- #161: "A Study in Wax" (February 1, 1953) Starring: William Conrad. Story/Script: Antony Ellis. Director: Norman Macdonnell. Setting: Canada.
Plot: Two men in a remote wintry shack try and fail to maintain their sanity through a lengthy isolation.
Review: A haunting, terrifying and deeply tragic story about two men simply getting on each other's nerves. It may be the saddest, most somber episode of Escape and it definitely sticks with you. My Rating: 5/5 stars. - #162: "Jetsam" (February 8, 1953) Starring: Ben Wright. Story: John Russell. Script/Director: Norman Macdonnell. Setting: Australia.
Plot: A drunken Englishman struggles to find a source of income.
Review: And we're back again to author Russell. This story is very much like "Letter from Jason" (#85) but with less of an arc. Whereas "Letter from Jason" presented itself as a crime story that turned into a man's redemption arc, this has character and plot but a very perfunctory arc. He was a drunk; now he's not. My Rating: 2.5/5 stars. - #163: "Wild Jack Rhett" (2nd version February 15, 1953) Starring: John Dehner. Story: Ernest Haycox. Script: John Meston. Director: Norman Macdonnell. Setting: USA.
Plot: A western town hires an infamous town tamer to clean up crime.
Review: The first production of this story (#134) predated Macdonnell's Gunsmoke series and served like a pilot for that program; this version was produced during Gunsmoke's first year and added a few of that program's stars to the cast (notably Georgia Ellis and Howard McNear). Otherwise it's much the same as the first version and still an exceptional western drama. It's a bit strange to have Larry Dobkin recast from the US marshal to the villain, though. My Rating: 4.5/5 stars. - #164: "I Saw Myself Running" (February 22, 1953) Starring: Georgia Ellis. Story/Script/Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: USA.
Plot: A woman has terrifying dreams and fears she may lose her identity.
Review: A phenomenal story, evidently designed by Antony to highlight the abilities of his wife Georgia; easily Georgia's best radio outing. There are plenty of surreal radio dream scripts going back to the experimental days of Columbia Workshop but Antony's script adds a little more terror than others and it definitely has an unsettling climax. My Rating: 4.5/5 stars. - #165: "The Tramp" (March 1, 1953) Starring: Ben Wright. Story/Script/Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: England.
Plot: Three Englishmen commandeer a tramp steamer.
Review: And we're back on the high seas. A somewhat dull story - it takes a while for the story to develop any stakes and the nigh-comical accents used by every single actor verge on annoying. My Rating: 2.5/5 stars. - #166: "The Island" (2nd version March 7, 1953) Starring: William Conrad. Story/Script: Millard Kaufman. Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: Okinawa.
Plot: A soldier who yearns to live among beautiful people on an island seems to have found his opportunity.
Review: Stacy Harris replaced the role previously played by Harry Bartell in episode #141 while Conrad reprised his character. It strikes me as being just as good as the previous version and with Harris present reminds one of another episode where the two got on each other's nerves - "A Study in Wax!" My Rating: 4.5/5 stars. - #167: "The Man with the Steel Teeth" (March 15, 1953) Starring: Harry Bartell. Story/Script: John Dehner. Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: USSR.
Plot: The Russians arrest a journalist to interrogate and torture him; then his torturer seems to want him to escape.
Review: Starting here, Escape begins to occasionally feature scripts written by their performers, this time featuring John Dehner (he wrote 3 in total). This isn't bad at all - the uncertainty of what the interrogator is truly after is a compelling mystery and its ultimate revelation isn't what I foresaw. My Rating: 3.5/5 stars. - #168: "Pressure" (March 22, 1953) Starring: William Conrad. Story/Script: Richard Chandlee. Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: Pacific Ocean.
Plot: A World War II submarine crew battle a Japanese destroyer.
Review: Back to the high seas and the always-welcome Conrad, this time featuring a superior submarine drama than "Up Periscope" (#145) with plenty of tension and a strong conclusion. My Rating: 3.5/5 stars. - #169: "The Invader" (March 29, 1953) Starring: Howard McNear. Story/Script: Michael Gray. Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: USA.
Plot: A schoolteacher makes contact with extraterrestrials and invites them to land on Earth.
Review: A decent science fiction story with an agreeable twist ending. It would all be pretty rote by the standards of X Minus One but for an Escape science fiction tale it's memorable, thanks mostly to McNear's great lead performance; the approach is similar to that Rod Serling would later use on the Twilight Zone. My Rating: 4/5 stars. - #170: "A Sleeping Draught" (2nd version April 5, 1953) Starring: Ben Wright. Story: Westin Martyr. Script/Director: Antony Ellis. Setting: Atlantic Ocean/Australia.
Plot: A ship ferrying convicts to Australia breaks into violence, first against the prisoners, then directed at the crew.
Review: Another production of this high seas tale of betrayal (first done as #123) with Wright reprising the lead role but the supporting performances by the convicts are even more irritating to me here than last time. My Rating: 3.5/5 stars.
You can listen to episodes of Escape at the Internet Archive! I'll be back with more next week!
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