I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Suspense Sundays (82) A Vision of Death

Posted by Charlene // Tags: ,
Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.   {My archive list of episodes}


"A Vision of Death"
Air date: March 8, 1951
Starring Ronald Colman and Cathy Lewis
>>Episodes here<<

Judd and Aurora perform in nightclubs as a mind-reading act.  Judd chatters to the customers and Aurora miraculously knows what they happen to be holding in their hand.  Except that Judd's chatter is a careful code to Aurora and tells her all she needs to know.  Until one day, she can tell what each person is holding before Judd gives her the clue, and Aurora starts seeing into the future.  Which of course means she sees a death - hers at the hands of their disgruntled manager.

I loved the way this episode was built.  Judd is obviously a sensible man, and delights in the way he tricks the customers with that complex code and when Aurora starts having visions that come true - it's interesting that Judd both believes and rejects it - always looking for some other explanation.  There is a very good explanation in this episode for what happens to Aurora, and an equally good resolution when Judd finds out what is really going on.  It is tragic but so very ironic.  And even though I understand why Judd does what he does, I find it weird how unsympathetic I am with him when he takes such delight in the outcome.  I enjoyed trying to figure out where this episode was heading and the simple ingenuity of Judd's solution.



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