Friday, October 3, 2014

31 Days of Suspense: "The Furnished Floor"

Horror and science fiction were two of the genres which first attracted me to the old-time radio medium. However, although there were a few shows dedicated to horror, they seldom committed to horror. To pick on Inner Sanctum Mysteries (to take a frequently-cited example), the supposed supernatural goings-on in that program are (invariably) a deception. In fact, even the non-supernatural episodes of that show tend to involve someone being tricked, whether it's believing in ghosts or thinking they're a murderer, Inner Sanctum was averse to "playing fair" with the audience.

This, then, is part of what sets the scripts on Suspense apart; on those rare occasions when they delved into the supernatural, they committed. Not only would otherworldly events transpire, they were almost always unidentified and unexplained.

Take today's episode for instance: "The Furnished Floor," written by Lucille Fletcher (best known as the author of "Sorry, Wrong Number") from September 13, 1945. Mildred Natwick portrays a busy-bodied housekeeper who welcomes a former tenant back to his rented flat. Mr. Jennings originally left after the death of his wife; now he's found another love and he wants everything the way it used to be. Everything.

It's a very slow burn, leading to a moment of... ambiguous horror. Let your imagination decide what happens in the climax - it's more effective that way. You may download the episode here.

Tomorrow: "Anyway... I outlived those three..."

2 comments:

Mike Cheyne said...

I find the Natwick character in this similar to the type of character played in (almost) all of Agnes Moorehead's Suspense roles--a not overtly villainous character yet someone who is annoying or distasteful and whose fate (here, ambiguous) might be disproportionately harsh (i.e., Moorehead getting killed in Sorry, Wrong Number or imprisoned in The Trap or getting frantically humiliated in The Death Parade).

Michael Hoskin said...

Hello Mike!

I agree that her fate is disproportionate - but I also have to say, I don't find her to be such an interfering busybody that I want anything bad to happen to her. Agnes Moorehead is great in those types of roles, but I feel too much pity for Natwick's character.