Kraft Suspense Theatre; The Machine That Played God; lie detector tests; Anne Francis; William Boyett; Malachi Throne

Season #1; Episode #7

The Machine That Played God

Original Air Date - December 5, 1963 - This was the first episode after a three week hiatus since One Step Down on November 14, 1963.



Setting/Time - A modern city.



Plot/Review/Discussion -

A woman and her husband are involved in a car wreck early in the episode. The husband dies. The police suspect that the wife caused the accident on purpose. I forget the alleged motive - whether it was to kill the husband or herself (or both). That aspect is not of primary importance in this review.

The interesting point is the progression of the plot. The woman gradually becomes convinced that the police are right. Most of the KST episodes are about an ultimate choice between right and wrong. In this case, a bad choice is allegedly made early in the episode, for which the main character tries to take responsibility.

The main character becomes convinced that she is guilty solely on the basis of repeated lie detector tests that she takes that indicate her guilt. The episode is an indictment of the concept of the lie detector test. The woman ultimately learns the real truth in court during her trial.

Criminal law underwent drastic changes in the 1950's and 1960's. There may have been a political agenda against lie detectors at that time that fueled the writing in this episode. Later KST episodes would campaign against the death penalty.

I found the plot to be weaker than the previous few episodes. The focus on the main character's internal struggle was compelling, but somewhat unrealistic. I did not find it believable that a woman could be convinced that she intended to wreck a car simply because she failed lie detector tests. I think the anti-lie detector test agenda colored the plot and made it less believable.

---------- update 9-18-10 ----------- (plot spoiler warnings)

After seeing this episode again, it appears that the criminal trial was a convoluted scenario by which the woman's defense attorney convinced her client that she was not guilty. She had confessed, thus resulting in her prosecution. During the trial, the defense attorney introduced evidence of the lie detector (and its flaws) to convince her that the lie detector was wrong about her own guilt. (Ordinarily, lie detector evidence would be inadmissible.) Thus the criminal trial placed the lie detector on trial instead of the woman. Once the woman could no longer assert her own guilt, the prosecution dropped its case as if the woman was the only judge of her own guilt. I will not begin to deconstruct the legal errors inherent in this scenario. I will say only that this approach is a more extreme example of KST plots where the main character's adversary is himself/herself instead of a third party.

Cars - I am almost certain that the main character drove a 62-64 Lincoln in the initial accident.


Actors -

Anne Francis played the main character. She previously played a prominent role in The Forbidden Planet, with future KST actors Leslie Nielsen and others. She remained active on television and in movies from the late 1940's through recent years.

William Boyett played a detective in the first of his two KST roles - the second being "The Jack is High" during season #2. He played many, many policemen during his nearly 50 year Hollywood career, including 2 guest appearances on KST-spinoff Run For Your Life. He had an uncredited role in The Forbidden Planet. His most long-running roles were as policemen on two of the most famous cop shows of all time, Highway Patrol (starring future KST star Broderick Crawford) and Adam-12 (with KST star Martin Milner). He also guest starred on Star Trek:TNG, but I don't count that toward the Star Trek Connection.

----update--- Charles Alvin Bell played in the first of his two KST episodes.

Star Trek Connection -

The Star Trek Connection for this episode is Malachi Throne, who plays the prosecutor. Throne makes the first of his three appearances in KST in this episode. He portrayed the voice of Star Trek's first villain in the original pilot. His voice was dubbed out before that episode aired, but Throne played a more pivotal role in the final product, which became Star Trek's only two-parter. He also played an important role in the pilot for Big Valley. He was a regular on It Takes a Thief and has continued to work in recent years as part of a 50 year career.

A Hero for our Times; Kraft Suspense Theatre; Lloyd Bridges; Ralph Senensky

Season 1, Episode #4

A Hero for Our Times

Original Air Date - October 31, 1963

Setting/Time - A modern city - most likely San Francisco (judging from the opening shot).

Plot/Review/Discussion - This episode is a favorite of mine. This episode made me think of "class" with respect to KST for the first time. The setting was cosmopolitan. The music was smooth. The men all wore suits and hats and drove big, late model cars. The women acted like ladies - even when their behavior was not so ladylike.

The plot makes one think. The main character faces a choice. The suspense revolves around what choice he will make.

The main character is a successful business executive with a wife and a mistress. While staying at his mistress' apartment one evening, he witnesses a murder next door. It becomes apparent quickly that the police will charge the wrong man and that the main character is the only one that knows the mistake. He faces a choice between coming forward to save the innocent suspect or staying silent to protect his own secret. The plot becomes more complicated when the main character faces a possible promotion to his high profile company's board of directors. For him to come forward and reveal an affair would be professional suicide in 1963.

We watch him struggle with his dilemma as he hides his secret from his wife and co-workers. Modern dramas feature several plots in one episode, thus implying a short attention span on the part of the audience. While KST features one plot per episode, this plot results in numerous conflicts. In "Hero," we see the courtroom drama, the hero's professional situation and his marriage all in turmoil as a result of his dilemma. KST made the most of this story.

To me, watching a man face such a choice provides better drama than simply waiting to find out whether he will win a gun battle or survive an operation or wondering who he will sleep with this week.

The drama becomes even more real when one thinks of modern politicians who have gone to great lengths to deny affairs - even to the point of letting innocent people die. The title of the episode turns out to be more of a commentary on our times instead of praise for the main character.

Miscellaneous - This episode is unique because there is now more information about this episode than most other KST stories. Director Ralph Senensky has provided his own commentary plus generous film clips from "Hero" at the Ralph's Trek blog:

Except for a car chase sequence later in the script, this was a very talky script that was reminiscent of the live television dramas from the decade before. And it certainly owed a debt to REAR WINDOW.

The car chase Senensky refers to provides more than a mere action break. The resolution of the car chase was an important plot point and made the "hero's" moral choice more stark. Spoiler alert - Don't watch Senensky's clips if you don't already know the ending.

Senensky also writes of unexpected difficulties arising from one of the earliest uses of color on television in this episode.

Actors

Lloyd Bridges plays the main role. The internet bios I have seen for Bridges ignore his KST role.

Dabbs Greer played the innocent suspect. Senensky's blog contains much information about his career.

Berkeley Harris played the defense attorney. Despite having many speaking lines, his role is uncredited at IMDB.com. Many of the IMDB.com cast listings are incomplete for KST. (I believe this is starting to change with the show's newfound popularity on RTV.) Harris also played in 2 other KST episodes, which are credited at IMDB.com.

update 7-2-10 - after seeing the episode on RTV again (for the first time in two years) I noticed David Lewis, playing the first of 2 KST episodes. [IMDB.com apparently leaves out 4 major characters from this episode. Click here for my discussion and speculation of KST characters being ignored on that type of website. IMDB also left out Victor French as the murderer and William Bramley as the DA.]

Cars - In addition to this episode's focus on the hero's internal struggles, it does feature the proverbial car chase. In the car chase, Lloyd Bridges drives a white Lincoln (@ 1962-1964). He is chased by the killer in a 1963 Mercury Monterey. Senensky does not remember filming this sequence and speculates that they may have used stock footage from another movie or show. I have my doubts. The 63 Mercury was a fixture on KST. The same car appeared earlier in this episode. The car was practically new (as was the Lincoln). The producers would have had to have re-used very recent footage for Senensky's speculation to be correct.

Star Trek Connection - The Star Trek connection in this episode is the director, Ralph Senensky. He directed several episodes of Star Trek, including "This Side of Paradise," "Metamorphosis," "Obsession," "Bread and Circuses," "Is There in Truth, No Beauty," and "The Tholian Web." He provides extensive commentary and film clips on these episodes at his blog.

Senensky also directed episodes of, inter alia, The Fugitive, The Waltons, Ironside, Mission Impossible and Route 66.

Here is a clip of the opening theme (copied from Senensky's blog). This clip is more complete than the clip I uploaded here.


update - 7-2-10 - Another Star Trek connection is William Bramley, as the Prosecutor. Bramley later played in the season #2 episode, "The Jack is High," also directed by Ralph Senensky. Bramley played the most prominent policeman in Star Trek's "Bread and Circuses," also directed by Senensky.