Triggers in Leash
- Episode aired Oct 16, 1955
- TV-14
- 30m
A cook tries everything she can think of to end a dispute between two gunmen who have sworn to kill each other.A cook tries everything she can think of to end a dispute between two gunmen who have sworn to kill each other.A cook tries everything she can think of to end a dispute between two gunmen who have sworn to kill each other.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDarren McGavin, Gene Barry, and Ellen Corby all appeared in both the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" series.
- GoofsMaggie grabs the handles of hot items such as the skillet and coffee pot with no insulation to protect her from burns.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Himself - Host: [Alfred Hitchcock loads one bullet into a revolver and spins the cylinder. He aims the gun off stage left while holding it up to his ear and pulls the trigger - click. He spins the barrel again, and pulls the trigger - click. He shrugs] That's precisely why I don't care for Russian roulette. I never seem to win. There are two revolvers, such as this, which play a part in tonight's story. It is what you might call a Western, although there isn't a horse to be seen. We intended to get horses, but they couldn't remember the lines. So you'll be seeing people instead. The cast is a very small one and threatens to become smaller with every passing moment. You see, two of the characters have threatened to eliminate each other on sight. Now, I am sure there are some of you who don't want to see them do that. So, I suggest instead that you listen to our sponsor's message.
- SoundtracksFuneral March of a Marionette
Written by Charles Gounod
Here we have an interesting idea. To build (and hold!) a tension based on nothing. A single set, to prevent distractions, and a dispute that will make us follow the two cowboys, and want to know who of them (if any) will break and draw first. The fact that they use a single space is already important, because it notes already an intention to be tense (and intense). Because this is a 25 minute episode (plus Hitch's interventions) they don't have to establish any shots outside the space to allow spectators to breathe. We can be 25 minutes inside the same room.
The interesting thing is to check the narrative devices and modes they choose to build on the tension, or ease on it when needed, and the cleverness of the unfolding. So, tension increases depending on the placement of the cowboys in the space and, more important, Maggie's position in relation to them. So it's a very spatial positioning of the characters which i enjoy, and which the camera helps. We fear for Maggie, when she is just behind Del, and we fear for her when she's in the middle. Comedy; this is a comedy, in the end, and we have a very curious balance between the eminent shooting and the goofiness of having, for example, two fellows who can't eat properly because they won't stop starring at each other. Comedy here happens not because they act to be funny, but because the situation implies that. It's a great type of comedy. And of course, the final twist, when we thought we'd seen something, we are told we've being as deceived as the cowboys.
Hitch's interventions, specially at the end, is again priceless, here enhanced by the really funny nonsense twist. The value of it is that it's not a mere annotation on what we saw, it's a continuation of the narrative, after the end of the episode.
My opinion: 4/5
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- RResende
- Nov 5, 2009
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1