Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories My Mother Never Told Me

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

by Alfred Hitchcock (Editor)

Fourteen stories gathered by the Master of Suspense

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

190 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) was an iconic and highly influential film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.

Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.

Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

Reviews

[Gautsho]

Siin on õõvastavaid lugusid märksa rohkem kui "Lindude" kogumikus, aga parimad on ikka need, mis meeles ka olid: "Tuul" ja "Lima".
"Lima" suhtes olid mul teatud ootused, sest kui ma seda 11- või 12-aastaselt suvel Käsmus lugesin, siis hakkas mul nii õudne, et pidin õue päikese kätte ja inimeste juurde minema. Nyyd lugesin seda ööpimeduses ja alguses naersin rõõmust, sest keelekasutus on vaimustavalt lovecraftilik, muudkui nimetud õudused ja elavad pimedused, lima luusib ringi nagu "suur laperdav kapuuts", hirmsamana isegi "maapealsete hiigelroomajate mõrvarlikust, välkuvate kihvadega kuningast tyrannosaurusest". Aga mida edasi ma lugesin... ei saa öelda, et ma oleks tahtnud just päikese kätte minna, aga igatahes oli lugu selline väga meeleolukas.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Wind" and "Slime" were my two favorites

[Alexis Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 14 creepy short stories by Roald Dahl, Ray Bradbury, and others. The title is apt, as Alfred Hitchcock notes in his introduction that "I am prepared to testify in any court in the land that none of these stories was ever recounted to me in any form by my mother. The reason for this is quite simple. None of them had been written at the time when my mother was telling stories to me." Can't argue with that.

The short story is just about the perfect medium for the eerie and unsettling tale, as it allows the author to linger just long enough to communicate a kernel of horror or unease and often end the story without actually resolving the disturbing scenario depicted. In my opinion, the best in the genre are usually very short indeed. The stories in this collection tend to hover right around the 10 page mark (just about right for a good creepy short story). Hitchcock promises that the reader is "in for a full gamut of emotional reactions--barring, of course, the tender sentiments, with which I will have no truck." The book doesn't quite live up to Hitchcock's amusing (and rather charming) introduction, but there are some good stories here.

I particularly liked "Dip in the Pool", "The Arbutus Collar" (my favorite), "Courtesy of the Road", "Remains to Be Seen", and "Slime," but most of the stories here had something to recommend them (though I thought the collection ended on a strikingly weak note with "Simone"). If you're a fan of short horror stories, this collection is worth picking up (unless you already have all the stories in other collections, that is).

[Scoats · Rating 4 out of 5]

ONE THOUGHT FIRST
Being Alfred Hitchcock in the 50s and 60s had to have been a great gig. Make one movie every year and use your likable, entertaining persona to introduce TV shows, mystery magazines, and books. Lucrative and fun. He was famous but in an able to go out in public way. Maybe he was an asshat in real life. If so, as of now I'm happy not knowing.

NOW THE BOOK
Back in the old days before the explosion of entertainment options, professional writers had short stories as a potential steady source of income. A lot of these stories are getting lost to time. So picking up an old anthology of short stories is always interesting.

There are a couple of famous writers included, Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl, but everyone else seems lost to history. Which is a shame as most of the stories are great. All except for one were very readable. Only one, "Simone", had a lame ending (maybe the unreadable one did too but I'll never know).

The title "How Love Came to Professor Guidea", the longest story at over 40 pages in a 190 page book, seemed familiar. It was. The story is in the only other Hitchcock Presents anthology I read so far, 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV. Odd they couldn't find anything else.

In my travels over the decades, I have accumulated about a dozen Hitchcock Presents books and magazines. I'm glad I'm finally getting around to reading them. Good stuff. And keepers for our bookshelf. Even if the old paperbacks need a lot of scotch tape mending.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished the first Hitchcock collection and have now made my way through a second (More Stories My Mother Never Told Me). The second collection wasn't quite as interesting as the first, but it did contain two gems: "The Wind" by Ray Bradbury (I don't think I've ever read anything by Bradbury that I didn't like) and "Remains to Be Seen" by Jack Ritchie. In Bradbury's story, the wind itself is the "creepy-crawlie" in question. Who would think you could make the wind mad? And Ritchie gives us a clever way to dispose of an unwanted spouse.

[Scoats · Rating 4 out of 5]

ONE THOUGHT FIRST
Being Alfred Hitchcock in the 50s and 60s had to have been a great gig. Make one movie every year and use your likable, entertaining persona to introduce TV shows, mystery magazines, and books. Lucrative and fun. He was famous but in an able to go out in public way. Maybe he was an asshat in real life. If so, as of now I'm happy not knowing.

NOW THE BOOK
Back in the old days before the explosion of entertainment options, professional writers had short stories as a potential steady source of income. A lot of these stories are getting lost to time. So picking up an old anthology of short stories is always interesting.

There are a couple of famous writers included, Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl, but everyone else seems lost to history. Which is a shame as most of the stories are great. All except for one were very readable. Only one, "Simone", had a lame ending (maybe the unreadable one did too but I'll never know).

The title "How Love Came to Professor Guidea", the longest story at over 40 pages in a 190 page book, seemed familiar. It was. The story is in the only other Hitchcock Presents anthology I read so far, 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV. Odd they couldn't find anything else.

In my travels over the decades, I have accumulated about a dozen Hitchcock Presents books and magazines. I'm glad I'm finally getting around to reading them. Good stuff. And keepers for our bookshelf. Even if the old paperbacks need a lot of scotch tape mending.

[Bob Mackey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up largely based on the cover, which is a fine enough criteria when there are roughly 100 Alfred Hitchcock-branded short story collections in existence. This one kept me busy on a few flights, though the only notable story here is Joseph Payne Brennan's "Slime;" it essentially created blob-based horror and stands as the best read in the anthology. Robert Hichens' "How Love Came to Professor Gildea" takes up a good chunk of this collection's page count, and while it's important historically in terms of ghost stories, it didn't do a whole lot for me. So if you're in a used bookstore and see a number of these Hitchcock collections lying around, you're probably better off going for one with a better or worse cover.

[LightIssues · Rating 3 out of 5]

A suitable collection of escapist paperback short stories, a meaningful remembrance of how much more efficient some of that "vulgar lowbrow populist stuff" used to be when people still had generally larger expectations from them. The very definition of "fine, yet nothing special whatsoever". The slime and Guildea stories were quite good, though.

[Andres "Ande" Jakovlev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Üks mõnusamaid lühijuttude kogumikke sel aastal. Päris judinaid ei tekitanud küll ükski lugu, aga naudingut pakkusid nii mõnedki.

Minu jaoks olid kõige nõrgemad raamatu kaks viimast lugu (Gilbert Thomas "Looduslik valik" ning Joan Vatsek "Simone"). Otseselt halvad nad ei olnud, aga jäid ülejäänute tasemele alla. Kui nad oleksid olnud kuskil keskel, oleks lõpuemotsioon ilmselt veelgi parem olnud.

[Manfred Kalmsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loetud kunagi ammu ja enamus sisukorras nimetet pealkirjadest ei pane enam ajukäärude vahel mitte ühtegi kellukest tilisema, kuid mõned on siiski eredalt meeles ja näidetena:

"Maanteeviisakus", "Me veel vaatame", "Kongo" ja esmaklassiline "Tuul"

Viimasel on au olla üks neist vähestest õudusjuttudest, mis on suutnud minus - kui paadunud küünikus - kõhedust tekitada.

[Coyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little selection of stories that Alfred Hitchcock's mother never told him- which he is willing to swear to under oath...
"Slime" may have been my favorite (seemingly a version of the old "Blob" movie), with "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" as a close second.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never disappoints

[Lulu Lily]

jjj

[Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym) · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real stand-outs in this collection.