Climax! Season 4, Episode 3: Necessary Evil

1

Trial by Fire

A forest fire spreads with fury, threatens a town with destruction, and brands a boy a murderer.

60 min

2

The Secret of the Red Room

The technical notes say that this television drama was in black and white. But I remember its being broadcast in color, one of the very few broadcasts in color at that time. I remember because my father was trying out, on loan, a new color television set, and we saw this broadcast as a test of the color quality of the broadcast and of the set. The quality was good for this broadcast, as I recall, but not for all broadcasts.

60 min

3

Necessary Evil

When a man with the reputation of a fast gun turns up in a small New Mexico community, the townspeople, including the man's son, want no part of him. Then two brothers who have vowed revenge on the gunfighter ride into town.

60 min

4

Along Came a Spider

As she's leaving to meet her daughter at the airport, a psychoanalyst receives a phone call from one of her patients, who tells her he's just killed a man. When the two women return home the patient, who is waiting for them, pulls a gun, forces the daughter into a room, and locks the door.

60 min

5

Jacob and the Angels

A criminal lawyer makes a desperate gamble to defend a boy charged with murder. Risking his career, his love, even his health, he faces an even greater terror when he finds his own guilty conscience is on trial.

60 min

6

Mask for the Devil

Tom Gardener invites the invalid widow of a man he accidentally killed to live with himself and his wife, unaware that her facade of sweetness and gentleness conceals a scheme to destroy his marriage.

60 min

7

The Largest City in Captivity

An American newspaperman in West Berlin and an East German freedom fighter in the anti-Soviet underground are in love with the same woman, in whose apartment the freedom fighter takes refuge after being wounded.

60 min

8

Tunnel of Fear

Drama about the men who struggle to move rivers and dig tunnels.

60 min

9

Keep Me in Mind

Publicity hungry, Las Vegas lounge singer, Mike Owens stages a hoax publicity stunt making the local police and his entourage furious with him, especially his press agent. And like the little boy who cried wolf, he discovers when he actually can identify a cop-killer, the cops and the newspapers and his press agent don't believe him. But the killer knows he isn't lying and determines to kill him next.

60 min

10

Two Tests on Tuesday

A college professor tries to help an ex-GI with a history of mental illness whose anxiety over low grades caused him to cheat on his final exam.

60 min

11

A Matter of Life and Death

A man wakes up with a hangover one morning believing he is responsible for a murder. All he can remember is standing over a body holding a broken bottle in his hand. The girl in love with him is convinced he is innocent and helps him try to prove

60 min

12

Murder Has a Deadline

A ruthless gossip columnist who's been receiving threatening letters asks for police protection and then, in a panic attack, barricades himself in his apartment.

60 min

13

The Devil's Brood

Two fugitives, hoping for a life of ease and respectability, leave for Australia to buy a sheep ranch, not knowing they're being followed by a blackmailer.

60 min

14

Hurricane Diane

Among the people seeking shelter from a flood at a rundown Southern hotel are a man accused of murder, the deputy sheriff to whom he's handcuffed, a compassionate young social worker, a preacher, and the hotel owner's disturbed wife who claims she's a countess.

60 min

15

To Walk the Night

On a snowy Christmas eve, police detective Ed Brooks hopes to be able to get away early. But a call comes in that a prowler, who has murdered several women, has struck again.

60 min

16

Shadow of a Memory

A woman returns to the cottage owned by her late husband and tries to settle in, but a body is discovered in the living room and she is accused of murder.

60 min

17

Scream in Silence

Medical student tries to help depressed neighbor.

60 min

18

Thieves of Tokyo

While on the trail of a black-market ring in Tokyo, an undercover man runs across a murder. During the investigation he begins to date a pretty Japanese dancer, which upsets his American girlfriend.

60 min

19

Sound of the Moon

Facing a personal crisis on a coast-to-coast flight, an airline hostess appeals for help to a doctor on the plane, but he claims he's too busy to see her.

60 min

20

Burst of Fire

A singer orders a copy made of an antique cross for an old friend of hers, a priest. While she is in the jewelry store to pick up the cross, the store is held up by a masked gunman who steals the cross and makes his escape. The thief resembles the priest's brother. Then the third brother, a policeman, is assigned to investigate the case.

60 min

21

Four Hours in White

Trapped in a crossfire of human emotions, a hospital chief surgeon fights his own conscience to decide the fate of two men. He must weigh the possible sacrifice of one life for another. Drawing on years of experience, he defies the pressures of time and personal fear to face one crucial moment of judgment.

60 min

22

The Secret Love of Johnny Spain

Four days before his movie is to be released, singing idol Johnny Spain is killed in an airplane crash. His press agent decides he must dig up some publicity to make the up-coming movie pay-off. He pressures Julie, a young starlet, to pose as Spain's secret love.

60 min

23

Albert Anastasia, His Life and Death

The story of Murder Inc. and the 1957 barber shop rub-out of mob czar Albert Anastasia. Anastasia had an appeal that belied his reputation for brutality and impetuosity. He had a sense of confidence and presence, and because he was so sure of himself he was at ease with other people.

60 min

24

The Thief With the Big Blue Eyes

In Rome, an American actor and his wife come upon an Italian street urchin who appoints himself their guardian angel and after awhile begins trying to cajole them into adopting him permanently.

60 min

25

So Deadly My Love

While on a date with her boyfriend a woman runs into her erratic estranged husband. Later that night two ruffians beat up the boyfriend and kidnap the woman.

60 min

26

The Great World and Timothy Colt

A large Manhattan law firm hires the tireless dedicated Timothy Colt, the young lawyer. As he rises in the firm the opportunity to see the conflict between ethics and ambition are upon him. His disillusionment and the constant dishonesty shakes him to his foundations of belief against the bitter cynical conquest of his new great world.

60 min

27

On the Take

In trying to clean up the local bookmakers, the Washington, D.C. Police department becomes convinced that members of the force are accepting payoff money. Lt. Todd Thoman is assigned the task of discovering the crooked cops.

60 min

28

The Volcano Seat

This true story involving the crew of an in-air refueling operation for Air Force bombers who take a training team on a dangerous mission. RAF Flight Lieutenant MacKenzie Barton is assigned to an American Air Force base as a result of an exchange of pilots between the RAF and the U.S. Air Force. Barton receives orders to pilot an Air Force tanker--a plane which is capable of refueling jet bombers in mid-air. But in trying to gain the confidence of the American crew members, Barton encounters only resentment. The story is based on an actual experience.

60 min

29

Shooting for the Moon

Engineer Frank Colby and his staff have developed a nose cone capable of launching into outer space.

60 min

30

The Deadly Tattoo

A detective is assigned to investigate a series of murders in which the killer left a heart-shaped tattoo on each of his victims.

60 min

31

The Big Success

Leo Carson a businessman who worked his way up from machinist's helper to owner of a million-dollar business. He realizes too late that the important things in life, his family have chosen destructive lifestyles and his own mistakes have caused harm to everyone else.

60 min

32

The Disappearance of Daphne

A young heiress marries a dancer after a whirlwind courtship, but soon comes to suspect he's responsible for the mysterious disappearance of his former dancing partner.

60 min

33

Time of the Hanging

In Texas, during the 1880's, cattlemen resent the intrusion of homesteaders on their grazing lands. When cattleman Mannon Tate's brother is sentenced to hang for the murder of a homesteader, Tate makes a desperate attempt to prevent the execution. Believing the sheriff is allied with the farmers, Tate takes him and his wife hostage.

60 min

34

The Push-Button Giant

A song plugger making his daily rounds meets an attractive young singer in a recording executive's waiting room and, by passing himself off as her manager, begins climbing to the top of the music world.

60 min

35

Spider Web

José Aragon, wealthy Texas cattleman, is on a cattle-buying expedition on the Mexican border. After a gueling day looking over the stock, Aragon returns to his hotel, tired and dirty. A beautiful young woman sees Aragon enter the hotel, and, because of his unkempt appearance, believes he is one of the local peasants. She approaches him and asks him to do her a favor. Amused when she offers him five dollars for the errand, Aragon consents to cross the border and pick up a package for her.

60 min

36

House of Doubt

When she loses her job, Gwen Dacres seeks economical lodgings in a boarding house run by a mysterious old woman, Mrs. Garr. Strange noises and incidents disturb Gwen's peace of mind. Gwen is attacked and Mrs. Garr disappears and is later found dead. Gwen starts to investigate and uncovers a twenty year old mystery.

60 min

37

Cabin B-13

Shortly after Ann and Robert Brewster board a luxury liner for their honeymoon cruise, Robert disappears with the fortune he received as a wedding present from Ann. Ann reports her husband's disappearance to the captain. To her astonishment he informs her that there is no record of either herself or her husband as passengers, and that the cabin number she has given is non-existent.

60 min