SUBWAY-1957 This is an episode from the 57-58 series "PANIC". Every episode starts with the words, "You are now going to live through a moment of panic in a man's life. An experience so incredible that you will not believe it."
Eduard Franz is a New York insurance broker catching a late night subway after a long day at the office. The train pulls in and he grabs a seat and starts in on his newspaper. Between pages, he has a quick glance around the car. The car is empty except for a trio of men sitting across from him. Two rather thuggish types, John Doucette and Frank Richards book-ending a smaller fellow. Just then the man in the middle slips to the floor. The other two grab him up and set back up. Franz realizes the man is dead and he is looking straight into the faces of his killers. The train pulls up to a stop and Franz tosses the paper at the gunmen and bolts out the door. He runs out of the station into the first cab. Does he go to the cops? No, he heads home instead. He tells his wife, Barbara Billingsley, what he witnessed. She wants him to call the police, he would rather not become involved. Next morning right on the front page of the paper is a photo of the dead man. He had been found floating in the East River. It seems he had been a witness in a mob case. Franz heads to work but the stress soon has him ducking appointments. He is sure a gunman is lurking in every alley etc. He decides to do the right thing and goes to the cops. He is in the middle of telling several detectives what he saw when in walks Doucette. One look from Doucette and Franz changes his story and swears he saw nothing. The cops toss him out as a quack. What can he do! Maybe all the cops are in on it. Franz heads home and finds Doucette and Richards already there. Franz leads the pair on a chase through the apartment block, down the fire escape and through the basement. The two gunmen corner Franz and are about to kill him when the honest cops arrive. A quick shootout and Richards and Doucette are cuffed. It seems the police figured Doucette might be bent and had a tail on him. The straight up cops were played by Anthony Warde, Mort Mills while the corpse was played by Gene Coogan. The director was Maury Geraghty who also wrote the story and screenplay. D of P was vet lensman Harry Wild. Wild worked on some of the best RKO noirs with, CORNERED, JOHNNY ANGEL, MURDER MY SWEET, NOCTURNE, THE WON'T BELIEVE ME, PITFALL, THE THREAT, HIS KIND OF WOMAN and MACAO among his credits.
A rather fast and furious 24 mins of a series i had never heard of before tonight.
Eduard Franz is a New York insurance broker catching a late night subway after a long day at the office. The train pulls in and he grabs a seat and starts in on his newspaper. Between pages, he has a quick glance around the car. The car is empty except for a trio of men sitting across from him. Two rather thuggish types, John Doucette and Frank Richards book-ending a smaller fellow. Just then the man in the middle slips to the floor. The other two grab him up and set back up. Franz realizes the man is dead and he is looking straight into the faces of his killers. The train pulls up to a stop and Franz tosses the paper at the gunmen and bolts out the door. He runs out of the station into the first cab. Does he go to the cops? No, he heads home instead. He tells his wife, Barbara Billingsley, what he witnessed. She wants him to call the police, he would rather not become involved. Next morning right on the front page of the paper is a photo of the dead man. He had been found floating in the East River. It seems he had been a witness in a mob case. Franz heads to work but the stress soon has him ducking appointments. He is sure a gunman is lurking in every alley etc. He decides to do the right thing and goes to the cops. He is in the middle of telling several detectives what he saw when in walks Doucette. One look from Doucette and Franz changes his story and swears he saw nothing. The cops toss him out as a quack. What can he do! Maybe all the cops are in on it. Franz heads home and finds Doucette and Richards already there. Franz leads the pair on a chase through the apartment block, down the fire escape and through the basement. The two gunmen corner Franz and are about to kill him when the honest cops arrive. A quick shootout and Richards and Doucette are cuffed. It seems the police figured Doucette might be bent and had a tail on him. The straight up cops were played by Anthony Warde, Mort Mills while the corpse was played by Gene Coogan. The director was Maury Geraghty who also wrote the story and screenplay. D of P was vet lensman Harry Wild. Wild worked on some of the best RKO noirs with, CORNERED, JOHNNY ANGEL, MURDER MY SWEET, NOCTURNE, THE WON'T BELIEVE ME, PITFALL, THE THREAT, HIS KIND OF WOMAN and MACAO among his credits.
A rather fast and furious 24 mins of a series i had never heard of before tonight.
