Suspense Television

Night Drive

"Night Drive" has two plot elements that make it a typical Suspense episode. First, it involves driving on a lonely road at night while a killer is on the loose. Second, the passenger going along for the ride may or may not be the killer. In those respects, it has some things in common with the famous Suspense radio episode "On a Country Road." "Night Drive" isn't as scary as "On a Country Road," but it does accidentally create a couple of scary moments.

Neva Patterson plays the central character, Mrs. Haley, and it is her performance that prevents this episode from being total garbage. We don't want Mrs. Haley to get hurt, and as long as she is in danger, we are compelled to keep watching, no matter how silly things get.

This episode opens with our substitute host, Terry O'Sullivan. Where is Rex Marshall? They don't tell us. Well, just bear with Terry while he reads his lines off  the cue cards and looks terrified. It will  be difficult to focus on his words because you will be so transfixed by his eyes, as he reads his lines. 

Then, "Night Drive" begins with a slow pan across the shirtless body of Bob the blacksmith. The credits role across his shoulders and are then displayed on his glistening back. He is shoeing a horse for Mrs. Haley because she has to take her carriage on a long drive that night. She has to pick up her husband in the neighboring town of Calumet... ten miles away...at night. She has to drive her carriage through the dark woods alone.  So, she will need lots of kerosene in the carriage lamps...because she will be traveling alone at night. Did everyone catch that?

Bob, the shirtless blacksmith, is her friend. He shoes the horse for free and assures her that everything will be fine. He is a kind-hearted brute of a man who likes to drink out of a bucket. 

When we next see Mrs. Haley, she is at home with her two young boys. They are having fun making faces in the mirror while their mom is trying to get ready to leave. One of them mentions that she got a phone call while she was out. It was from "the man with the wife that was killed." Well, that was what that their granny told them.

"Oh, that must be Dr. Taber..." says their mother. Someone killed Mrs. Taber when she was driving alone to Calumet.  Apparently, Dr. Taber wants a ride to Calumet, but Mrs. Haley doesn't want to spend two hours driving with someone she doesn't know well.

Then, the phone rings. She leaves the room while the boys play with mommy's hats. The call is from Dr. Taber, but he isn't the one who needs a ride, it is his sister. Mrs. Haley agrees to pick her in fifteen minutes.

Mrs. Haley then picks up Dr. Taber's sister, Miss Taber. Wow! She looks a lot like her brother! The similarity is really, really...strong. The two of them start driving and the camera pans across a dark desolate landscape.

Soon, they reach the cut-off. Mrs. Haley hesitates to go into the woods. Dr. Taber's wife was killed in those woods. Mrs. Haley thinks that is creepy, but she should really take a good look at her passenger.

Finally, Mrs. Haley gets around to asking her passenger some questions. Miss Taber says that she never used to come to town, but now that her brother is so "baffled and broody" she has to come more often. "Baffled and broody" about the death of his wife? Yes, he hasn't been the same since.

When they stop to turn up the lamps, Mrs. Haley starts talking about the other woman who was murdered in the woods. That stranger who was just passing through town but ended up being murdered in just the same way as Mrs. Taber. Obviously, it was the same person who killed both!

Well, you have to watch the rest for yourself. Is Miss Taber the killer, or is the killer in the woods waiting for them? Will Mrs. Haley ever get to Calumet to pick up her husband? You'll find out in the second half of the episode. In between, there is an epic commercial for the DeSoto Fire-Dome Eight.

"Night Drive" was based on a story by W.F. Jenkins and written for television Halsted Welles. Neva Patterson, Robert H. Harris, and Brian Keith starred. Robert Stevens produced and directed. This episode aired on February 26, 1952. It is available on disc 2 of Suspense: The Lost Episodes Collection Three.

Suspense and the "Crusade for Freedom"

Our thanks to loyal reader Stacey for sending us the link to the video below. It comes from a 1977 CBS television special called When Television was Young. The program discusses how Suspense was involved in fighting communism with the "Crusade for Freedom."

I'm guessing that the episode referenced in this program is "The Train for Czechoslovakia," which aired on October 23, 1951. We can see a bit of it in this clip, but does the full episode still exist?

Still Watching...

Hi Folks,

Our crack team of imaginary experts are still going through the new Suspense DVD set. Overall, we are pretty pleased with this new collection.

It is taking me longer to pick out the ones that I want to write about because there are so many good ones this time around. I was also pleased to see that there are two episodes based on Cornell Woolrich stories. The first two sets didn't have any.

So, stay tuned. We are still working on it. I will be sharing some of my thoughts on these episodes via Twitter. You can find us at http://twitter.com/EscapeSuspense

Best,

Christine

Suspense: The Lost Episodes - Collection Three

The long-awaited third collection of Suspense: The Lost Episodes will be released on March 17, 2009.

For more information about the upcoming release, head on over to TVShowsonDVD.com for the details. You can also read brief summaries of the episodes included in this set over at ClassicFlix.com.

As you can see, Rod Serling graces the cover of this collection because he wrote one of the episodes from 1953, "Nightmare at Ground Zero." I think they should have put Suspense's favorite crabby old lady, Ruth McDevitt, on the cover... but they chose to go with Serling.

Here is the list of episodes that we can look forward to:

Disc #1: Post Mortem (1949), Yellow Scarf (1949), Goodbye, New York (1949), The Case of Lady Sannox (1949), One Thousand Dollars to One for Your Money (1950), I'm No Hero (1950), The Bomber Command (1950), and Death at the Stock Car Races (1963)

Disc #2: A Pocketful of Murder (1950), The Mallet (1950), Go Home Dead Man (1951), Pier 17 (1951), The Spider (1952), The Red Signal (1952), Death Drum (1952), North of Shanghai (1952), and Night Drive (1952).

Disc #3: Four Days to Kill (1952), Her Last Adventure (1952), The Old Lady of Bayeux (1952), Set-up for Death (1952), The Blue Panther (1952), A Time of Innocence (1952), and Mutiny Below (1953).

Disc #4: F.O.B Vienna (1953), The Man Who Cried Wolf (1953), The Dance (1953), Nightmare at Ground Zero (1953), The Hunted (1954), and the Funmaster (1958).

Help Wanted

"Help Wanted" is an episode that has to be appreciated on its own terms. Is it bad? No. Is it badly done? Yes but that adds to its charm.

Mr. Chester Crabtree is an unemployed accountant who is in trouble. He lives on practically nothing and can't pay his rent. What little money he has goes to the sanitarium that cares for his daughter. His landlady is tired of not getting her money, and she tells him that he has two weeks to pay his rent or leave.

She then reminds him that he wouldn't have to go if he would just send his daughter to a state-run mental facility. If he did, he wouldn't have to pay so much for her care. Mr. Crabtree tells her that he can't do that! He will find a way.

Fortunately, an answer to his problems arrives that same morning. A woman comes to his apartment with a job offer. She won't give him her name or tell him who his employer is, but she offers him $100 a week and an office of his own. It is too good to be true! Mr. Crabtree accepts.

When we next see Mr. Crabtree, he is at his new office for the first time. It is a small office on the very top floor of an office building. There is a huge window overlooking the street, furniture that is bolted down, and a cat in the closet with a note stuck into his collar. 

The note tells him that the cat's name is "Discretion." He is there to keep Mr. Crabtree company, so he won't get lonely and use the phone to make personal calls.

Mr. Crabtree is happy in his new job, and he follows all of his employer's strange rules for six months. When we see him again, he is having a laugh with Discretion about the letter they got in the mail from a charity trying to revive Prohibition. Mr. Crabtree admires their optimism, but he throws the letter in the trash.

Then, he finally meets his employer! Mr. X arrives unexpectedly and dramatically. Now, Mr. Crabtree learns why the furniture is nailed down and the window is so big. Mr. X has set up everything on purpose! He wants Mr. Crabtree to commit a murder for him, and if Mr. Crabtree doesn't, he will take away his job.

Will Mr. Crabtree go through with it? Or will Discretion come to his aid?

"Help Wanted" was based on an original story by Stanley Ellin, and was adapted for television by Mary Orr and Reginald Denham. Robert Stevens produced/directed. Otto Kruger starred as Mr. Crabtree. Also appearing were Douglas Clarke-Smith, Peggy French, George Mathews, and Ruth McDevitt. The name of the cat who portrayed Discretion is not given. This episode aired on June 14, 1949.

"Help Wanted" reappeared during Season 1 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1956. Of course, their version makes much more sense, but it lacks the zaniness of Suspense's version. Alfred Hitchcock Present's teleplay was based on the teleplay written for Suspense by Mary Orr and Reginald Denham. Hitchock calls this episode "a brilliant play, sneaky but brilliant."

John Qualen and Lorne Green star. (Radio actor Parley Baer makes a brief appearance as the detective.)