**The Best of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Volume 1**: Alfred Hitchcock wasn't just the host of his anthology series; he also directed several episodes. The three stories included on this video were all under his direction, but they don’t quite measure up to his more memorable films. The initial episode, penned by Roald Dahl, is "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1958). Barbara Bel Geddes portrays a young, agreeable, and pregnant wife whose police officer husband delivers an unexpected shock upon returning home one night—he's in love with someone else and wants a divorce. She attempts to carry out her wifely duties while dealing with this upsetting news. He then decides to leave, essentially challenging his wife to stop him. And she does. Tom Ewell features in "The Case of Mr. Pelham" (1955). During lunch with a doctor, he recounts an odd story: it seems Mr. Pelham has been appearing in various locations around town. He disregards a local client while away and performs work in the morning but doesn’t recall doing so when he arrives at the office later that day. He leaves instructions for his butler and then can't remember those as well. Pelham insists he was not involved in any of these events, attributing them to an imposter. The final story is a lackluster murder mystery called "Banquo's Chair" (1959). Set in England in 1903, a retired inspector brings back a murder suspect who had never been formally charged. He invites the man to dinner on the second anniversary of his aunt’s death and arranges for an actress to impersonate her ghost, hoping to finally obtain a confession. Bel Geddes delivers a strong performance. The expression on her face when her husband announces he's leaving is truly heartbreaking. However, you can anticipate exactly what will happen from beginning to end. The core idea doesn’t entirely make sense. Tom Ewell is also quite good in his role as the man consumed by paranoia and believing he has a double; he comes across as believable without being overly dramatic. The final story lacks prominent stars, instead relying on seasoned English character actors doing what they do best. It isn't poorly executed but simply unremarkable, offering no particular challenge for the performers. Hitchcock’s direction is rather ordinary. He doesn’t have all of his usual cinematic devices at hand to distinguish this from the work of any other television director. He experiments a bit with "Banquo's Chair," but even the ghost scene fails to generate much excitement. Aside from the second episode, the most enjoyable parts are Hitchcock’s introductions and conclusions following the third story—he discusses hunting in Hollywood, and the jokes here are genuinely amusing. Hitchcock's filmography has always been either exceptionally great ("Rear Window," "Rope," "Psycho") or significantly subpar ("Topaz," "Marnie"). This falls somewhere in between, but because one good episode can’t compensate for two disappointing ones, I can’t recommend this collection.

Source on TMDB