The Serpent Ring

The Murderer

The Cask of Amontillado

A man plants a bomb in his son's lunch box at work and tells him to get out in time, but a friend, thinking he has forgotten his lunch box, places it in his car.

Lunch Box

Evans, an older man, walks into a record store, slips the young clerk, Fred, a huge bill and pleads for him to come to his hotel to discuss something important. He goes and finds Evans beaten and mumbling something about a record. Fred gets knocked out and awakens to find Evans now dead and himself set-up to take the rap for his murder. Fred races back to the store, hoping to find the record the dead man was talking about.

Collector's Item

Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Julia, the model for a character in her husband's comic strip, informs a police detective that her spouse is going to murder her. He bumped off her "twin" in that morning's strip and she's sure he's going do get rid of her in the same grizzly way that evening.

The Comic Strip Murder

A college student studying abnormal psychology thinks the owner of a wax museum dedicated to murderers can teach her a few things. Police lock down Dr. Violet's exhibit after an actual corpse is found in the museum. unfortunately, this traps the co-ed alone with the murder expert.

Doctor Violet

In World War II Italy, Count Montressor has watched with horror as his former stable boy became a powerful Nazi general. In the process, General Fortanato has murdered the Count's sister and stolen his wife. Knowing the General plans to murder him, Count Montressor lures him into the palace's catacombs to taste the rare cask of Amontillado he has procured.

Detained by the side of the road where his wife Mollie was found murdered, John explains to a deputy the events leading up to that moment. Their busybody neighbor Lillybelle had made accusations about Mollie's infidelity, as had a mysterious stranger who traveled the road near their home. Realizing John was wise to her, Mollie tried to flee but Lillybelle blocked the door.

An American lover of architecture is escorted to a crumbling Mexican castle by the local padre. He warns the visitor to keep his room door locked and avoid the family that lives there--especially the maniacal mother when the black wind blows. Eventually, the curious American learns the horrible truth about the family's history of blood lust.

Black Passage

Suspicion

The Thin Edge of Violence

A self-absorbed couple takes their daughter on a vacation, unaware that the child is urgently wanted by health officials. The little girl was afraid to tell them she'd been bitten by a dog, and the animal turns out to have been rabid. The child hears on the radio that authorities are searching for the dog bit victim, panics that she could die, and tells her parents the truth.

The Third One

Emily has moved back home to care for her battle-ax old mother and it has placed her marriage in jeopardy. Arriving home from work, she finds an escapee from a mental hospital with the old bitty tied up and gagged; she was so irritating he couldn't stand her talking anymore. While he hides at their house for a few days, Emily is supposed go to work as usual, but not utter a word of his presence to anyone or it will be curtains for the old lady.

The Man in the House

The Scar

A dramatic story of the Black Hand's operations in New York's Little Italy during the 1890's.

The Gray Helmet

An elderly man is in a desperate search for a youngster who is in peril of passing evil's point of no return.

The Seeker and the Sought

Lady Sannox, the toast of London society, carries on an obvious affair with Douglas Stone, an arrogant, young surgeon. Lord Sannox, a retired star of the stage, is thought to be a clueless old man unaware of the liaison. After discussing with the Lady his plan to murder her husband so they can marry, Stone is hired by a desperate man to perform a questionable operation on his wife. Lord Sannox, we learn, is not as oblivious to his wife's infidelity as he appears.

The Case of Lady Sannox

A wayward wife of a jealous husband brings trouble home.

Morning Boat to Africa

Former bomber pilot D.P. Bradford and his wife Zita host a reunion for D.P.'s World War II crew. In the midst of the celebration, the Bradfords's daughter Susan is kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious German. The bomber crew joins forces to track down and rescue the little girl.

The Bomber Command

A father and son moving out of a boarding house get into a tussle with the sleazy landlord who promptly drops dead on the floor. Since the father has a past record, the two hide in the attic while the police investigate, waiting to make their escape.

Summer Storm

The murder of a Professor has undergraduate Kate investigating the case with help from a newspaper reporter.

The Horizontal Man

The story of an amnesia victim and what happens when he regains his memory.

The Distant Island

Escape This Night

Prince Florizel and his cohort, Gerard, masquerade under false identities and hit the city in search of adventure. One night in a bar, they encounter a young man who says he does not wish to go on. Claiming to feel the same way, the prince and his friend soon find themselves at the Suicide Club, an organization whose members want to die. Each evening using a deck of cards, the "lucky" next victim is decided, as is the member who must commit the deed and make it look like an accident. Florizel and Gerard's charade ceases to be entertaining when a club member is ...

The Suicide Club

Roman Holiday

Teenage practical joker Jerry pretends his new stepfather revealed something incriminating while talking in his sleep. Rather than laughing it off, Henry Lord gets very defensive and becomes threatening. After suffering a suspicious accident, Jerry is convinced his stepfather has something in his past he's willing to kill to keep secret.

The Man Who Talked in His Sleep

The Ledge

Tommy, an errand boy, hangs around a hot dog stand when he's not in transit. The stand, a front for criminal enterprises, proves dangerous when he's hired by a shady character to deliver a package at exactly 5PM that evening. With time to kill, he goes to a baseball game. Tommy doesn't realize that the package contains 20 grand from a payroll heist and that a pair of criminals know it's in his possession.

The Parcel

Officer Malone is murdered outside a "gay 90s"-themed nightclub simply by buying a seemingly harmless gift from one of the showgirls. His son, a rookie cop, takes a vacation from the force to find the murderer himself. At the club, he uncovers the deadly secret that got his father shot -- they're selling illegal drugs.

The Old Man's Badge

A man taking a cruise around the world finds second-class passengers are much more interesting, and by the time things become more complicated he wished that he'd missed the boat.

The Second Class Passenger

Detective Sam Cragg goes to meet a client in the "Little Serbia" section of the city and finds the man murdered. Everyone in the neighborhood lives in fear of the unseen C. W. Roberts, a mysterious loan shark who keeps the poor permanently in debt. Cragg sends a book to Roberts and watches to see who picks it up.

One Thousand Dollars to One for Your Money

The notorious criminal Ma Barker and her gang of four sons blaze a murderous path from beginnings in Missouri to their final showdown with FBI agents and their machine guns in Florida.

Steely, Steely Eyes

Dan Bedell, an up-and-coming actor, has come to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and he has fallen in love with Connie Williams. Gambling boss Morgan Nelson warns Dan that Connie is in league with her friend Bill Reed to blackmail Dan. When Nelson's bodyguard turns up dead in Dan's apartment, Connie enlists Reed to help her and Dan dispose of the body. But can Dan trust Connie and Bill, or are the pair up to no good as Nelson warned?

Murder at the Mardi Gras

An American bets two London friends that he can spend the night alone in a "haunted house."

The Gentleman from America

A young man on a scavenger hunt for a department store sales check stumbles into a murderer at midnight in the store.

Death of a Dummy

The FBI pursues a man to the wilds of Borneo.

Red Wine

A predatory blond conspires with an old flame to murder her husband, but tosses a neat double cross at the old flame.

One and One's a Lonesome

The former medical examiner who had falsified information in a murder case years earlier returns to town. Lawyer Robert Quartermain, who was involved in the trial, kills the ex-examiner, careful to leave no clues behind. But, he hadn't planned on having his picture taken by a street photographer when he was leaving the scene of the crime. Realizing the shutterbug possesses the only evidence against him, Quartermain is frantic to find the man and retrieve that picture.

Photo Finish

Be silent, husband; that is the admonition of a wife to her husband when it comes to murder. She tells her hubby to keep his big mouth shut and not tip the police off about a murder.

Listen, Listen

A reporter unexpectedly becomes involved in a series of violent, brutal murders.

Black Bronze

Dr. Joe Parker and his family are awakened by a gun-wielding criminal demanding treatment for his brother. The man's in serious condition after a bullet pierced his lung. With a pistol pointing at their daughter, the doctor and his wife are forced to perform surgery despite his protests that the patient requires hospital treatment to survive.

I'm No Hero

A disturbed young man with a murderous background latches onto an older woman and her daughters. He worms his way into their family by charming the mother, even accompanying them to their summer cottage. One daughter's attempt to break off her flirtatious affair with the volatile man, whose true colors begin to show.

Wisteria Cottage

An anthology series adapted from the radio program of the same name. 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.

The Serpent Ring

Seasons6

Season 2 Episodes42

Discussion

Episode Summary