Justus Addiss did direct a few very good episodes for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', they being "Salvage", "Martha Mason Movie Star" and "Night of the Execution". He also did a couple of disappointments, with "Nightmare in 4D" being his weakest. Was not all that excited about "Miss Paisley's Cat" before sitting down to watch it, as the premise is not that attention grabbing, but still saw it anyway as it is 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and there are episodes that don't sound good on paper but turn out to be in execution.
"Miss Paisley's Cat" unfortunately is not one of those episodes, it wasn't attention grabbing on paper and it turned out to be even duller in execution. Of Addiss' 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, it is for me the second weakest with only "Nightmare in 4D" being worse. "Miss Paisley's Cat" is a case of an episode that is very well acted but marred by the story and writing being less than well done, in fact in this case they were both very weak in my opinion.
Am going to start with the good. As said, it does boast very good acting with Dorothy Stickney performing with one hundred percent commitment and aplomb. Raymond Bailey is just as good. Hitchcock's bookending is as ironic as ever.
While simple, the production values are slick and atmospheric enough and Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" continues to be an inspired choice for theme music. The best faring scene is the ending, which was interesting and where the episode finally, sadly far too late, gained some mileage.
Other than those things there is little else to recommend about "Miss Paisley's Cat". The story is very silly and dull with a lot of draggy padding. Tension and suspense is pretty much near-non descript. Addiss' direction is very perfunctory.
The worst aspect is the writing, which is far too talky. Too much of the episode is dominated by very repetitive, over explanatory and banal talk that too often adds very little, and it badly stops the lead character from being easy to root for. Actually started to find her annoying.
Concluding, very, very average. 5/10.