'Alfred Hitchcock Hitchcock Presents' "Night with the Boys" (1959)
Opening thoughts: "A Night with the Boys" was the first episode of the series directed by John Brahm, who went on to do another nine episodes. While not one of the best 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes or one of the best of Season 4, "A Night with the Boys" is a good start for Brahm and makes one intrigued enough in seeing his succeeding 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes. While his outings for the series did vary and his work wasn't as distinguished as the best work of the series' regular directors, Brahm was hardly a slouch and his best episodes were at least quite good. Quite good sums up "A Night with the Boys".
Bad things: It is not a perfect episode and may be easy to criticise for some, for me so much is done really well and while the not so good things were quite major they were also not that many luckily. Some of the production values are on the cheap side, indicative of lower budget than some other Season 4 episodes, obvious in the sparse settings and some less than fluid editing transitions.
More problematic was the final act, which was on the whole very rushed and far too coincidence heavy, too many of them unbelievable, which contributed to how far fetched the ending felt.
Good things: On the plus side, "A Night with the Boys" is very well acted all round, with an unsettling lead performance from John Smith dominating and carrying the episode beautifully. While Brahm's direction is not the most distinguished, he still keeps things moving along very well and doesn't let the atmosphere slip. Hitchcock's bookending doesn't disappoint, with the epilogue being priceless and one of the series' more memorable ones (namely seeing Hitchcock in a way one has never seen him before).
While not being one of the series' best looking episodes, it is photographed atmospherically. The theme tune continues to haunt, while the script has enough tautness and edge and the story grips and intrigues on the whole with some nice suspense.
Closing thoughts: Concluding, quite good if not great.
7/10.