Category: TV Terror Guide
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Tales of Tomorrow: “Frankenstein” (1952)
Writer | Henry MyersBased on | the novel by Mary ShelleyDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Jan. 18, 1952 For a 30-minute live television show from 1952 that now resides in the public domain, the “Frankenstein” episode of Tales of Tomorrow is not bad at all. In fact, it’s downright thrilling to see Lon Chaney,…
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The Invader/The Dune Roller
Writer | Robert Foshko and Mort ZarcoffDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Dec. 12, 1951 Put an elder scientist, his son, and his assistant (who happens to be his daughter), together on a boat and it’s a recipe for drama, if not disaster. Dr. Burroughs (Edgar Stehli) disapproves of his son because instead of following…
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The Search for the Flying Saucer/Sneak Attack
Writer | Mel GoldbergDirector | Charles S. DubinAir Date | Nov. 9, 1951 Vic Russo (Jack Carter) arrives at Mother Walker’s Boarding House in Las Palmas, New Mexico (population 860), looking for a room. He’s followed newspaper headlines and other leads in search of proof that flying saucers exist. When he encounters the one man…
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The Crystal Egg/The Test Flight
Writer | Mel GoldbergStory | H.G. WellsDirector | Charles S. DubinAir Date | Oct. 12, 1951 At the beginning of “The Crystal Egg,” we don’t know why Professor Frederick Vaneck’s (Thomas Mitchell) peers believe he’s hallucinating. He desperately records his tale in case something happens so him. Oddly, the tale doesn’t begin with him. Eventually,…
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A Child is Crying/The Dark Angel
Writer | Alvin SapinsleyStory | John D. MacDonaldDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Aug. 17, 1951 In August of 1961, in the lobby of a “military proving ground” in New Mexico, Mrs. Massner (Peggy Allenby) waits impatiently to see her daughter, Lily (Robin Morgan), who’s behind a “No Admittance” door with a roomful of doctors…
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The Deadly Visitor (1973)
When I was young, I had one of those leashes with wire threaded throughout the ropes so you could pretend you were walking an invisible dog. I couldn’t help but think of it when the characters in “The Deadly Visitor,” the final of our Classic Ghosts TV-movies, captured a ghost. I also couldn’t help thinking…
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Verdict from Space/Blunder
Writer | Theodore SturgeonDirector | Leonard Valenta As the episode opens, we land smack dab in the middle of a trial where, the announcer tells us, a man is fighting for his life. We know it’s the middle because the judge orders that there be no more interruptions. The bully prosecutor (William Lally) argues that…
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The House & the Brain (1973)
“The House & the Brain”(1973) is “inspired” by a novella by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton called, “The Haunted & the Haunters; or, The House & the Brain,” which is why the only thing they have in common is a house. In the TV-movie version, the house isn’t even haunted. Instead, it’s occupied by a young woman…
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Tales of Tomorrow… Today (Introduction)
Two and a half years before the peak of the television sci-fi space operas we’ve been discussing the last couple of months, writer Theodore Sturgeon and film and television producer Mort Abrahams contacted Robert Heinlein about a plan to… …put together a league of sci-fi authors to write television screenplays for a new proposed TV…
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The Haunting of Rosalind (1973)
“The Haunting of Rosalind” (1973) has perhaps the strongest cast of any tale yet from The Classic Ghosts. The character of Dita is played by Academy Award winner, Susan Sarandon. The character of Mother is played by Academy Award winner, Beatrice Straight. And the character of Dr. Soames is played by the man who portrayed…
Classic Horrors Club 