When his pretty ex-fiancee returns from another failed relationship, a chicken farmer, not wanting anything to do with her, decides to eliminate her.When his pretty ex-fiancee returns from another failed relationship, a chicken farmer, not wanting anything to do with her, decides to eliminate her.When his pretty ex-fiancee returns from another failed relationship, a chicken farmer, not wanting anything to do with her, decides to eliminate her.
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Did you know
- TriviaA new scoring of the theme music was used from this episode onward.
- GoofsWhen Arthur is holding the chicken in the opening scene, his right hand has a noticeable dark spot near his thumb. Then the shot switches to a closeup and no spot is visible - suggesting that the closeup was accomplished using a "hand double."
- Quotes
[introduction - Hitchcock is in a chicken coop]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and brooders. I decided to go into the egg business. Like any other business, it needs fresh ideas. Here is our latest design.
[picks up an egg out of a nest]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: Its advantages are obvious.
[close-up of the egg, which is in the shape of a polyhedron]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: No more eggs rolling off the table.
[pull back]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: Valuable storage space saved in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, this particular innovation has not filtered down below the management level. Our executives quickly saw its possibilities, but the hens seem rather slow at grasping new ideas. This is one of our plastic models. We have a large number of them scattered about to demonstrate to the hens what can be done if they put their minds to it.
[puts egg back in the nest]
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: As you can see,
[walks over to sign that reads 'THINK SQUARE']
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: ...we are using every psychological weapon at man's disposal. And now perhaps this slogan will give you strength to bridge the gap between this vignette and tonight's story.
- ConnectionsRemade as Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Arthur, or the Gigolo (1985)
- SoundtracksFuneral March of a Marionette
Written by Charles Gounod
Opening thoughts: Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favourite directors of all time and the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' series is a mostly fascinating and well done if inconsistent series. With his seventeen episodes, some are better than others but a vast majority of them are at least watchable. Of the previous outings of his, "Wet Saturday" is to me the one misfire, though even that had a few merits, and "Breakdown" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" are two of the series' classics.
Was personally not sure prior to watching as to whether Season 5's premiere "Arthur" would be good or not. Due to reading beforehand that it was a tongue in cheek treatment of a dark subject, which is not always in good taste when done. "Arthur" turned out to be very well done and entertaining, not coming over as tasteless or trivialising at all. It is a strong Season 5 opener and is a very good representation of the series while not being one of Hitchcock's best episodes.
Bad things: It isn't perfect, for my tastes the opening was a little too over-explanatory.
Good things: Other than that, "Arthur" is very well done. Laurence Harvey is terrific in the lead role, intensely charismatic while not being over-serious and is not wooden. The acting overall in fact is without issue and can't fault the character chemistry, which had wit and intensity. Hitchcock directs adroitly, with the right amount of suspense while clearly having fun with the material.
His bookending is drolly ironic as usual, while the production values are suitably moody and the main theme haunts as ever.
Found little to complain about the writing too, which was wonderfully tongue in cheek in many places and darkly warped in an amusing way in others. The episode never felt dull and is a rare example of how to make such a dark subject funny without veering into distaste. The ending is suspenseful, clever and a complete surprise as well as surprisingly amusing.
Closing thoughts: In conclusion, liked it very much and surprisingly so.
8/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Apr 21, 2024
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1