Sunday Featurette: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

268 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents were filmed, and this was the only one that was not aired. The sponsor, Revlon cosmetics, decided the ending was too intense, and demanded it be shelved. It was, however, included in the syndication package, so it's far from a lost episode.

Still, I never saw it before yesterday. Written by Robert Bloch (which he adapted from his own short story), it's like a gruesome E.C. comic, complete with the requisite poetic justice denouement, and some plot similarities to Tod Browning's Freaks. As a bonus, you get blond bombshell Diana Dors, (actual name: Diana Fluck), Britain's answer to Jayne Mansfield. There are worse ways to spend 25 minutes.

This episode is in the public domain, so besides seeing it here on youtube, you can download it from archive.org or many other places if you look.