"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Shopping for Death (1956)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Robert Stevens

Writer:

Ray Bradbury (story)

TV Series:

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955)

Original Air Date:

29 January 1956 (Season 1, Episode 18)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Two retired insurance salesmen confront an aggressive, hostile woman in hopes of saving her from a disaster.

Plot Keywords:

Accident | Insurance Agent | Heat | Heat Wave | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Jo Van Fleet	...	Mrs. Albert Shrike
Robert H. Harris	...	Clarence Fox (as Robert Harris)
John Qualen	...	Elmer Shore
Michael Ross		(as Mike Ross)
Michael Ansara	...	Butcher
Alfred Linder
Charlotte Knight
Lee Erickson
Jack Tesler
Leola Wendorff		(as Laiola Wendorff)
Ralph Montgomery
Bob Morgan

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

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Although it is supposed to be 89 degrees and hot and humid, when the two salesmen are outside of the butcher shop, you can see the breath coming from the mouth one of the salesmen as if it is very cold.

Quotes:

Himself - Host: You needn't sit there staring. We're not going to show you anymore. In fact, I'm not even going to tell you what happened. Television audiences are becoming entirely too dependent. You expect us to do everything for you.
[he holds up his hands and flexes his fingers; they squeak and creak loudly, as the door did]
Himself - Host: This oil is terribly difficult to get rid of. Look, while I'm working on this, please listen closely to the following and do exactly what they tell you.

Movie Connections:

Version of "The Ray Bradbury Theater: Touched with Fire (#4.3)" (1990)

Searing Heat!

Ray Bradbury, who wrote the story, had many insights into human behavior. Two retired salesman have made it their post retirement work to try to save people who are self destructive and hopeless. They seem to always be on the scene of suicides and accident scenes. They make it a project to try to save a forty-five year old woman who is abusive and angry. She baits the butcher, chases kids, turns her radio up to annoy her fellow tenants. In short, she is one ugly being. I won't give it away, but they do their best to intervene, but succumb to their own baser instincts when the chips are down. Bradbury characters are talky and introspective and often reach for the unattainable. This is a good episode. The acting, especially the woman, is quite good. But it is cynical and sad. She is a human being and has been victimized by her poverty and her hopelessness.