Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series)

Crack of Doom (1956)

Alfred Hitchcock: Self - Host

Quotes 

• [opening narration] 

  Alfred Hitchcock : [Hitchcock is playing solitaire at a table; he pauses and picks up the eight of hearts]  Oh, good evening, onlookers. I seem to be stuck. I don't suppose you see a place for a red seven. No, of course not. This program isn't in color. That's right. You can't distinguish colors, can you?

  [puts down the card] 

  Alfred Hitchcock : There's nothing to winning, really. That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind and no scruples whatsoever. Tonight's play is called "The Crack of Doom." As the title suggests, "The Crack of Doom" is a story about Mason Bridges, his wife, Jessie, his secretary, Della, his friends, Tom Ackley and Sam Clinker. And it begins in the club car of a New York-Chicago streamliner.

• [afterword] 

  Alfred Hitchcock : [Hitchcock is still sitting at the table]  I hope you weren't displeased by the lack of bloodshed in tonight's story. It's impossible for us to stage a murder every night. We're running out of victims. Of course, we could replenish our supply by changing this into an audience-participation show. However, for the present, at least, I think we'll muddle along the old way. That's all for tonight. Next time I appear, we shall have another story to tell you. And I hope you will allow us to come into your living room.

  [looks up briefly and grimaces] 

  Alfred Hitchcock : It's, uh, terribly stuffy, closed up in this dusty television set. Good night.