'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' "Human Interest Story" (1959)
Opening thoughts: "Human Interest Story" is the second Norman Lloyd-directed 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode in a row after the excellent "Your Witness" and his fifth overall, his previous four being a mixed bag quality-wise. The premise sounded quite interesting, though very 'The Twilight Zone'-ish rather than 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', and Steve McQueen (always the epitome of cool) and Arthur HIll gave many great performances in other things.
While far from a bad episode by all means, "Human Interest Story" did disappoint really considering what it had going for it. Instead of following on from excellence and continuing it, it is pretty middle of the road. Comparing it to the previous Lloyd-directed episodes, it is nowhere near as good as "Your Witness", while also miles better than the very weak "Safety of the Witness". Instead it is on the same mixed feelings level of "Six People, No Music". As far as Season 4 goes, it is neither one of the best or worst and is rather middling.
Good things: Of course there are good things. McQueen and Hill are both very good in their roles and succeed in making their characters interesting and compelling. The chemistry is also very believable. Hitchcock's bookending as to be expected is amusingly ironic.
It is nicely made visually, with some good atmosphere. It does intrigue a good deal to begin with and the ending is a real surprise.
Bad things: However, the dialogue could have been a lot tauter, as it is a very talk heavy episode and in the middle rather too talky in a rambling way. The story intrigues to begin with and ends strongly, but too much of what happens in between felt rather dully paced and over-stretchedand indicative of an episode that easily could have been ten minutes shorter.
It is quite thin plot wise, with some overlong padding, and it did feel like it ran out of ideas in the second half. Suspense is lacking quite badly and Lloyd's direction is at best undistinguished.
Closing thoughts: Summing up, could have been quite a lot better.
5/10.