've seen Special Delivery just once prior to ...I've seen Special Delivery just once prior to my viewing this past week. The first time I thought it was okay, maybe even above average, and that was decades ago. This time it did next to nothing for me, and yes, I was rooting for it to catch fire dramatically, for something to draw me in, if only "just emotionally". It wasn't there. Good acting, nice presentation. For me, sadly, sub-par. The far fetched nature of the plot never connected with the human drama, and the ending, with the father eating the mushroom was, well, just the ending with the father eating the mushroom. No shock or even surprise. I'd actually forgotten how it ended. Seeing it again didn't help.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-16425373402855049742012-09-24T15:00:04.310-07:002012-09-24T15:00:04.310-07:00Thanks, Harvey! I'm working on "Aaron Men...Thanks, Harvey! I'm working on "Aaron Menefee" now. I will definitely do a series on Slesar. My next author will be Roald Dahl.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-62718005981439094602012-09-24T04:40:12.204-07:002012-09-24T04:40:12.204-07:00Jack,
I'm very much looking forward to your n...Jack, <br />I'm very much looking forward to your next installment in the Ray Bradbury/ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS series, which if I'm not mistaken should be THE FAITH OF AARON MENEFEE (1962), Bradbury's adaptation of a story by Stanley Ellin. Down the line, how about focusing on episodes based on stories by Henry Slesar (no shortage of material there)? A couple of seasons of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS could just as easily have been called THE HENRY SLESAR SHOW. <br />Keep up the stellar work!<br />Harvey Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-31240147406366806892012-09-23T16:18:40.361-07:002012-09-23T16:18:40.361-07:00I don't know about "The Magic Shop,"...I don't know about "The Magic Shop," but I'll get to it eventually! I'm glad you watched the show again and found more to like.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-56581768547373967802012-09-22T07:53:30.460-07:002012-09-22T07:53:30.460-07:00I watched SPECIAL DELIVERY a second time. I liked ...I watched SPECIAL DELIVERY a second time. I liked the creepy ending, but it didn't take Steve Dunne long to be convinced to chow down on those mushrooms from outer space. The ending was rather abrupt, after all those "pictures of people talking" (the end of the world as seen from an American family's cramped living room and kitchen). Cinematographer Lionel Lindon did an awesome job lighting the final scene, pinpointing light on Peter Lazer's eyes while the lad remained in silhouette, until his eager, possessed-by-alien face was revealed. Lindon photographed the scene with Lazer-like precision! Peter Lazer died at the ripe old age of 62 in 2008, not having acted in anything since an episode of Felony Squad in 1967. Lazer reminded me of another juvenile actor who specialized in evil children: John Megna, who terrorized his parents Leslie Nielsen and Peggy McCay in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode THE MAGIC SHOP, loosely based on a story by H.G. Wells. (Is it true THE MAGIC SHOP was cut for syndication, and that only truncated versions of the episode appear on YouTube?) Sadly, John Megna is no longer with us either. He died of AIDS in 1995, at the tender age of 42. Yesterday, I saw Steve Dunne in another episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: SERVICES RENDERED, co-starring Hugh Marlowe. I must admit that Dunne wasn't a bad actor, but his career was not very grand. He died in 1977 at age 59, not having worked in his profession since 1973. One final observation about SPECIAL DELIVERY: Frank Maxwell, the foreteller of doom, played a role quite similar to Royal Dano's Elijah in John Huston's MOBY DICK, which was brilliantly scripted by... Ray Bradbury!Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-85539959584342461512012-09-20T17:37:51.511-07:002012-09-20T17:37:51.511-07:00Harvey, I appreciate your comment but I think this...Harvey, I appreciate your comment but I think this is a great episode! Steve Dunne is just right as the dad and his performance veers between comic and terrified so well that you have to wonder what's really going on. The last scene is just plain creepy. That kid really gets to me, as he did in "Don't Interrupt," another favorite episode that I'll get to one of these years.Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-72188699845522181012012-09-20T07:19:11.301-07:002012-09-20T07:19:11.301-07:00I usually prefer the Alfred Hitchcock episodes in ...I usually prefer the Alfred Hitchcock episodes in which Norman Lloyd stars or directs, as his taste generally runs towards the bizarre and perverse. But there's nothing special about SPECIAL DELIVERY, other than the evocative cinematography. SPECIAL DELIVERY is a pale knock-off of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and not particularly frightening, in my estimation. Why is it so difficult to adapt Ray Bradbury to the small screen? Perhaps if Elliott Reid had been cast as the father, the show might have worked. Or the late Biff Elliot (so good as the father in THE DAY OF THE BULLET). Or Biff McGuire (outstanding in THE GENTLEMAN FROM AMERICA). Or Harry Townes (who registered mind-destroying fear like no other actor in the classic Thriller episode THE CHEATERS). But Steve Dunne doesn't make much of an impression as Bill Fortnam. And, unlike BODY SNATCHERS, the plot (even by horror and science-fiction standards) is a bit too far-fetched. I can't suspend disbelief, or accept the premise of aliens coaxing humans to eat giant mushrooms and thus become transformed into alien fellow travelers, no matter how hard Norman Lloyd tries to sell me on the idea. SPECIAL DELIVERY is a misfire from start to finish. Harvey Chartrandnoreply@blogger.com