Ordinary Tales of Mystery and Suspense
Quite recently I began watching the old series,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and I’ve been pretty much floored by the quality of the stories. Given that there’s no science fiction/speculative fiction element in this show, that the writers have to base their work firmly in the real world, and that all explanations and twists have to be believable and explainable with respect to the then-current trends, the writing is, generally, quite superb. Of course there are duff ones, but when is that not the case with an anthology? Overall though most have been as good as some of the better
Twilight Zones.
So my original idea was just to feature, explore and write about them, but then I thought, how much better if I could compare them to something else? But what? No point in trying to put them up against the great science fiction anthologies such as
The Outer Limits, Tales from the Crypt or the aforementioned
Twilight Zone, less sense in going
Black Mirror or anything like that on them. No, I needed an anthology series that was quite similar in tone and writing, but, you know, different.
And then I had it.
Across the water, there was a ready-made competitor in Roald Dahl’s
Tales of the Unexpected. Now, certainly there are important differences between the two shows. One is that all the stories in his series are written by the presenter, or based on his work, whereas in
AHP the master of suspense, being a director and not a writer, only introduces them and gives the series its pedigree and gravitas by association. His quirky humour notwithstanding, Hitchcock fulfils, not even a Rod Serling role, as Serling created and also wrote much of
The Twilight Zone, but more just a figure to as such guide you to your seat, then leave you to it. None of the stories in his series are attributable in any way to the great man, nor is he involved in any of them, other than as director on some, even in (at least so far) his famous penchant for cameos. Haven’t seen it yet and I don’t think I will.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents used a stable of different writers - you’ll see the same ones crop up from time to time - and an often revolving cast of actors, and of course, being from the 1950s, his show is all in black and white while Dahl’s is in glorious colour, not that that should or will impact on the stories. But in another way the two shows are quite similar. Both endeavour to squeeze their tale into about thirty minutes or so, both try to teach a lesson or moral, and of course both have invariably a twist at the end. I’m not that totally familiar with
TOTU, so I can’t say much more about it, but one thing that does make it a worthy competitor to Hitchcock’s show is that it ran for nine seasons, whereas his ran for ten. I don’t see any other British anthology show that extended over a period as long as that, and still fulfills all other criteria I require.
But this will of course not be a case of Hitchcock v Dahl: that would be unfair. As I say, Hitchcock is merely the host, and has no hand in writing the stories, whereas the Englishman does both. No, this will be, quite simply, an exploration of which, despite the time difference, is better: English or American suspense drama? Who does it better, who gets their message across and whose stories make more sense? Whose stories, indeed, are or could be still relevant today?
Tales of the Unexpected is a younger show than
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, true, but in reality there’s only about twenty years between them, so Dahl’s tales can still be seen as somewhat dated. Of course, he has also had his stories turned into movies which are being shown today, so perhaps more relevant, but we’ll see.
Each episode, then, will be reviewed in order, first one from
Alfred Hitchcck Presents and then one from
Tales of the Unexpected, after which each will be dissected and then rated, and we’ll see who gets the highest score. No doubt this will not - or should not - be a whitewash for one or the other: some Dahl tales may be better than those presented by Hitchcock, and vice versa, so it may swing first one way, and then the other. At the end of each season we will see who is in the ascendancy, and if this continues into the next, and so on.
Feel free to comment, debate, suggest or even watch along with me should you wish to. The stories are certainly worth watching, and hey, your country’s pride may be at stake! Or, you know, just sit back and let me do all the work. It’s fine either way. If I can get videos of episodes I’ll post them, if not you’ll have to do with my synopses.
All right then, let’s get this show on the road.