Episode 3: An Eye for an Eye

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The mysterious old Radio Listening Society Society podcast welcome to the mysterious old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense and horror stories from the golden age of Radio. I'm Eric. [00:00:35] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:00:35] Speaker C: I'm Joshua. We love scary old time radio stories. There's nothing quite like a disembodied voice telling a genuinely disturbing tale. But maybe that's just us. Maybe these stories don't actually hold up after all this time. So we're revisiting these old shows to put the terror on trial. Do they still work in the 21st century, or are we being deceived by nostalgia? Are these stories blood chilling or butt numbing? [00:01:01] Speaker B: For tonight's episode, I've chosen an eye for an eye from the BBC series the Price of fear. This episode has an unfair advantage when it comes to standing the test of time, since it's much younger than programs we typically mean when we talk about classic radio thrillers. It was broadcast in 1974, but it's not hard to name a lot of things from the 1970s that don't hold up today. So we'll see how an eye for an eye fares. This particular episode is written by William Ingram, who authored hundreds of radio scripts for the BBC, with a distinct gift for tales of terror and suspense. Ingram passed away three years ago at the age of 82. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Of course, what makes the price affairs so special is the show's star, Vincent Price, known by this point. Price is, of course, a well established horror icon, thanks to a series of film adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories directed by Roger Corman. But long before that, he had a full career on the radio, including appearances on suspense and escape. He notably portrayed the title character in the saint from 1947 to 1951. [00:02:04] Speaker B: As you listen to the episode, pay attention to the lavish descriptions of both the beautiful and the grotesque. Vincent Price is a master of both and fair warning. The grotesque parts are vivid. There's some disgusting stuff in here. Price frequently played himself in these stories as a globetrotting gourmand who somehow keeps finding himself in these terrible situations. So, gentlemen, let's listen to an eye for an eye. [00:02:26] Speaker C: Forget the petty distractions around you. Forget what you think you know. Forget everything but what you hear. Right now it's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices. [00:02:58] Speaker D: The price of fear brought to you by Vincent Price. Hello. I know there are those amongst you who will consider the old adage every picture tells a story as debatable as it is familiar. As a lifelong art collector and enthusiast myself, I have often speculated that the story surrounding a picture, the human drama, can prove infinitely more fascinating than any story in paint trapped within the confines of a frame. And the tale I'm about to tell you, which I've called an eye for an eye, will, I'm sure, convince you of the truth of this. Recently, I went to an important sale of impressionist paintings. The auction room, just off London's fashionable St James, was packed to capacity with art speculators from the four corners of the globe. [00:04:05] Speaker E: Lot 23, August. Renoir anemones. Oil on canvas, 38 inches by 14. An opening bid of 25,000 and 535. Bidding at 35. Against you, sir. [00:04:24] Speaker F: 40. [00:04:25] Speaker G: 45, thank you. [00:04:26] Speaker D: Now standing at 45, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Dega, each in their turn, glowed briefly down at us from the auctioneer's easel, to be knocked down with almost indecent haste and returned backstage for crating and shipping. [00:04:46] Speaker E: Lot 97. Camille. [00:04:49] Speaker D: The auctioneer's voice was tiring. Now. The serious business of the day was over. [00:04:55] Speaker E: Lot 98. Study of a girl, attributed to Pisaro. Unsigned, unauthenticated. Oil on canvas, 20 inches by twelve, from the estate of the Count Luigi de la Santa. Opening bid. [00:05:12] Speaker D: Invited, I think, ladies and gentlemen, study of a girl. And there she was, smiling into the gloom of that near deserted auction room. My old friend Luigi de la Santa, notorious inquisitor of yachts and palazzos and paintings and celebrities. Now hear this. His last prized acquisition. Study of a girl. As I consulted the catalog and smiled ruefully that even in death, Luigi steadfastly insisted on his beloved title of count. It seemed ironically appropriate that the pedigree of his beloved painting should now turn out to be as unauthenticated as his own. But how long ago it all seemed. How long? Midsummer. I'd just completed a long stint of filming in and around Naples. After the sweltering heat of those studio arcs, Luigi's invitation to spend a few days with him on his yacht anchored off of Sorrento would have been eagerly accepted in any event. But I remembered, as the launch ferried me across the mere smoothness of that beautiful bay, that it was the prospect of at last viewing Luigi's recently acquired Pisaro that made the invitation totally irresistible. [00:06:41] Speaker F: Well, Genzo, you like it? [00:06:45] Speaker G: Well. [00:06:47] Speaker D: It'S beautiful. [00:06:48] Speaker F: Quite beautiful, of course. You see, Contessa, didn't I tell you that my very good and wise friend would come and that he would like it didn't I? [00:06:58] Speaker G: Yes, Luigi, you did. [00:07:00] Speaker F: And now, Vicenzo, you must tell me how much you like it. $5,000. [00:07:06] Speaker G: Worth. [00:07:07] Speaker F: $10,000, Luigi. [00:07:09] Speaker D: She's exquisite. [00:07:11] Speaker F: Exquisite. She is perfection. She is the perfection of perfection. [00:07:16] Speaker G: She is the perfection of perfection. You are spilling your wine, Carol. [00:07:20] Speaker F: And yet, would you believe it when I tell you, my friend, there are still those diletantes, those ingrates, those whoremongers who have the gall to insult the intelligence by saying that it cannot be the work of the master? [00:07:33] Speaker D: But, Luigi, the master did not think fit to sign it. [00:07:37] Speaker F: What need for him to sign it when every line makes a signature? I tell you, this is not a painting. It is an experience. She is alive, vibrant. [00:07:48] Speaker G: Such passionate enthusiasm, Luigi. I shall begin to suspect I have acquired a rival. Vicenzo, if you will permit, it is not the wine of my country. But then it is not the wine of my choosing. The count prefers to import. So instead of one of fortune, permit me to wish you bonchance. [00:08:11] Speaker D: Bonchance. As she proposed the toast, the charms of Luigi's contessa Ditera made those the artist's model, obvious, commonplace. And it was almost as though the contessa were reading my thoughts. [00:08:28] Speaker G: But I feel sure you will forgive dear Luigi's schoolboy enthusiasm for this new acquisition. Vicento, as a lifelong friend, you will doubtless have witnessed many such enthusiasm. [00:08:40] Speaker D: It isn't difficult to forgive. I so wholeheartedly share it. [00:08:44] Speaker F: Bravo, my friend. [00:08:45] Speaker G: Perhaps. But between you and Luigi, the appreciation has always been different, I think. [00:08:52] Speaker D: Oh, how different. [00:08:54] Speaker F: Be warned, Bigenzo, it is not wise. [00:08:58] Speaker G: To encourage her, because watching you see the painting for the very first time, there was peace. It was not hard to tell that for you, the appreciation was for the talent it contained, for the genius. You understood what had been attended and what had been achieved. [00:09:16] Speaker F: And for me, is it not the same for me? [00:09:19] Speaker G: Luigi, permit me to finish. You see, Vincenzo, before Luigi permits me the time to make a point. He is so perfectly demonstrating it. It is not what the painting does inside of him that makes him so determined to possess it. It is simply because there are others who might wish to possess it even more than he does. The price is all that is important for him. He asks how much you think it is worth. $5,000.10. And when you refuse to give him. [00:09:54] Speaker D: The answer, am unable to. [00:09:58] Speaker G: How brittlely he sulks. Oh, it's not his fault, you understand. It does not make me love him less. But everything in this so beautiful life is reduced to the level of price, status, possession, everything which is bad enough, but everyone worse. Much worse. But possession, life cannot always be that simple. People, things cannot always be caught in the net of our understanding. Just as it is not always possible to divorce the manner of our deaths from the manner of our lives. [00:10:45] Speaker F: Much talk makes for much hunger. [00:10:49] Speaker E: Scude, count. La colazione cervito. [00:10:52] Speaker F: Si, Carlos. Si. Come, my friends, we are to take luncheon on the deck. Besides, after so much play acting in the dark, Vicenzo, it is now necessary we'll turn the colour to your cheeks. [00:11:04] Speaker D: It's nothing I'd like better. [00:11:05] Speaker F: Also, and most important, Luigi has yet another treat in store for you. [00:11:10] Speaker D: Another? See? [00:11:12] Speaker F: To mark the private viewing of his so beautiful painting, the great Luigi, master chef of all the Italias, has himself created a unique gastronomic masterpiece. Emil, worthy of a gourmet of such international repute as you. [00:11:30] Speaker D: Oh, my dear Luigi, such flattery. At this rate, the color will be returned to my cheeks much sooner than you anticipate. [00:11:39] Speaker F: We shall see, Vicento. [00:11:40] Speaker D: We shall see, Contessa. [00:11:43] Speaker G: We shall see. [00:11:46] Speaker D: Our lunch party looked like being a jolly affair to begin with. Anyway. The wine and the sun went straight to our heads and the contessa's affectionate baiting of Luigi continued good. Humorously, as the first course was served, the question of Luigi's title provided her readiest target of attack. As to his true origins, well, there were many who insisted that his father could still be found running a small traterier in that straggling, impoverished town we now viewed across the bay. [00:12:25] Speaker G: So why doesn't he admit it? Be proud to admit it. You see, it is always so. What he refuses to accept, he laughs away. Is that not so, Vicenzo? [00:12:38] Speaker D: I think I'll just concentrate on this. Excellent. [00:12:41] Speaker G: Oh, but you disappoint me. What? You tell me that you too are afraid to burst this ridiculous balloon. [00:12:49] Speaker F: Perhaps because Vicenzo has the good sense to realize it is not a balloon and that it certainly is not ridiculous. [00:12:58] Speaker G: What is it? [00:13:01] Speaker F: It is an insult. It is a double insult of my lineage and breeding. [00:13:08] Speaker D: I'm sorry, Luigi. [00:13:10] Speaker G: So don't be, my friend. It's good to laugh at such archaic distinction. [00:13:15] Speaker F: Vicenzo has seen the papers. Is that not true? [00:13:19] Speaker D: I have seen papers. [00:13:21] Speaker G: Papers are for the forging. So has Vicenzo seen my papers? Of course he has not. And why has he not? Because he does not need to. He has only to use his eyes to realize I am of the line, just as you are of the gutter. [00:13:39] Speaker F: Then why does a contessa dishonor her line by sitting at my table. [00:13:44] Speaker G: Because even a penniless contessa has to eat somewhere. And like his cook of a father and his cook of a grandfather before him, Count de Luigi still makes the best fish soup in the whole of Italy. [00:14:00] Speaker A: True, Carol, true. [00:14:02] Speaker F: My father and his father before him made the best soup. [00:14:05] Speaker G: Court Carlo. [00:14:11] Speaker D: The contessa's high praise for Luigi's culinary skills were justified, certainly, whether inherited or not. After a lifetime of experience, I've come to the conclusion that there are only really two kinds of master chef. Those who have spent long years perfecting their skills, and those who have added to this a simple flair. An ability to transform the simplest meal into something near approaching a work of art. [00:14:44] Speaker F: But now, my good friends, your attention, your undivided attention, if you please. It is with the greatest pride and pleasure Luigi himself presents to you his own original creation. Bestiality of the house. Vicenzo. [00:15:05] Speaker D: Luigi waited as I peered into the deep serving terrain he set in front of me. I remember thinking that after the great build up he'd given it, his specialty of the house turned out to be something of an anticlimax. The ingredients were certainly commonplace enough, served on a bed of rice, a veritable hutch potch of. Well, of all the kinds of fish native to the locality. Something I'd frequently enjoyed with a bottle of ordinary vino at any harborside trateria. [00:15:38] Speaker F: So you like it? But now, why don't you look even closer, my friend? [00:15:44] Speaker D: He was waiting again, so simply to oblige him. I did look closer, and then I saw it. A large octopus sat squarely upon its bed of lobster pieces and king sized prawns. To my best recollection, I'd never seen one cooked whole before. So perhaps this was the special touch my italian friend had in mind. And then it happened. The creature's great saucer eyes opened and gazed balefully into mine. My God, it was alive. [00:16:26] Speaker F: Now he sees. So, how do you like my little beauty? [00:16:30] Speaker D: I'm not sure, but I have created a new delicacy. A live delicacy. [00:16:37] Speaker G: Alive. Vicenzo. [00:16:40] Speaker F: Between us, we will set a new gastronomic trend, you see. Oh, purists like the confessor may at first condemn it. A return to Marine cannibalism, perhaps. But I tell you, Vicenzo, and you will agree for yourself, that in the gastronomic stakes, a live lobster boat screaming to the boil will prove strictly for the peasant. Now, please. [00:17:12] Speaker D: Well, taste it. I'm sorry. At first. Well, at first I just thought it was some kind of a joke. [00:17:22] Speaker F: A joke? [00:17:23] Speaker D: Well, as a matter of fact, I'm still not sure if you. But it isn't, is it? No, I'm sorry, Luigi. [00:17:36] Speaker F: You object. [00:17:37] Speaker D: Well, simply, let's say, decline. [00:17:40] Speaker F: But why? [00:17:41] Speaker D: I can't explain. [00:17:42] Speaker G: Try, for Luigi's sake. Why don't you try? [00:17:46] Speaker D: Well, even for Luigi's sake. Well, I'm just not sure I can. It's something to do with the very aliveness of the thing, of course, but more than that, it's the eyes. A sort of watchfulness in the eyes. [00:18:07] Speaker F: You disappoint me, my friend, you know that? You disappoint me. [00:18:13] Speaker D: I'm sorry, you object, but you cannot. [00:18:16] Speaker F: Even begin to explain why you object. [00:18:19] Speaker G: Luigi, please. Vicenzo is your guest. [00:18:22] Speaker F: For which I'm sorry. Because not only does he show a singular lack of adventure, but because he stupidly finds the dish somehow objectionable on humanitarian grounds. True or not? [00:18:35] Speaker D: True. [00:18:36] Speaker F: But why? The oysters you love, are they not live a well known scientific fact. All sea creatures are impervious to pain. Any ten year old angler will tell you, my friend, they have no brain, no mind, no nervous system, let alone this so called finer feelings which you and the contessa would seem to attribute to them. Apart from which the pathetic specimen you see before you is itself possessed of those same cannibal instincts which you now accuse me of possessing. [00:19:11] Speaker D: I accuse you of nothing, Luigi. [00:19:13] Speaker F: Owl is sucking into the disgusting chasm of its stomach a million tiny sea creatures to first digest and then spew out the remains which are neither palatable or necessary to its uniquely selfish existence. [00:19:26] Speaker G: Except that you have overlooked one thing, Luigi. We have no way of knowing. In spite of the sworn word of any ten year old angler, we have no way of really knowing whether the creature we see squirming in front of us is capable of feeling or not knowing. [00:19:43] Speaker F: My dear concessor, what is there to know? [00:19:46] Speaker G: Everything. Anything. Simply because perhaps it chooses to reveal nothing. We shall never know. Not unless it were possible for one of us to take its place at this very moment, to be on the receiving end. [00:20:12] Speaker F: Permit me to produce the evidence. [00:20:18] Speaker D: With a single, deft circular movement of his knife, Luigi removed one of those enormous eyes. The creature attempted vaguely to scale the deep sides of the dish, but at last, realizing there could be no escape, floundered back stonily regarding Luigi with its one remaining eye. The mucus from its socket mingled now with the rich madeira of the sauce that had replaced its natural element. Luigi regarded it dispassionately, then flicked the eye on the heavy silver of his embossed plate. That evening, over after dinner brandy's my squeamishness turned to embarrassment. An apology seemed in order and I was happy to provide it. [00:21:15] Speaker F: But, my dear Vicenzo, there is nothing to be forgiven unless it is the weather. More parent. [00:21:22] Speaker D: Oh, thank you. [00:21:24] Speaker F: I had planned on taking the launch to show you a few of the night spots across the bay. But I'm afraid until the storm decides. [00:21:32] Speaker D: To blow itself out, think no more of it. I'm really perfectly happy. [00:21:36] Speaker F: Which is a good deal more than can be said for the contessor, I think. Isn't that so, Carol? [00:21:42] Speaker G: If you say so, Luigi. Then I suppose it must be. [00:21:45] Speaker F: But you've hardly said a word since lunch. [00:21:47] Speaker G: Haven't I? [00:21:48] Speaker F: You know you haven't. [00:21:49] Speaker G: Then I can only blame the storm. Unless it is that it's late and I'm tired. I really would like to retire for the night. [00:21:58] Speaker D: But of course. [00:21:59] Speaker F: So soon? Contessa, the night is young. [00:22:04] Speaker G: No, dear Luigi, the night is never young. It is the same age at its birth as at its death. It is we who must inhabit the bright lights of day. We grow old, as old as we are allowed to grow. Good night. [00:22:28] Speaker D: Good night, contess. [00:22:34] Speaker F: A cigar, perhaps? [00:22:37] Speaker D: I'm sorry, Luigi, I wasn't. [00:22:39] Speaker F: Now you're doing it again, my friend. Apologizing for one thing and overreacting for another. [00:22:45] Speaker D: Am I? [00:22:46] Speaker F: Yes, you are overreacting to my contessor. But then you have been all day. [00:22:50] Speaker D: Well, then, I certainly didn't intend to. [00:22:54] Speaker F: But found it impossible not to. [00:22:57] Speaker D: Well, it is late, Luigi. [00:23:00] Speaker F: You see, my friend, the effect she has on us is infectious. [00:23:03] Speaker D: Oh, please. I only meant it's been rather a long day. But if you'd rather. [00:23:09] Speaker F: No, I insist. Whatever our mysterious lady claims to the country, tomorrow is another day. We shall welcome it together. [00:23:19] Speaker D: Well, good night, Luigi. By the way, it's macabre of me, I know, but what did you want to know? [00:23:29] Speaker F: What happened to our one eyed sea monster? Yes, thrown overboard with the rest of the garbage. Oh, not out of any finer sense of returning it to its own, I do assure you. Its remains will attract the other sea creatures. The cycle of cannibalism perpetuates itself. Besides, it makes for excellent fishing. If you promise to get up before noon, I'll get one of the crew to fix us up with a couple of lines. [00:23:57] Speaker D: Good night. I lay in my cabin listening to the storm. It was strange how deeply Luigi's mood of the evening had disturbed me. The extrovert arrogant Luigi. And it had been a long day. So sleep now. Gently, gratefully, into sleep. Sleep. [00:25:01] Speaker F: Isabella? Isabella Monamore? Is that you? [00:25:07] Speaker D: Isabella? [00:25:08] Speaker F: Don't believe me? No, please don't. Isabella. [00:25:12] Speaker G: Oh, my God. No. [00:25:28] Speaker D: It was the steward, Carlos, who found him. But having seen what he had seen, he would not again venture into the cabin. Straddled grotesquely across the bed in a splatter of torn flesh and blood was the thing that had been Luigi. There were the marks of giant tentacles about the dull, snapped head. The tongue rolled gigantic from between those swollen, purple lips. But overall, there was the unmistakable evidence that the whole head had been somehow inexplicably pulped outwards, as though it had first been sucked in under some enormous, unnatural pressure fed upon and the remains spewed out again onto the fine linen of those monogrammed pillows. But not all spewed back, not all totally discarded. For when I could bring myself to look at the thing again, there was no mistaking the fact only one of Luigi's eyes stared back at me. The other socket lay seeping empty. The contessa was standing at my side. [00:27:05] Speaker G: How do we know they have no feeling? How do we know they are not capable of understanding and of revolt? And if revolt, why not revenge? A revenge to be fearfully enacted by others of their own kind, larger, stronger, more terrifying than anything we dare imagine? There is no evidence such monsters do exist. But is there any proof that they do not? [00:27:49] Speaker D: I looked away from that single cyclops eye and leading from what remained a trail of slime, much like the slime of some enormous slug, I followed its course. It climbed the french brocade wallpaper, shattered the high chromium finish of the porthole, crossed the deep teak polish of the deck beyond, and from thence, it slimed down the hull. The spew of it still floated out there, oil like on the then it descended eternally into the dark depths that lay beneath. [00:28:59] Speaker F: That was Vincent Price, bringing you the price of fear with Roger Snowden, Anne Jemison and Christopher Bidmead. An eye for an Eye was first recounted and dramatized by William Ingram and produced by John Dyess. [00:30:24] Speaker A: You're listening to the mysterious old radio Listening Society podcast. I'm Eric. [00:30:29] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:30:29] Speaker C: I'm Joshua. [00:30:30] Speaker A: We just got done listening to the BBC series the price of fear with Vincent Price and the episode an eye for an eye. And it was chosen this week, this episode chosen by Tim. And of course, we will now head into the jury part of our show where we discuss and decide if this truly stands the test of time as far as being still scary by today's standards, putting terror on trial. Interesting. Tim, you chose for this week. When we talk about old time radio, we always usually stay right within the late thirty s, forty? S into the mid fifty s. And you went right to the 1970s here early on in our podcast career. Why this episode? [00:31:17] Speaker B: My history personally, of listening to old time radio broadcast is a very kind of hodgepodge. I listen to collections that people put together. So the first time I heard this one, I didn't really recognize how much later it was in others, although listening to it now, it makes sense. So when I was trying to think of what I want to use for the first choice, this popped to mind. And then I found out, oh, this is much later, but I still want to go with it. I also think it's a nice contrast. The first two we did were very much classic old time radio and kind of ringers. It's sort of a gimme that those will probably stand the test of time. This one's a real oddball. [00:32:00] Speaker A: I would say that your whore, as far as what you are attracted to and what you like is more contemporary than Joshua and eyes, and you bring us more contemporary kind of things and we're always exposing you to older things. Would that be accurate? [00:32:20] Speaker B: I think that's a good generalization. [00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So you're more familiar with. You would probably choose something from CBS radio, mystery Theater or the price of fear, BBC in the something of more of that era. [00:32:36] Speaker B: I also wanted to choose this one to put in a sort of classic discussion venue because it's so interesting to me that this is the same year, I think same year as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:32:49] Speaker B: Which is crazy. [00:32:50] Speaker C: That is really weird. Well, it's very old style when you compare it to Texas Chainsaw. [00:32:57] Speaker A: Yes, let's, I'll start and I'll throw this out there. Wow. I was really confused for a long time talking to Joshua about this earlier. Joshua, kind of, you have this synopsis of the plot that makes me laugh in a way of like, this is happening and then this is happening, then this is happening and what's going on. Where are we going with this? [00:33:23] Speaker C: I think early in this show, Vincent Price is like every picture tells a story and in this case it's sort of a convoluted, incomprehensible story. [00:33:33] Speaker A: Right. [00:33:34] Speaker C: Because it moves from this strange setting of it's a story about an auction, a painting, and then it's on a boat. And then I will say that there's sort of some tension in the beginning because there's these sort of bickering conversations between the count and the countess. And I really felt that this was going to be something like a murder of the countess. Like, we were seeing this tension between the three of them, and then it suddenly becomes a live octopus attack. It's very strange how it moves and what thematics it plays with. And it's weird that Vincent Price is such a jerk, because the countess is just utterly emasculating this guy. [00:34:22] Speaker A: Right? [00:34:22] Speaker C: Vincent Price is like, yes, you're not wrong. [00:34:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I will totally confess that maybe like, 90% of my absolute adoration of this episode is just Vincent Price being his weird, campy, horrific self. [00:34:40] Speaker A: We've just discussed this before, and this is much like, there are things that I bring up that make people so mad. Like, if I say, oh, I don't know, I don't like Star wars much, and then people, right, they go crazy. Vincent Price. And you know that he's a little campy, he's a little foppish. He's not that scary to me. But I will tell you, this is one of my more favorite things that I've listened to or seen him in, but it's hard for me to get past Vincent Price. I don't find him scary as much as, like, a parody of scary. Do you know what I mean? [00:35:17] Speaker C: He's from an earlier era in which, and I'm not sure where the origins of this are, but where evil is somehow sophisticated. Maybe it's this idea of something satanic, as in intelligent and smooth and attractive, whereas now scary is sociopathic, and you're talking about the Texas Chainsaw massacre coming out the same year. That's a very different idea of what is terrifying, where this is more old school scary. And here he's not scary, but he's more like the saint here from the earlier radio shows, where he's just, I'm traveling around meeting various sociopathic people and chuckling at them. [00:35:56] Speaker B: That's an aspect that appeals to me of that this is a very cultured group of people he's with, and it's fine dining and whatnot. And then there is this one guy. If you peel back a little layer of culture, this is a monster. He's a sociopath who wants to serve live animals to people for. [00:36:16] Speaker A: Yeah, so, right. That's so much here. First of all, to go back to the Vincent Price thing, the cartoonish part of it is what I have a hard time getting over. I completely agree with. Oh, look, I'm very sophisticated and I'm very proper, and I'm very almost charming in his way. And yet you peel this layer back, and he's got people in the trunk of his car. Right. I get that. But he is so such a cartoon about it that it's hard for me to get over that sometimes, if you. [00:36:49] Speaker B: Know, more as, like, egghead side of his career. [00:36:51] Speaker A: Right? [00:36:52] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. But, like, abominable Dr. Fibs and theater blood are. [00:36:56] Speaker A: Wow, you're pulling out some Vincent Price trivia. [00:37:00] Speaker B: I love those. And it is that same thing of, like, this is kind of campy and fun. Oh, that's horrible. And they go hand in hand, and I love it. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Now, you just brought up the idea of layer being peeled back, that he's forcing people to eat weird food. Right. To me, that wasn't so much scary as this guy. Like, these three were the precursor to jackass. [00:37:25] Speaker B: Well, the scary. [00:37:26] Speaker A: All right, here's what I brought on the boat this week. [00:37:28] Speaker B: Try this part that I liked about it was scary and disturbing is that sort of awkward moment of having to explain to the guy, was it the count? [00:37:38] Speaker C: Yep. [00:37:39] Speaker B: Explain to the count why this is wrong. Because he didn't get it. [00:37:44] Speaker C: And my favorite part is that Vincent Price at first says, I can't quite explain why. And you're like, what? [00:37:49] Speaker A: Why? [00:37:49] Speaker C: It's not a nuanced position to take. It's alive octopus. [00:37:55] Speaker A: That really bugged me. Like, why is everybody so mad? Sings alive. No, I'll pass. Hey, what do you mean you'll pass? Hey, pally. Like, everybody's so mad. I'm like, whoa. No, right? That's perfectly logical. [00:38:07] Speaker B: This is a story. I know it is. Contrary to what you especially, like, people react wrong here, like, to everything, to the body. The contessa makes a nice little speech as opposed to being horrified and screaming. [00:38:20] Speaker C: Yeah, the contessa is like, this reminds me of the themes of this episode. Let me pontificate upon this. [00:38:28] Speaker A: Do you think the set up in the art gallery and all that was to set this up, that these people are so far removed from society and reality that these things that they do and the reaction to it become normal because they're gray gardens, rich, and have not seen the real world? Do you know what I'm saying? Is that there. So that she can make this weird speech and that he can have this reaction to him not eating, even the fact that he brings out this to eat, they're just allegory of the cave, kind of. [00:39:00] Speaker B: I do think it's people that have never seen the world. A strong theme that sort of takes the place of plot in that they're contrasting how Vincent and normal rich people, or normal cultured people, I should probably say, react to art and have this compassionate, sympathetic. It's beautiful. I react to this in a human compared to the count, who only there's sort of mercenary about it and does not have a connection or compassion. [00:39:26] Speaker C: And so he's punished by being eaten by an octopus. [00:39:29] Speaker B: Yes. And that even at the end, when he's describing, well, I got rid of the body and put it in the water because it'd make the fishing better so I can catch and devour more things. [00:39:40] Speaker A: I will say that writing wise, I got confused in the actual attack. I didn't understand what was attacking them. And for a while, I thought it was just the eyeball that he had thrown overboard. Right. Well, the eyeball, which. It's kind of scary, but it wasn't. Right. It's a bigger. Like, the big brother of the octopus. [00:40:00] Speaker B: Some other octopus got mad, assume saw the body, went jerk, slop, slop. [00:40:05] Speaker A: Somehow in the description of it, I thought, oh, the eyeball he threw over. Doesn't he throw the eyeball? [00:40:11] Speaker B: Throws the whole thing. [00:40:12] Speaker A: Right. And somehow I just thought it was just the. I had to go back and go, well, it's not the eyeball, but it was a little confusing in that. But, yeah. So he gets killed by nature, gets. [00:40:20] Speaker C: The octopus, comes in and just devours his head. It's just disgusting. And describes it as, like, some giant thing sucked up his head and spit it back out onto the fancy monogrammed linens. Because, of course, Vincent Price is like, forget about the dead body. Those linens are nuts. [00:40:38] Speaker A: Oh, my God, the linens. Yeah. It's disjointed storytelling. And I will tell you this. I know Tim, and I love Tim for this. Tim likes this for this reason. You adore the weirdness of how this is written, don't you? And how disjointed it is. [00:41:01] Speaker C: You sound like you're throwing accusations, don't you? Don't you? [00:41:05] Speaker B: I love that reaction at the end of something, what just happened to me, right. And then feeling like I can get something out of this if I put some work into it. [00:41:17] Speaker A: Why aren't you disappointed when you find out, no. Terrible writing. It was terrible. [00:41:22] Speaker B: Yes. [00:41:22] Speaker A: And you put all that work into it. [00:41:24] Speaker B: That is usually, like a year later when I've spent a lot of time defending it to my. No, no, you don't understand, right. [00:41:32] Speaker A: That you find. Oh, it's just terrible. [00:41:34] Speaker B: I didn't. [00:41:37] Speaker A: So. [00:41:38] Speaker B: But this I liked. [00:41:39] Speaker A: You do? What's the. I want to ask you each this. What did you, Tim, like the most about what is the essence of this. [00:41:47] Speaker B: Story and this piece that you loved to confess? It's just Vincent Price. And I love that he's putting himself in these own stories as this ridiculous character who travels around the world meeting horrible people and having dinner with them. [00:42:05] Speaker A: And then force feeding them. Anthony Bourdainish it is. [00:42:09] Speaker B: It's an acting surprise. Like, oh, my goodness, this person's a psychopath. Well, I gotta go. [00:42:15] Speaker A: What do you mean you won't eat that, jerk? You're on a boat ride. What do you like about it best? Joshua? [00:42:24] Speaker C: I have to admit, it makes no thematic or narrative sense. [00:42:28] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:42:29] Speaker C: However, when the count comes up with this live octopus, there's something. Just. What the heck is going on? Quality is pretty entertaining. Mean, I couldn't get over that he. [00:42:42] Speaker A: Got mad at him. [00:42:43] Speaker G: Yeah. [00:42:43] Speaker A: For not eating it. [00:42:44] Speaker C: I see. I couldn't get over. Vincent Price was still just struggling for words to explain why. It has something to do with the aliveness of the eye. It's like, what do you guess? It has a lot to do with the aliveness of. It has everything to do with looking at me. [00:43:01] Speaker A: It's looking at me. He's like, it's subtle, but my father used to order his steak rare. And how would you like your steak? And he got a big kick out of saying, walk the cow through a warm room, then hit it in the head. [00:43:16] Speaker C: Oh, man. He'd get along with Price. [00:43:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Right, right. All right, well, let's make our choices here. I think that Tim, you obviously picked it. It scared you. [00:43:29] Speaker B: I will give this a qualified stance. Test time. I think it is disturbing, even for all of the qualities of campiness or kind of 1970 sness on it. It's not so much a suspenseful thing, but it's very disturbing and weird. So I give my own choice. A qualified. [00:43:50] Speaker F: Yes. [00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah. The 1970s of it. Without any descriptors. I think we all see them in polyester suits and scarves. They all have a scarf. Yes, absolutely. And it's 98 degrees on that boat. [00:44:07] Speaker B: And yet I've melted to my chair. [00:44:13] Speaker C: Joshua, Tim used the word weird, and that's what I would describe this. I don't think it's scary, but it is weird, and it is at least entertaining. I do think it's convoluted. It feels like it's two different stories. There is one story about art. [00:44:27] Speaker A: No there's six different, you're right. [00:44:29] Speaker C: There's at least three different possible scenarios. I set up this whole other story about art and about the count and whether he has any legitimacy as a count and his girlfriend who belittles him. Let's just throw that all out the window and go with a live octopus who eats his head. [00:44:51] Speaker A: You get the feeling you got a phone call and went, are you done with that script yet? [00:44:55] Speaker C: And he's yeah. So I found it highly entertaining, and I would actually like to listen to more of these. Price of fears again, speaking to Tim's Vincent Price love. I just think Vincent Price being a globetrotting gourmand is hilarious. [00:45:15] Speaker A: All right, so I don't think it was particularly scary by any standard. It was disjointed. It was weird. I don't have a great love affair with Vincent Price. All that being said, this is my favorite podcast and my favorite that we've done of this and the most fun I've had so far because it was so odd and I had to think so much. It was so easy with some of the others that we've done say, okay, why is it scary? Is it scary? Yes, I got scared, blah, blah, blah. Like the acting right up my alley. This forced me to think about things, and it forced me to go, what is going on? And it was difficult to follow and why is that happening? And to let some things go. Let it go. So let it go. We're moving on. It's an octopus now. [00:46:07] Speaker C: Sorry, listeners, no more great old radio shows. It's all going to be. [00:46:12] Speaker A: But I will say that I agree with Joshua 100%. I want to listen to more because now my mind's open to not to get too settled into. This is what the story is. And I will say that the basic concept of eating things and them coming back to get you is scary. I think it's been done. If anybody remembers food of the gods, no. Anybody that teased the movie. Okay, so when we're done with this podcast, we're going to watch nowhere. So I enjoyed this immensely, but not scary. But it doesn't matter. It was fantastic. So thank you. Mr. Thank you, Tim. Well, there we go. That is this episode of the mysterious old radio listening society podcast. I'm Eric. I'm Tim. [00:47:08] Speaker C: I'm Joshua. [00:47:09] Speaker A: Once again, we were listening to an eye for an eye from the BBC series the Price of Fear, starring Vincent Price. If you'd like to know more about us or the show or great links to other stuff about old time radio and the old theater of the mind. [00:47:22] Speaker B: Just go to ghoulishdelights.com. [00:47:25] Speaker A: Ghoulishdelights.com. And if you're there right now, just click around and I'm sure there's some kind of donate page. No? Okay. [00:47:32] Speaker C: We're working on it. [00:47:35] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening. We appreciate it. And remember, until next time we go.