John Meredyth Lucas directed two 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes prior to "Malice Domestic". The first was the very underrated "Jonathan", one of the fairly lowly rated episodes this reviewer actually liked. The other was the underwhelming "Crackpot", saved from total mediocrity from one truly great performance despite having one of the season's most preposterous stories. "Malice Domestic", his third and last episode for the series, sounded like it would be a very good episode.
And it was. To me, "Malice Domestic" to me is the best of Lucas' three 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, even better than "Jonathan" and leagues better than "Crackpot". Is it a series high point? No. Is it a season high point? Again no. Is it worth watching. Absolutely yes and actually in my view as far as this up and down season goes "Malice Domestic", even when not being perfect itself, is one of the better episodes while not being a high point (although it actually almost was).
It is only let down a little by having a little too much padding, will agree that the art studio and orange juice scenes were irrelevant and felt like padding.
Otherwise, "Malice Domestic" is very good. It really is enlivened by the acting, with scorching performances from Ralph Meeker and Phyllis Thaxter that have a lot of intensity without veering into melodrama. Their characters were ones that would have been easy to overact in lesser hands, but the two have the right amount of intensity and vulnerability. The character interaction similarly is intense. Even with the padding, the story still manages to be very suspenseful and not too typical. It really kept me guessing throughout and for me the ending was a big surprise. Despite not being directed by Hitchcock, it was a story and premise worthy of him and actually wasn't too far off his level when he is not quite on top form but with plenty of what made him so great.
Lucas gives his most assured direction of his three outings here and does really well at keeping the tension afloat, to me despite "Crackpot" being disappointing he did show signs of having potential of being a more regular director for the series but wasn't given a chance (or at least enough of one). It's slickly made with some nice atmospheric shots. The audio is suitably ominous and will never stop raving about the haunting use of "Funeral March of a Marionette" for the series' main theme. Hitchcock's bookending is typically droll in writing and delivery.
"Malice Domestic" is thoughtfully written without being talky or too melodramatic as well.
Concluding, very good episode. 8/10.
And it was. To me, "Malice Domestic" to me is the best of Lucas' three 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, even better than "Jonathan" and leagues better than "Crackpot". Is it a series high point? No. Is it a season high point? Again no. Is it worth watching. Absolutely yes and actually in my view as far as this up and down season goes "Malice Domestic", even when not being perfect itself, is one of the better episodes while not being a high point (although it actually almost was).
It is only let down a little by having a little too much padding, will agree that the art studio and orange juice scenes were irrelevant and felt like padding.
Otherwise, "Malice Domestic" is very good. It really is enlivened by the acting, with scorching performances from Ralph Meeker and Phyllis Thaxter that have a lot of intensity without veering into melodrama. Their characters were ones that would have been easy to overact in lesser hands, but the two have the right amount of intensity and vulnerability. The character interaction similarly is intense. Even with the padding, the story still manages to be very suspenseful and not too typical. It really kept me guessing throughout and for me the ending was a big surprise. Despite not being directed by Hitchcock, it was a story and premise worthy of him and actually wasn't too far off his level when he is not quite on top form but with plenty of what made him so great.
Lucas gives his most assured direction of his three outings here and does really well at keeping the tension afloat, to me despite "Crackpot" being disappointing he did show signs of having potential of being a more regular director for the series but wasn't given a chance (or at least enough of one). It's slickly made with some nice atmospheric shots. The audio is suitably ominous and will never stop raving about the haunting use of "Funeral March of a Marionette" for the series' main theme. Hitchcock's bookending is typically droll in writing and delivery.
"Malice Domestic" is thoughtfully written without being talky or too melodramatic as well.
Concluding, very good episode. 8/10.