"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Salvage (1955)

Director:

Jus Addiss

Writers:

Fred Freiberger (teleplay) &
Richard Carr (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955)

Original Air Date:

6 November 1955 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A gangster, just released from prison, goes looking for the woman he holds responsible for his brother's death.

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Bar | Shooting | Revenge Motive | Revenge

Cast

Gene Barry	...	Dan Varrel
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Nancy Gates	...	Lois Williams
Maxine Cooper	...	Mary
Peter Adams	...	Tim Grady
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Shorty
Paul Bryar	...	Lou Henry
Edit Angold	...	Hilda
Virginia Christine	...	Model
Ralph Montgomery	...	Drunk
Billy Wayne	...	Bartender

Runtime:

USA:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Shamley Productions

"Are you really happy now?"

The best episode since the Hitchcock-directed pilot, "Salvage" (Season 1, Episode 6) is an excellent addition to series. Television has always been a distinct artistic medium from film, mostly with regards to running times. While sitcoms or TV dramas may have hours to develop characters and plot lines, anthology series such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had just under thirty minutes to unfold a complete standalone story. In many cases, as in "Don't Come Back Alive" (Season 1, Episode 4), this restriction hindered the quality, but here it serves as a positive. "Salvage" jumps full-swing into its story, with its shifty female protagonist (Nancy Gates) already fearing the arrival of a paroled gangster (Gene Barry, his second appearance in the series) whose brother she betrayed to the authorities. It's this sort of efficient storytelling that produces the best half-hour episodes – most of the characters' back-story can be filled in automatically by the viewer, allowing a considerable amount of drama to unfold in an otherwise limited running-time.

Both of the leads deliver strong performances. Nancy Gates, not an actress I'm familiar with, convincingly plays a shivering emotional wreck, a wretched woman who both understands and accepts that her time is up. Usually, a leading lady can be expected to be innocent and virtuous (as was Patricia Hitchcock in the previous episode, "Into Thin Air"), but Lois Williams is pretty much rotten from the beginning, a cowardly and unrepentant opportunist. Is this the developing mould of Marion Crane, an anti-heroine who deserved everything she got? Gene Barry has an excellent presence, a smouldering ex-convict who's always contemplating his next move. Also look out for film noir stalwart Elisha Cook Jr. as a ratty criminal associate. Hitchcock has some fun in the episode introduction, taking the viewer on a "behind the scenes" tour of the television studio, and narrowly avoiding being pulverised by a heavy object. Hitchcock's droll sense of humour would be the death of him!