Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962, claiming to be "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." 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. I love the old-fashion story-telling and I thought it would be fun to give a short review of an episode every Sunday.
"The Fountain Plays"
Air date: August 3, 1943
Starring Edmund Gwenn
>>Episodes here<<
This is based on a Dorothy Sayers short story about Archibald Spiller, a nice man living in a country house who has recently come into a bit of money. He is entertaining some guests and showing them his ingenious new ornamental fountain that recycles the water! (Amazing) One of his guests, Sam Gooch, is extremely rude and unpleasant and always complaining. Archibald’s daughter doesn’t understand why he keeps Sam around. We find out later after everyone has gone to bed that Sam is blackmailing Archibald who has dabbled in forgery, and in anger Archibald strikes Sam who hits his head pretty hard. Archibald decides to put Sam by the fountain and make it seem like he slipped and hit his head out there and when Sam unexpectedly starts to wake, Archibald finishes the job. The police come to investigate and it seems like Archibald got away with it, but of course there is a twist in the end.
The characters are fun stereotypes and the story is simple and pretty straightforward. The fun in this story comes from Archibald’s decision to murder Sam and his monologue. Sam is so unpleasant that I don’t mind that he was done away with!
The characters are fun stereotypes and the story is simple and pretty straightforward. The fun in this story comes from Archibald’s decision to murder Sam and his monologue. Sam is so unpleasant that I don’t mind that he was done away with!
