Theatre Macabre - Season 1

First aired: 10/1/1971 24 episodes

Episodes

1. First Love

Aired: 10/1/1971

Vladimir, the teenage son of a local rich man, falls madly in love with his new neighbor's daughter Zina competing for her affections along with a host of her other suitors.

2. The Man Who Demoralized Hadleyburg

Aired: 10/8/1971

A stranger comes to town with a bag full of gold and a test for everyone.

3. The Tortures of Hope

Aired: 10/15/1971

A man is about to be executed by the Inquisition. Is hope enough to save him?

4. Mateo Falcone

Aired: 10/22/1971

A young Corsican boy defies local customs and dishonors his family when he turns in a bandit to police.

5. The Vampire

Aired: 10/29/1971

Intertwines multiple stories, including a framing device about a young man named Runevsky, and explores themes of obsession, the supernatural, and the line between reality and imagination.

6. The Swashbuckler

Aired: 11/5/1971

A psychological character study revolving around Luchkov, an aggressive, manipulative former military officer who lives for duels and social domination.

7. The Actress

Aired: 11/12/1971

A failed actress wants to go back to her husband, who has fallen into alcoholism.

8. The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether

Aired: 11/19/1971

A narrator visits a French mental asylum where the 'soothing system' of patient-led care has been overthrown by a new, more severe method, only for the narrator to discover the 'doctors' are actually the patients, and the 'keepers' are those locked away, tarred and feathered.

9. The Rajah's Diamond

Aired: 11/26/1971

Follows the journey of a cursed, valuable diamond as it passes through the hands of various characters, revealing their greed, folly, and the dark allure of wealth. The narrative links these tales through the diamond's movement from London to Paris, exploring themes of crime, deception, and morality.

10. The Nose

Aired: 12/3/1971

A government official's nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.

11. Tell-Tale Hearts

Aired: 12/10/1971

A nameless man insists on his sanity while confessing to murdering an old man because of his 'vulture-like' eye.

12. Markheim

Aired: 12/17/1971

A man murders an antique dealer on Christmas Day to steal from him, only to be tormented by his own conscience, personified by a mysterious visitor who may be the Devil, forcing him to confront his evil and ultimately choose confession over further sin.

13. The Barrel Organ

Aired: 12/24/1971

Reclusive, cultured lawyer Mr Tomasz's solitary life is transformed by a blind orphan girl who moves in next door and her barrel organ, which he initially despises but comes to cherish as a source of joy and connection, ultimately leading him to help her.

14. The Canterville Ghost

Aired: 12/31/1971

A young American couple inherits an English castle, only to find that it is haunted by the spirit of a disgraced ancestor, doomed to stay on the estate because of his cowardice. The only way he can escape is if one of his descendants performs an heroic act, something he intends to get the husband to do.

15. Decameron

Aired: 1/7/1972

From Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron No. 40.'

16. A Matter of Conscience

Aired: 1/14/1972

From Ambrose Bierce's 'A Matter of Conscience.'

17. The Husband Under the Bed

Aired: 1/21/1972

From Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Another Man's Wife and a Husband Under the Bed.'

18. Pavoncello

Aired: 1/28/1972

From Stefan Zeromski's 'Pavoncello.'

19. The Song of Triumphant Love

Aired: 2/4/1972

From Ivan Turgenev's 'The Song of Triumphant Love.'

20. The Postmaster

Aired: 2/11/1972

From Alexander Pushkin's 'The Postmaster.'

21. A Terribly Strange Bed

Aired: 2/18/1972

From William Wilkie Collins' 'A Terribly Strange Bed.'

22. The Fatalist

Aired: 2/25/1972

From Mikhail Lermontov's 'The Fatalist.'

23. Resurrection of the Offland

Aired: 3/3/1972

From Alexandre Dumas 'The Resurrection of the Offland.'

24. Boarded Window

Aired: 3/10/1972

From Ambrose Bierce's 'The Boarded Window.'