ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: SPECIAL DELIVERY (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock.
In this science-fiction drama, Bill and Cynthia Fortnam are bemused when their son Tom gets a "special delivery" package and excitedly explains that he sent away for a "grow-your-own-mushrooms" kit. Later, Bill's neighbor Roger begins asking odd questions about intuition, explaining that people have been mysteriously disappearing as of late and revealing a strong sense of grim foreboding. Bill, confused by the "doom-talker," then returns home and learns that, to his surprise, Tom's mushrooms are actually growing at an impressive rate. That evening, Roger's wife Dorothy explains that he has abruptly disappeared and may have been kidnapped. However, Bill and Cynthia receive a cryptic telegram from him explaining that he's headed to New Orleans, telling them not to accept any unknown packages.
The police then report that they located Roger on a train and that he appeared to be in no danger whatsoever, casually telling them that he was on a business trip. Bill, however, realizes that Tom's original package also came from New Orleans. When Cynthia mentions that all of the local boys seem to have bought into the mushroom plan, he begins to suspect that "creatures from another world" have found an ingenious way of secretly invading the planet via a seemingly innocuous mail-order business. He guesses that Roger ingested some of the mushrooms and sent the telegram in the final seconds before he "transformed." Though Cynthia is highly skeptical of the outlandish idea, Bill ventures down into the basement, where Tom eerily instructs him to begin eating the mushrooms himself, sternly telling his father that "he's hungry." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 29, 1959 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:24:23
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:46679
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1960; 1962-1964 / NBC - 1960-1962; 1964-1965
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Joan Harrison … Producer
- Norman Lloyd … Associate Producer, Director
- Ray Bradbury … Writer
- Alfred Hitchcock … Host
- Steve Dunne … Cast, Bill Fortnam
- Beatrice Straight … Cast, Cynthia Fortnam
- Peter Lazer … Cast, Tom Fortnam
- Frank Maxwell … Cast, Roger
- Cece Whitney … Cast, Dorothy
- Michael Burns … Cast, Joe
- Pat Hagerty … Cast, Delivery Man
- Jim O'Neill … Cast, Messenger