Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1961)

Source:Share TV- English Muffin Diana Dors & David Stewart.

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is a seventh-season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents made in the summer of 1961 that has never been broadcast on network television. The episode was scheduled to be episode #39 of the season. The story and teleplay were written by Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho, and the episode was directed by Josef Leytes.

The four main characters are played by Diana Dors (Irene Sadini), Brandon deWilde (Hugo), David J. Stewart (Vincent Sadini), and Larry Kert (George Morris).

Although once qualified as a lost episode, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” has since been widely distributed in syndication and – due to its status in the public domain – in numerous Hitchcock home media releases and video on demand.”

From Alfred Hitchcock

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a seventh-season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents made in the summer of 1961 that has never been broadcast on network."

Source:Rosario Maynard- English Muffin Diana Dors, starring on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1961.

From Rosario Maynard 

"When a magician named The Great Sadini emerges from his trailer one night, he notices a young man named Hugo lying unconscious on the carnival grounds and takes him to his trailer. The boy is a runaway from a "home" who proves to be simple-minded; his first impression upon waking is that Sadini and his wife are the devil and an angel respectively. Sadini's compassionate nature compels him to take the kid under his wing and teach him about magic. Conversely, the cold-hearted wife has something more sinister in mind and implores the impressionable young man to commit a murder." 

Source:IMDB- Brandon De Wilde and Diana Dors.

From IMDB

If you’re familiar with the movie Berserk from 1967, The Sorcerer Apprentice should look at least somewhat familiar to you. Diana Dors, is in both films.

In Berserk, Diana plays an assistant to a magician at a circus. In The Sorcerer Apprentice she plays an assistant to a magician at a carnival. In Berserk, she thinks she knows who the killer is. In The Sorcerer, she puts the killer up to killing her husband.

In neither film is Diana an angel, she just looks like one in both films. As well as anything else she’s ever done, but that is one of the reasons why she was a great actress, because she could fool people with her hot baby-face looks and play the killer, or a killer angel as well as it can be played.

If you’re familiar with the movie The Unholy Wife, where she tries to frame her husband for killing his best friend, you should have an idea what I’m talking about here.

The Sorcerer Apprentice, looks very entertaining to me, but I’m not sure it is very believable. You have a sick kid (I guess) who should be back in the institution that he escaped from (no joke) who gets picked up off the street by a magician. Who picks him up in real-life and is no trick, (ha hah) who I think can tell this kid is not completely there and is told by the kid that he’s escaped from his home. And decides to take him in anyway instead of reporting him to the proper authorities. (Damn! That sounds corny.)

Again Diana, is no angel, she just looks like one and can tell Hugo (the kid) likes her and is attractive to her and she’s cheating on her magical husband (lets say) the magician and wants to move on from him. And tries to put the kid up to killing her husband. The kid is at least 4-5 beers short of s six-pack and thinks this would be fun or something.

You would think this couple having seen this kid and figuring out that he’s not completely there and needs close supervision (to put it mildly) and are less qualified to take care of kids than the guy who freaks out when he finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant with his baby and ditches her, that they could give him a bite to eat, find out where he came from, if not turn him in and move on.

But instead they keep him around even though they are too busy to take care of him and probably don’t want to either. But no! That could be too boring for the great Alfred Hitchcock. Instead of making it a boring everyday story, they make a killer out of this gorgeous baby-face wife whose cheating on her husband with a high-wire artist (whose probably scared of heights) and this unfortunate boy. Who perhaps nobody wants to take care of him and has really no one who loves him. Just one example of why Alfred Hitchcock was such a great director. 

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Classic Movie Man: Stephen Reginald- 'Screening of Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" November 10, 2015'

Source:Classic Movie Man- From Alfred Hitchcock.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) James Stewart and Doris Day star as Ben and Jo McKenna, an American couple on vacation in Morocco with their young son, Hank. When their son is kidnapped, the McKenna’s are caught up in a web of international intrigue that tests their courage and resolve. Will they be able to save their son? This remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 film, is a lush production featuring a thrilling climax at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall."

From Classic Movie Man

"Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much is part of the Hitchcock Ultimate Filmmaker 16 Film Limited Edition. Own it on Blu-ray:Amazon."

Source:Universal Pictures UK- Hollywood Goddess Doris Day, in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much.

From Universal Pictures UK

Alfred Hitchcock, is probably my favorite director. He is certainly my favorite suspense/thriller director and action/comedy director, dramatic/comedy director and even suspense/comedy director.

Hitch combined comedy with all of the different genres that his movies covered. And if I had to put a list of my top ten Hitchcock movies, I don't believe The Man Who Knew Too Much would be on it. It would be behind North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Charade, several of his short films from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour like Run For Doom, with the great Diana Dors.

But that is the thing about Hitchcock, he made so many great movies that even if one of them isn't in your Hitchcock top ten that doesn't mean that movie isn't also a great movie. It just means it isn't as good as the others that are on the list.

When you're talking about great leads which are the lead actor and lead actress in a movie, I think you would have a hard time finding a better combination than Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day and then add that Alfred Hitchcock as their director.

Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, are perfect for Hitch, because they are both great actors, entertainers, both very funny and very versatile. And of course in Doris Day's case she is a hot baby-faced, sexy blonde, but who was also a hell of an actress that Hitch loved. So they were both perfect for Hitchcock and this movie.

Doris Day, in real-life is seventeen years younger than Jimmy Stewart. She still looks great today and was thirty when she did this movie. Jimmy Stewart was in his late forties at this point, but they were still great together.

The Man Who Knew Too Much, is about a vacationing American family in Morocco. Dr. Ben McKenna (played by Jimmy Stewart) and his wife Jo McKenna, (played by Doris Day) who is a singer. Their son Hank, (played by Christopher Olsen) is kidnapped by terrorists in Morocco. They meet a Frenchman in Morocco Louis Bernard, (played by Daniel Gelin) and have dinner with him. Bernard, is actually an intelligence agent for the French Republic. He is killed by these terrorists after having dinner with the McKenna's.

And the terrorists tell Dr. McKenna over the phone that if he and his wife don't talk to the police, they won't kill their son Hank. And that is how this movie gets going with Dr. McKenna trying to get his son back, while at the same time preventing his wife from knowing what is really going on. She thinks their son has just been kidnapped by local thugs.

This is not a great movie, at least from my perspective. I don't think it is very believable that terrorists would target the son of an American doctor simply because the kid's parents talked to a French intelligence agent. That tells me they had no idea who this American couple was.

It would be one thing if they kidnapped the kid, because their parents are a wealthy American couple and they want ransom. But there doesn't seem to be any financial motivation at all in this movie. But it is a very entertaining movie.

Doris Day, is her usable hot, sexy adorable self, especially as she finds out that her son has just been kidnapped. Jimmy Stewart, is his usual charming Mr. Joe Average self, who does a great job of playing an average guy in a very complicated situation. And this is a very entertaining movie.

Dejan Jankovic: Masters of Cinema (1972) Pia Lindstorm: Interviewing Alfred Hitchcock

Source:Dejan Jankovic- The Master Alfred Hitchcock, in 1972.

"Alfred Hitchcock (UK, 1899-1980) is undeniably the world's most famous film director. His name has become synonymous with the cinema, and each new generation takes the same pleasure in rediscovering his films, which are now treasures of our artistic heritage. Hitchcock started out in the British silent cinema of the 1920s, which reached its peak with successful thrillers such as "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934), "Sabotage" (1936) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1938). Recognized as a 'young genius', Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and set about reinventing cinematic tradition,combining the modern with the classic in films such as "Vertigo" (1957), "North by Northwest" (1959)and "The Birds" (1963). Hitchcock gave talented actors such as James Stewart and Cary Grant the chance to play enduring antiheroes and imprinted the public imagination with the myth of the 'blonde', as embodied by Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren."

From Dejan Jankovic

Alfred Hitchcock, is the master of suspense and perhaps the master of entertainment when it comes to movies. Because here's a director who can scare the hell out of you and make you laugh hysterically in the same scene. North by Northwest from 1959 is probably the best example of this, where you have a mystery suspense, Cold War, movie, involving espionage and yet it is also a very funny movie. With funny sarcastic lines and characters in each scene of the movie. With people cracking jokes as they're facing life and death consequences. Cary Grant, with the quip about he has dinner and theater plans right as he's being kidnapped. And saying how inconvenient the kidnapping is for him.

Not sure you could put together a better comedic team when it comes to actor and director than Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock. They were like Magic and Kareem (to use an NBA basketball analogy) as far as the professional chemistry that they had together especially when it came to humor. They shared the exact same off the cuff, out of nowhere, sense of humor, where they could both make fun of practically anything. 

What I love about Hitchcock, is that he gave you best of everything when it came to his movies and put everything that he had to offer on a lot of those movies. North by Northwest, my favorite Hitchcock as well as my favorite movie of all-time, is a perfect example of that.

Hitchcock, gave you mystery, suspense, drama, comedy, action and even horror, in the same movie. And he seemed to be the best at all of these types of films at least when he put them all together.  North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief, are both mystery suspense movies and yet they are also both very funny. With funny people and a lot of funny lines, funny scenes and with Cary Grant, comedic improvising. And maybe Hitchcock is where I get a lot of my humor as well. 

Hitch wanted to scare people and then would use humor and charm, perhaps so he wouldn't lose his audience, but also because that is exactly how he was personally. If you listen to him narrate his TV series The Alfred Hitchcock Hour you see him almost doing standup as he talks about his shows. Hitchcock, is the master of suspense thriller, but he's also one of the best comedic directors of all-time as well. 

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