Friday 24 October 2008

Four O'Clock

Today, continuing in the vein of the creepy things that make up Halloween, I am presenting a horror not of the supernatural.

The following video excerpt is from:

Four O'Clock, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was the premier episode in the TV series SUSPICION which ran from 1957 to 1958.

In Four O'Clock, a watchmaker becomes insanely jealous when he suspects that his wife is having an affair. Fearing that she will leave him, he builds a time delay bomb and devises a plan to blow up his wife and her suspected lover.

While he is executing his plan however, he is interrupted by two burglars who tie him up in the basement, leaving him to die along with his intended victims at exactly four o'clock.

E.G. Marshall and Nancy Kelly co-star in this movie.


18 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

This particular kind of horror is the scariest!

David Cranmer said...

This was fun to watch and it was good to see Richard Long who went on to star in The Big Valley. And what a great actor E.G. Marshall was. All in the eyes! I noticed this story was written by Cornell Woolrich of Rear Window fame. A truly exceptional writer.

Barbara Martin said...

Willow, humans, unfortunately, are sometimes not very nice to one another.

Barbara Martin said...

David, it's nice to see after all these years this episode holds up.

Donnetta said...

Oh, I LOVE it! Used to love the Hitchcock shows. Also the One Step Beyond series. I've been watching the old shows on a CD series that hubby bought for me. Just as creepy today as in the old days. Cool. d

Barrie said...

Amazing how scary the Hitchcock stuff is--even without all the special effects.

Steve Malley said...

As mum used to say, "Anyone who forces you to die along with your intended victims is not really your friend."

Amazing, really, how often she said that...

Anonymous said...

Looks quite interesting to me, I must watch it one of these days.

Have you seen Audery Hepburn starrer "Wait until dark" ? No horror but I had liked the suspense part of it.

Cuckoo

Webradio said...

Nice Video Barbara...

Alfred Hitchcock was a great cineast !

My comment will explose at twelve o'clock, mais I don't remind if it's twelve o'clock in France or in Toronto...

Have a good day !

Michele said...

Fantastic... it was good to watch... had me on the edge of my seat. I have been so out of it this month unfortunately... I have completely forgotten about Halloween so this has put me back into the mood =)
Have a good weekend.
~Michele~

Barbara Martin said...

Donnetta Lee, yes, now with DVDs available we can immerse ourselves in Hitchcock or other excellent classics. Mr. Hitchcock was a master of his craft.

Barrie, I prefer the older movies where the viewer had to think.

Steve, perhaps your mother thought the message wasn't sinking in.

Barbara Martin said...

Cuckoo, welcome. Suspense for some people equates to a type of horror.

Webradio, Hitchcock certainly had a way of deepening the suspense.

Michele, go easy on too much excitement. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Some of these older shows have stayed with me for years. Especially episodes of Twilight Zone and AH Presents. I think they probably have a big influence on our writing.

laughingwolf said...

most impressive, but then, it IS hitchcock! :)

Rick said...

I could watch this over and again, Barbara. Thanks for posting it!

Barbara Martin said...

Patti, they certainly have influenced mine. One particular creepy episode from that era was of a little girl who kept visiting a next door neighbour, and ended up with her head in one of his glass jars.

Tony, I don't think there is any director able to match Hitchcock's genius.

Rick, a groundhog day moment?

BernardL said...

Very good example of Hitchcock horror.

Barbara Martin said...

Bernard, I had difficulty choosing the best example as there were many good clips.