THRILLER: DIALOGUES WITH DEATH (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas hosted by Boris Karloff.
This episode is divided into two separate stories. The first begins with Pop Jenkins, the old caretaker of a city morgue, who has a habit of speaking to the bodies stored there. Newspaper reporters Tom and Harry visit the morgue for an article on Dan Gordon, a recently murdered wealthy figure. They are unnerved when they see Pop Jenkins speaking to one of the corpses stored there. Jenkins claims that Dan’s spirit told him the identity of his killer, but refuses to reveal this information to the reporters. Tom believes Jenkins and keeps pressing him to reveal the name of the killer, and finally Jenkins reveals that John MacFarland, a professor at a local university, shot and killed Dan Gordon for having an affair with his sister. He also tells them the exact location of the murder weapon. However, Jenkins begs Tom not to act on the information, claiming that Dan doesn’t blame Professor MacFarland for what he did. However, the reporters go to visit Professor MacFarland and ask him about his sister and her association with Dan Gordon. Professor MacFarland claims to have no connection with Dan’s death and insists that they leave. They discover the gun Professor MacFarland used to shoot Dan in his desk drawer, precisely where Jenkins claimed it would be. They leave as Professor MacFarland phones the police.
On their way back from Professor MacFarland’s house, the reporters swerve to avoid a man standing in the middle of the road, and their car is sent tumbling down a steep hill. Harry is trapped within the car and Tom wanders around looking for help. Eventually he reaches the morgue and Jenkins tries to calm him down, saying an ambulance has already been sent for Harry. However, they do not reach him in time and Harry’s dead body is sent to the morgue. Jenkins also shows Tom his own body lying in the morgue; Tom is dead and Jenkins is conversing with his spirit. Jenkins implies that death itself caused their car accident as punishment for making use of information obtained from Dan’s spirit.
The second story begins in an old plantation in the American South owned by Colonel Jackson Beauregard Finchess. He and his wife Emily are visited by their long-lost nephew Daniel and his wife Nell. Daniel was supposedly killed by gunfire in Chicago, but he claims that the police misidentified another body as his. Emily doesn’t believe him, and believes that Nell is dead as well. Daniel claims he has come back to collect money left behind by his recently deceased brother, as he is now the last male heir of the family. They head upstairs to the cobweb-infested hallways, and Nell becomes frightened and wishes to leave. Daniel discovers that his old room is similarly webbed and dusted. Nell very much wants to leave, but Daniel says they only have to remain long enough to collect the money before they can flee to South America to avoid the police, who are pursuing them since they are accused of murder. Daniel shows Nell around the mansion’s environs, including the swamp and his family’s extensive mausoleum. He explains that Emily claims to be able to speak with the dead ever since being locked in the mausoleum overnight with his grandfather, who was apparently buried alive. Daniel keeps trying to convince Nell to stay in the mansion, although she rejects the idea.
Colonel Finchess shows Nell around the house, including portraits of Daniel’s ancestors. He reveals that Daniel’s father was buried with a telephone in his coffin at his own request. During a harsh storm, Daniel finds a lockbox in his brother’s room and asks Emily for the key. She gives it to him and he unlocks the box, but finds it contains nothing but newspaper clippings. He tries to get Emily to tell him where the money is, but she simply keeps insisting that he is dead. Colonel Finchess claims that the money is in Daniel’s coffin, located in the lower vault of the mausoleum. Daniel and Nell infiltrate the lower vault, finding that it is partially flooded. They find Daniel’s coffin and pry it open, and the money is inside just as Emily said. However, the trap door to the vault closes behind them and locks them in, as it is bolted from the outside. They frantically attempt to escape but their equipment wears down and the water level slowly rises. Nell suggests that Daniel use the telephone buried with his father to call for help. He does so and finds the telephone next to his father’s skeleton. He manages to get in contact with the local sheriff, who asks them to be patient and wait for him. However, the voice on the other end of the line was actually Colonel Finchess; the telephone was only connected with the house. Emily insists on keeping them down there, as she feels they must acclimate to their deceased status. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: December 4, 1961 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:50:06
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:48386
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1960-1962
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- William Frye … Producer
- Doug Benton … Associate Producer
- Herschel Daugherty … Director
- Robert Arthur … Writer, Based on the short stories of
- Morton Stevens … Music by
- Boris Karloff … Host, Cast, Pop Jenkins, Colonel Jackson Beauregard Finchess
- Norma Crane … Cast, Nell Lejean
- Ed Nelson … Cast, Tom Ellison, Daniel Lejean
- Estelle Winwood … Cast, Emily Finchess
- William Schallert … Cast, Professor MacFarland
- George Kane … Cast, Harry Jervis
- Jimmy Joyce … Cast, The Ambulance Attendant