NIGHT GALLERY: THE SINS OF THE FATHERS (TV)
Summary
One in this supernatural anthology series hosted by Rod Serling. In this episode, set in nineteenth-century Wales, a widow finds herself in need of a sin-eater -- a person who attends a wake and feasts next to the dead body in order to digest all of the transgressions of the deceased -- but since there has been a plague and famine in the land, the task of finding one is difficult. The widow sends her servant to call on the only qualified person left, Mr. Evans, but his wife tells the servant that her husband is too weak from famine to attend. However, Mrs. Evans convinces her unwilling son, Ian, to take his father's place by telling him that he can bring the food home instead of eating it at the wake, so that he will be able to eat the food without ingesting the dead man's sins. She goes on to promise that neither she nor his father will touch a morsel; it will all be for him. Ian agrees and attends the wake, but when he returns home with the food, he learns the truth behind his mother's plans. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: February 23, 1972 Wednesday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:55
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:03711
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1970-1973
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jack Laird … Producer
- Jeannot Szwarc … Director
- Halsted Welles … Writer
- Christianna Brand … Based on the short story by
- Oliver Nelson … Music by
- Gil Mellé … Theme Music by
- Rod Serling … Host
- Richard Thomas … Cast, Ian
- Geraldine Page … Cast, Mrs. Evans
- Michael Dunn … Cast, the Servant
- Barbara Steele … Cast, the Widow
- Cyril Delevanti … Cast, the Old Man
- Alan Napier … Cast, the Man
- Terence Pushman … Cast, Any Man
- John Barclay … Cast, Another Man