Climax!

Episode 1

The Long Goodbye

Thu, Oct 7, 1954

Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

Episode 2

The Thirteenth Chair

Thu, Oct 14, 1954

A TV version of the Bayard Viellet play about a séance held to trap a murderer among the attendees.

Episode 3

Casino Royale

Thu, Oct 21, 1954 52 mins

American Combined Intelligence Agency spy James Bond (Barry Nelson) arrives at the Casino Royale in Monte Carlo, Monaco, but is shot at while entering. He meets up with British Secret Service Secret Agent Clarence Leiter (Michael Pate) (this character was called Felix Leiter in the original Ian Fleming novel). He briefs Bond about his mission then Bond runs into old flame Valerie Mathis (Linda Christian) (she is an amalgam of the Vesper Lynd and Rene Mathis characters from the novel). She introduces him to Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre), who is the Chief Soviet Agent in the area, and is nearly always accompanied by three henchman called Basil, Zoltan, and Zuroff. Le Chiffre has been gambling with the Soviet funds of his employers, and he's down several million francs. Bond's mission is to beat him at a high-stakes card game of Baccarat so Le Chiffre will be ruined.

Episode 4

Sorry, Wrong Number

Thu, Nov 4, 1954 60 mins

While on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a plot to murder her.

Episode 5

The Gioconda Smile

Thu, Nov 11, 1954

The death of his crippled wife causes upheaval for a man and his mistress. Only his family friend believes in his innocence.

Episode 6

The After House

Thu, Nov 25, 1954

A steward aboard a yacht thinks his job is easy sailing, until the ship's officer is thrown overboard and another is hacked to death.

Episode 7

An Error in Chemistry

Thu, Dec 2, 1954

A carnival huckster ingratiates himself with an elderly farmer and his naïve daughter, who soon falls for him and they marry, but she ends up dead soon after, and the husband is quick to confess.

Episode 8

Epitaph for a Spy

Thu, Dec 9, 1954 60 mins

An unsuspecting Iron Curtain refugee is used as a pawn by two French traitors while he is at a resort in France.

Episode 9

The White Carnation

Thu, Dec 16, 1954

A woman receives some mysterious white carnations, which seem to be an innocent gift but lead to terror.

Episode 10

Nightmare in Copenhagen

Thu, Dec 30, 1954

A woman becomes the bait in a trap to catch a ruthless traitor.

Episode 11

The Bigger They Come

Thu, Jan 6, 1955

Private investigators Cool and Lam become involved in this suspenseful tale of thugs, thieves, and legal chicanery.

Episode 12

Escape from Fear

Thu, Jan 13, 1955

An American engineer in Germany crosses over into the Soviet Zone on business and becomes entangled with the secret police.

Episode 13

The Mojave Kid

Thu, Jan 27, 1955

The Mojave Kid is warned to stay away from a small-town feud.

Episode 14

The Leaf Out of the Book

Thu, Feb 3, 1955 60 mins

After giving an old friend's daughter a job, a successful businesswoman realizes the drawbacks of her generosity.

Episode 15

The Valiant Men

Thu, Feb 10, 1955

Lt. Commander Knowles is assigned to skipper the USS Hamilton from England back to New York. While he and his crew celebrate New Year's, an unknown danger lurks nearby.

Episode 16

The Box of Chocolates

Thu, Feb 24, 1955

A hated columnist becomes involved in murder after receiving an innocent-looking box of chocolates with a note from the manufacturer asking him to try them.

Episode 17

South of the Sun

Thu, Mar 3, 1955

Episode 18

The Great Impersonation

Thu, Mar 10, 1955 60 mins

The action of this tale of intrigue and espionage takes place in the jungles of East Africa in 1914. The destinies of Germany and Great Britain are dependent upon one man whose decision is influenced by one of the two women in his life.

Episode 19

The Darkest Hour

Thu, Mar 24, 1955 60 mins

An ex-cop is released from San Quentin after five years and sets out on revenge against the men who framed him for manslaughter.

Episode 20

The Champion

Thu, Mar 31, 1955

Ruthless professional boxer Midge Kelly (Rory Calhoun) tramples anyone he can to get to the top, including his loyal brother Connie (Tommy Cook). This is a TV version (adapted by Rod Serling) of the Ring Lardner story, filmed in 1949 as "Champion", with Kirk Douglas as Midge and Arthur Kennedy as Connie.

Episode 21

Private Worlds

Thu, Apr 7, 1955

TV version of the ahead-of-its-time film Private Worlds (1935), starring Claudette Colbert, repeating her role as a very caring psychiatrist facing discrimination in a mental hospital because she's female. Also has a much more progressive view of mental illness than usual in the era. Based on a story by novelist Phyllis Bottome ("The Mortal Storm", 1940).

Episode 22

Flight 951

Thu, Apr 21, 1955 60 mins

A doctor forsakes the medical profession following a court trial in which he was the defendant. Now a successful businessman traveling under an assumed name, he must decide between keeping his secret and saving the eyesight of a fellow passenger.

Episode 23

The First and the Last

Thu, Apr 28, 1955

Keith Dorrant realizes his dream when he's offered the appointment as chief prosecutor for the Crown, but his brother Larry is involved with a murder and creates a threat to the family name.

Episode 24

The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia

Thu, May 5, 1955 60 mins

A courageous nun suffers ordeals while trying to escape from behind the Iron Curtain.

Episode 25

No Stone Unturned

Thu, May 19, 1955 60 mins

Scottish nationalist Ian Hamilton leads a group of like-minded countrymen in stealing the game Stone of Scone; they intend to spirit it from London back to Scotland.

Episode 26

A Farewell to Arms

Thu, May 26, 1955

An affair between an English nurse and an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I.

Episode 27

The Unimportant Man

Thu, Jun 2, 1955

The life of an ordinary, mild-mannered man is changed when he identifies the murderer of his employer's brother

Episode 28

The Dark Fleece

Thu, Jun 16, 1955

A gold miner returns to his righteous California hometown, circa 1857. He has great wealth, but a burdened conscious: he has killed a man.

Episode 29

To Wake at Midnight

Thu, Jun 23, 1955 60 mins

All the pent-up prejudices and hatreds of postwar Europe are revived when a Nazi lieutenant recovers consciousness in a British hospital after being in a coma for years.

Episode 30

The Dance

Thu, Jun 30, 1955

Episode 31

Wild Stallion

Thu, Jul 7, 1955 60 mins

A rich southern widow's daughter has an older man engaged to marry her, a distinguished Argentine ex-officer--who is actually a money-seeking gigolo who sneaks out to see another girl every night. When he realizes that the mother controls the wealth, he starts to romance her. The outraged son plots a murderous revenge against him.

Episode 32

The Escape of Mendes-France

Thu, Jul 14, 1955

Episode 33

The Healer

Thu, Jul 21, 1955 60 mins

Burdened with a self-centered wife and a beautiful heiress who's in love with him, a brilliant surgeon becomes tormented by doubts about his ability after losing a patient during a difficult operation.

Episode 34

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Thu, Jul 28, 1955 60 mins

Told through the journal left by Dr. Jekyll after Mr. Hyde is killed in the opening scene. This is a bare bones production, but is very stylish nevertheless. The classic search of man's duality. More subtle and sublime then the more famous versions.

Episode 35

One-Night Stand

Thu, Aug 4, 1955

In 1937, the members of a jazz ensemble come to the aid of one of their colleagues who is stricken with tuberculosis.

Episode 36

Edge of Terror

Thu, Aug 11, 1955

A small-town banker and his family are threatened with death if he identifies the leader of the gang that tried to rob his bank.

Episode 37

Fear Strikes Out

Thu, Aug 18, 1955

Young Major-League baseball player Jimmy Piersall (Tab Hunter) battles mental illness and a harsh upbringing to succeed as a Boston Red Sox outfielder. Based on the memoir of the same title by Piersall. Made into a movie in 1957 starring Anthony Perkins as Piersall.

Episode 38

Deal a Blow

Thu, Aug 25, 1955

When a 16-year-old neglected by his movie producer father gets into trouble, his father doesn't believe his claim of self-defense.