Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Nightmare in 4-D
TV Flash files “Nightmare in 4-D” as hour 55 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 2, episode 16, aired 1957-01-13, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E16: listed hour 55 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 16 of 39 in season 2. It aired 1957-01-13 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Crackpot” (S02E15). Next is “My Brother, Richard” (S02E17).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Harry Parker and his wife Norma live in apartment 4-D. Their downstairs neighbor is an actress named Lainie. One day, she knocks on the Parker's door and asks for help. Lainie needs someone to get rid of the body of Bill Nelson. He was shot through a window in her apartment and now lays there dead. Lainie wants Harry to move the body downstairs to the basement. She fears bad publicity. When Harry wakes up the next day, the thinks it was all a bad dream. When he goes to the basement he finds the police. Later, Harry's wife admits to having an affair with Bill. When the police learn of this, Harry becomes the chief suspect in Bill's murder.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Nightmare in 4-D sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S02E16 is listed hour 55 of 268 — hour 16 of 39 in season 2, season 2 episode 16.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S02E16 air?
Nightmare in 4-D aired 1957-01-13 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Hitch's hosted half-hours rather than assuming he directed the lot. Sample the dry intros and the snap endings; the silhouette is the franchise.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents made the director himself the franchise: silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, and closings that sometimes 'corrected' crime to soothe censors. Watch it in 2026 as branded anthology swagger — Joan Harrison's engine, Hitch's persona, and twist endings as moral architecture you can still hum.
Calendar first: CBS, October 2, 1955. Then a later NBC window. Original half-hour run through 1962 — **268 episodes, seven seasons** — before the expansion as *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962–1965). That is not nostalgia cosplay. That is a branded anthology with a host who was the franchise, a silhouette you could hum, and a weekly drop of murder with a wink. Rex can keep the three-network hymn. This was already a logo, a window, and a closing card that sometimes reversed the crime to soothe Standards & Practices.
Filed against
- Alfred Hitchcock as Host
Alfred Hitchcock made himself the franchise on Alfred Hitchcock Presents — silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, closings that sometimes “corrected” crime to soothe censors. Branded anthology swagger, Joan Harrison’s engine, twist…