Suspense (1949)
Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts. Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and many more. The program was a live television series, but most episodes were recorded on kinescope. However, only about 90 of the 260 episodes survive today.
Seasons & Episode
The story of a traveling circus and its unhappy owner.
An innocent woman is sentenced to death during the French Revolution.
Murder and blackmail ruin a bride-to-be's bridal shower.
A dramatic adaptation of the famous and true story of a commoner's ill-fated romance with the Archduke Rudolph of Hapsburg.
The tragic tale of a pair of recluses whose lives are brought into focus for the first time after years of frustration and jealousy.
The story of a tense trial in Norway when a jury was asked to remember what it was like in their homeland during the war. The actual verdict is revealed at the end of the program.
The story of a corrupt supply captain, son of an illustrious military hero, and a fiercely loyal major who challenges him to a duel to preserve the family's honor.
The tense story of an archaeological expedition searching for the tomb of King Tutmose. They finally find it and its treasures untouched; but then the curse of the Pharaoh on anyone defiling his tomb's sacred precincts begin to strike.
An English gentleman gloats over the murder of his wife only to learn that his evil housekeeper knows his secret.
The behind-the-scenes story of how the U. S. Navy ferreted out the secret of Communist minefields in Wonsan Harbor, enabling minesweepers to clear the way for the safe landing of 22,000 Marines.
A story of a brash stranger in a small Western town who changes his ways when arrested for the murder of a local belle.
When a fugitive from a Russian concentration camp is cornered in his Budapest home, he disguises himself and his brother to try a get beyond the Iron Curtain.
A kindly young man believes a girl's story that she is marked for murder and risks his life to save her, despite warnings from friends that she is a habitual liar and thrill-seeker.
This episode is a remake of an episode previously shown on the series. This episode and the previous one were both shown live and featured different casts.
A dramatization based on the life of the 18th Century Italian magician, Count Alessandro di Cagliostro. The cunning magician inveigles King Stanislaus into a chess game with his mechanical genius. That, in the end, becomes his downfall.
A little boy in a department store and a night watchman who likes toys better than people are featured in this odd Christmas tale.
A wealthy, vicious woman turns a goodhearted but naive tramp into a pawn in her evil plans.
A gang of smugglers, diamonds and a beautiful woman add up to trouble for the pilot on a trans-Atlantic flight.
The true story of Baclav Uhlik, a Czech machinist who built an armored car and last July transported his wife, two children and four friends 40 miles through the Bohemian forests to the town of Waldmeunchen in the western zone of Germany.
The second wife of a ski-lodge owner suspects her husband of the murder of his first wife.
A dead French underground leader returns to save a band of hostages when a Nazi collaborator goes back on his promise.
A drama based on the hoax of Canadian George DuPre, who claimed service in the French underground as a British intelligence officer during World War II.
A precious stone taken from India is coveted by many parties.
Her son's heroic death in battle unseals the lips of a mother about a 10-year-old tragedy involving her brutal husband.
A frantic wife sits by her TV set, watching a public dinner where a deranged man is getting ready to kill her husband.
The story of the first woman juror in the United States, in 1870 in Laramie, Wyoming.
A young bank official is the intended scapegoat of a carefully designed plan to rob the vault of $100,000.
A psychiatrist makes a weird experiment in a last ditch attempt to get a key witness in a homicide case to talk.
A college reunion crowd discover that one of the gang has been missing since graduation. Those present have had reasons to do away with her.
Behind the Iron Curtain, a condemned prisoner's wife tries to save him by appealing to an old friend, the police chief.
A window washer is tempted by an unguarded amount of money and realizes the error in his judgment all too soon.
The story of how Stalin held a grip on the Russian people after assassinating S.M. Kirov.
The two sons of a disgusting and destructive old man stand to benefit as a result of his violent death.
A dramatization of the heroics of nurse Ann Bernatitus during the Battle of Bataan.
A prison riot breaks out and a guard is taken hostage. The inmates want the keys to the main gate in exchange for the guard.
A true story taken from the cases of Alfonse Bertillon, chief of the Identification Bureau of the Paris Police in the early 1900's. Bertillon invented the first system of crime detection through the use of physical features.
A young doctor leaves his practice to find a cure for polio after watching his patients suffer.
The true story of the workings of a New York homicide squad as it goes about the solution of a brutal murder.
An Army Captain wants revenge on a fellow officer in 19th century Russia. The young Captain has bested him in cards and love.
Thirty men in a secret unit, started by President Roosevelt during World War II, are captured and tortured at the Belsen concentration camp before escaping.
An unethical hunter is caught shooting a tame animal on a wildlife preserve. The game warden delivers an unexpected punishment: three bullets and a ten minute head start.
An investigator puts his life in danger after he falls for the woman he is tailing.
A bicyclist makes up fantastic tales of murder on "clues" she finds along her rides. When she finds a shoe and a lighter, she tells an elaborate tale that turns out to be very close to the truth.
A woman's faith in a hoodlum is destroyed when the police prevail upon her to get him to surrender.
A woman gets locked in movie theater by mistake and encounters a pair of killers who break in to rob the safe.
A would-be recluse's best friend discovers gold on his land. He realizes his only security is his friend's death, but he is thwarted in the effort of murder by some fast-traveling news.
A policeman's niece is murdered. He resolves to find the killer but has to pit his wits against an "electronic brain" to do so.
A mentally incapacitated war hero seeks revenge against society.
Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts. Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and many more. The program was a live television series, but most episodes were recorded on kinescope. However, only about 90 of the 260 episodes survive today.
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