Written by | Max Ehrlich
Story by | Fitz-James O’Brien
Directed by | Don Medford
Air Date | March 14, 1952
On death row, thirty minutes before execution by guillotine, Andre Lapalme (Franchot Tone) tells us the story of what put him there.
They call me mad, but I saw what I saw through the diamond lens.
In search of a diamond to make the perfect lens for the perfect microscope, his ears perk up when his friend, Gaston Dubois (Luis Van Rooten), mentions one in the shop where he works. He first offers Gaston a fortune to bring it to him. When he refuses, Andre nearly strangles him. He doesn’t kill him then, but when Gaston follows him to the shop, watches him steal it, then threatens to go to the authorities, he strangles him for good.
The next day, his theory is proven correct and Andre is able to see “an entire dazzling world in a single drop of water.” Fame and fortune await! However, Prof. Henri Brossard at the Academic Francaise does not believe him. Andre presses him and tells him about the diamond… and Henri’s ears perk up. However, when they return to his apartment, the diamond is missing from its hiding place, beneath the soil of a window planter. Coincidentally, Madame Petit (Nina Varela), the landlord/housekeeper was just in the apartment cleaning.
Although it’s easy to tell, and maybe foretell, what happened between the scenes, we still don’t know exactly what happened that landed Andre in jail. It’s not a big twist ending, but it serves the purpose of delivering what he deserves. It’s not so much the mechanics of how the police caught him, but the way in which a fame-obsessed thief and murderer exposes himself, that makes it a satisfying conclusion. Andre doesn’t necessarily learn a lesson. It’s all been worth it for him, but he nevertheless shares a message:
A man without a dream is already dead.
Writers | Gail Ingram, Harry Ingram
Air Date | March 21, 1952
It’s the big moment in a lab in Mexico, 1957, as elderly Claire Barnes (Maud Scherer) enters with the promise of regaining her youth. The scientist, Kendall (Tom Drake), warns her of potential dangers if she doesn’t receive a “rejuvenation” treatment every week, but Claire thinks of only one thing:
This evening I’ll be young again.
Liquids bubble in beakers and Claire’s head is covered with a metal “helmet, “ the most practical way to show her upcoming transformation on live television, I assume. While the camera follows Garig (Cameron Prud’Homme) across the lab, Hildy Parks takes Maud’s place so that when the helmet is removed… Claire has become young (and beautiful.)
Her blood pressure remains steady for two weeks and Claire remains a 20-year old woman. During that time, Kendall falls in love with her, struggling with the fact that she was born three years before his mother. Gerig asks, “Why not?”
Maybe we’ve destroyed the meaning of time.
For once, the scientists aren’t interested in fame and fortune, but Claire tells them they’ve discovered a marketable commodity. Gerig gets so upset he nearly has a heart attack. When Kendall asks when she’s going to marry him, she confesses she wouldn’t be happy married to a poor scientist. Gerig stands in the way, but there’s a way to remove him. She tells him there’s a word… “murder”… then gives him a deep, heavy kiss.
As with Diamond Lens it’s easy to see where The Fisherman’s Wife is headed, but we don’t know how it’s going to end… or do we? The episode subverts expectations. It turns out that it ends how we might have guessed, but gets there in a way we didn’t. When all is said and done, the Inspector (Rock Rogers) investigating what happened puts into words what we’ve always known about Tales of Tomorrow…
Final justice. I’m sure he… or she… will pay for it. Some higher authority will see that she pays for it.
Leave a Reply