Episode 346: The Tomb

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Look out. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Welcome to the mysterious old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime, and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric. [00:00:36] Speaker C: I'm Tim. [00:00:37] Speaker D: And I'm Joshua. [00:00:38] Speaker A: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? Well, that's what we're here to find out. [00:00:44] Speaker C: This week, I chose our episode the Tomb from the 11th hour, a series we have not featured before. [00:00:50] Speaker D: The history of the 11th hour is a little tricky to pin down, but here's what our best efforts could unearth. Artranza Park Studios in Sydney, Australia, began the series in 1959 on a local station. 52 episodes were recorded for syndication, and those were broadcast by South Africa's Springbok radio in 1963. After that first year, Artranza stopped producing the show, but Springbok decided to continue with their own episodes and did so through 1971. [00:01:24] Speaker A: The 11th hour sometimes drew liberally from more famous shows, such as suspense, inner sanctum, or lights out, and sometimes it blatantly stole from such shows. But it had the advantage of revisiting these stories and themes at a time when recording and engineering technology was more advanced than when their predecessors were being made. [00:01:44] Speaker C: Many recordings still exist. Although the sound quality can vary from episode to episode. It's not always clear when an episode was broadcast or whether it was Artranza production or Springbok. So, knowing as little as we do, let's listen to the tomb from the 11th hour. First broadcast sometime in the 1960s, probably. [00:02:03] Speaker D: 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. [00:02:37] Speaker B: Time, the silent herald of life and death. Success or failure. The unseen force that measures man's destiny. Reaching its most fateful moment as it slowly strikes the 11th hour. You've got to let me out. Let you out? What do you think this is, the taxi? Keep in quiet. Lynn can't drive without ragged in the back. Where are you taking me? But I would do what you told Sonny. You'll be all right. I've got to get out. My wife. When do I hold it? Shut it out for you. Get yourself roughed up if you're not careful. Can't we tell him what it's all about? Brad, the kid's got work to do. My botcher to be scared. Jeff might be right. Look at him. He's shaking like a jelly. Look, there's too many. Given orders around here. All right, son. You're David Porter. You work for the Loxley safe company, Incorporated, right? Yes, but how? You helped install the strong rumor Joseph Munson's the big jewelers. Well, are you? You know the combination? Now, come on, come on. Don't act dumb. You can open it. We check. Look, we got a job to do at Munson's tonight, and you're gonna help us. Oh, no, no, I couldn't do anything like that. No? What happened to the last blur, gur? Didn't want to help us, eh? Brad, dear, you. Now, you wouldn't want to make us do anything we'd be sorry for in the morning, now, would you? Ha. Not David. Why, he's got sense. But a wife, too, he said. Ain't she pretty? David, look, look, supposing I just tell you the combination. They didn't know it was me that told you. Just let me go. I wouldn't say I ever met you. Nothing doing, kid. Oh, we know you're gunn on his face. It'd be too easy for you, I know. We're taking you along in case you make a mistake. After busting in and fixing the alarms, we. We'd hate to find we couldn't open the safe. That'd be kind of frustrating, wouldn't it? Well, maybe. Maybe I can help you. Ah, that's more liking. Well, you see, I know quite a bit about Munson and his business. Well, you hear things when you're in my line. But he hasn't done much lately. You've been very quiet. Look, look, you wouldn't find much in the strong room even if you did break in. Not enough. Look, you can cut out that line of talk. Munson doesn't have to worry about the business. He does through the front door. It's the back door that counts. He's a fence. That's what your Munson is, a receiver of stolen goods. And right now, there's 50,000 pounds worth of stuff lying in that safe. 50,000 just waiting for us to collect. Next corner. Brad and Joseph Munson is out of town for the whole weekend. Well, that's why we picked you up tonight. We know you always slip out for a quick run around this time. Now, listen, do what you're told. Keep your mouth shut later, and you and your pretty wife will live happy ever afterwards if you don't. Right up, boys. Stop natter and get on with the job. Now, stick to the plan. When you park the car, then join us. I'll douse the alarms as usual, Jeff, you look after the kid. And don't act so glum. If we make a success of this job, it'll be our last. You'll be more than glad I talked into it. That's right, Jeff. Now your big brother's got the brains in this half that. Watch yourself, Brad. Yeah, I'll be right. Now. Come on, give me a leg up. All right. Here. I'll meet you at the door. Okay. Wait. Yeah. You'll never get away with us. The place is stiff with alarm. You don't know bread. But even if you do get in to Darnley, the whine to us. Now, come on. We gotta be at the door ready for bed when he gets there. Come on. You're hurting my arm. Sorry, kid, can't take any chances. I wonder what's keeping bread. We've got a plan. Of all the alarms, we should be through them by now. Someone coming. I told you, Tommy, don't try anything. Yeah. What are you doing here? You should be inside by now. I'm just getting bread. Okay, come in and be quick. Trouble. Okay, now, keep together. [00:07:55] Speaker C: What happened? [00:07:56] Speaker B: The alarms, they're a new type. Is everything all right? Yeah, once I fix the first one, the rest anymore. The strong room. That's all right. In here. All right. Now we can have some light. Look. There it is. A strong room for you, beauty. Now, friend. David. Hold it. Hold it. The alarm. Here, Charles, play. And I thought Munson was smart. Man who comes after he stuffed deserves to lose it, right? Bring him over, Jeff. Okay. Come on, kid. What are you gonna do to me? Don't worry, kid. Just open up the strong room. Come on. Come on. Please, sir. Cake. You wait on it. Truth, Brett. It's empty. What? You can see for yourself here. Stay where you are. Those jaws let into the walls, boy. Let me worry. Order. Come in here and show me the layout. Go on. Hey. Just enough room for the fear of us. What's going on here? [00:09:27] Speaker A: Look out. [00:09:27] Speaker B: It's munching behind you. Please break up. I'm fixing Jeff. Don't you get out. Grab the door. What? The strong room door. He shut it when I hit him. He shut it as he fell. What about Brady and he. We've got to get him in the kid house. This blow here. It's Munson, though. He eaten over. Oh, Munson. Munson. Wake up, Munson. I can't wait. You certainly cracked him a walrup, you clot. Come on, pull him away from the door. No good. He's out cold. Oh. What are they playing? At death. Open up. It's no use, artillery. You're wasting your time. They can't hear you. Oh, fools land. Yeah, we shut off, we sealed in. What happened? How should I know? I heard a shaft just before the door slammed. Why don't they open us? Well, they must. If not, we'll suffocate. Yeah, right. Let's have some light. That's better. Put it out. Yeah. Here. Were you ordering about? You're wasting air. Yeah. Yes, of course. Here. How long did it last in here? How should I know? Hour, 2, hours, 1011. Who knows? Let it out. Let me out. You hear that, Bear? Calm down, will you? Don't you see? The more panic, the more air you use up. Oh, yeah, here's a cause. Hey, I should have thought of that. We'll just have to sit still in the dark. It's our only child. I can't. Can't just sit here and wait. You know about claustrophobia? The fear of confined space is the only thing I'm afraid of. All right, all right, but don't talk, don't do anything. That's the only chance we've got. I'm not afraid of anything else. In the war, I fought in the jungle, killed men with me bare hands. You're in every tight spot you could think of. Not this. Not this. Look, you're wasting air, burning it up with torque, and we need it to live. Hey, I suppose I don't open the door. How? What'll we feel? Well, I read once, the first thing that happens is that you start fighting for breath, then you begin to sweat. Every little action becomes an effort, as though you were weighted down by lead. Then you start to go out to it. Here come yours account. Aren't you afraid? You can't see fear in the dark? I'm thinking, I guess, about your wife. Yeah, I'm more worried about her than myself. What do you see? She'll be wondering what's happened to me. I just went out for a drink I used to do on Friday nights. She'll be frantic, she's. Well, we go and have a baby, and you can sit there as calm as a cucumber. Panicking won't get me out of this. I'll just keep on saying that to myself. Who's panicking? Look, suppose we keep quiet and conserve air. It may have to wait longer than I thought. How's that? Because I've just remembered, the combination was only changed a short time ago. Well, unless I'm mistaken, only two people know the new one what people? Me and Munson. Munson might be back for 48 hours. Oh, they'll find him, all right. I might. Betsey has a reputation for disappearing into the country at odd times. Hey, I reckon the air will last 48 hours. Not if you keep on talking with the two of us. In the space this side, our only hope is two of us. Two of us using up the air. Now, if one of us was to. What do you mean? I got a gun, you know. A gun. Look, you wouldn't. Why not? What difference does it make killing the man in the jungle or in this? In the jungle, it was his life or mine. Well, it's much the same. Now, the way I see it, you're bluffing. Now, who's the one to panic, eh? Now, who feels like beating on the door? Well, you're just fooling, aren't you? Any message for your wife? Well, got anything to say before I let you have it, Porter? Yes, and you better listen. What? If you kill me, you kill your only hope of getting out alive. You try to tell me you know how to get out of here. I know how we both can keep on living. Ha ha ha. And now you're the one who's bluffing. I think so. Well, go on then. Pull that trigger if you want to. But if you do, you'll never know whether I was bluffing or not. Well, go on if you think I'm bluffing, shoot. What do you know then? First, hand over the gun. What do you take me for? I need the gun for what I've got to do. Bet you do. Look, would it be too much to ask you to try trusting your fellow men for a change? Trust? Hey, what is this, a salmon? Brother, when a fellow's live the way I have, that kind of talks, I've been. Waste of time. Okay, forget it. It was your only hope. Well, what would you do with a gun? In every Roxley strong room, there's a plug fitted for an alarm, an internal alarm, and it's an optional extra. But this safe hasn't got it. Then what? Well, the plug's a weak spot. With a gun, you could blast a hole big enough to let air in and big enough to get a message out. Okay, then let me do the job. Too risky. I know these safes. Unless you get the exact spot, all you achieve is a ricochet. And that's a bit dangerous in the space society. Look, if you're bluffing once in your life, you've got to believe someone. All right. Here, take the gun and be quick. Right. Now let me get round to the other side. All right, move. That's it. Now, the plug should be here. There should be a slight depression. I'll have to strike a match, I'm afraid. And hold it up here. Oh, no. Look. You see there? See that lump in the metal? Yeah. The plug's been filled. Has been riveted over. You wouldn't have been fooling me, would you? Even if I said I wasn't, you wouldn't believe me, would you? Give me that gun and my share of the air. In here. Knocked on your life, why? Don't try anything. Don't fearless in your it, eh? Now sit still and be quiet. Maybe we'll both live to see daylight again. Lynn, what do we do now? What do we do? We don't panic. We keep calm. That's what we do. But Brad's in there with that. We couldn't get him out. We got to get hold of the combination. Listen to the genius. Here, help me search Muncie. It's unlikely he'd have it written down, but you never know. Take a look to his wallet. Okay. You think we could have brought him round by now? Why do I have to hit him so hard? Lynn, I didn't mean to. I didn't know he closed the darn safe. My own brother. Well, there's nothing healed in. Look, look, I've had this job. I'm ready to wash my hands of an old thing. If we go to the safe company or all the police. Are you crazy? Look, hasn't it penetrated your thick skull? You almost killed a man. Don't you see? If we go to the police, we let 50,000 pounds slip through our fingers. Or be your age. But Brad's life. Leave it to Uncle Len. Now, first we'll do a spot of phoning over here. Who do you reckon knows the combination? Munson's manager, though. A likely vet. Low court Abe. Francis. Francis. Francis, Francis. Here it is. Number. All we got to do is check it at home. If so, around we go. What's the time, Noiton? You wouldn't be asleep yet? No, no, they've drawn a blank, boy. Mister Francis is known. That's too bad. Look, let's not play around anymore. The police would get the police company. Loxley. Hello, Rick. Hello. Yeah, here it is. No after hours numbers given. Only the caretaker. All right, all right. We'll see if he can help. Hello, is that the caretaker's residence? Locksley safes. Is that the caretaker speaking? No, it's his brother, George. Who's calling, please? It's Alf Jenkins, an old friend. Haven't seen him for years. I'm just in town. Bill will be sorry to be missed. You? Yeah, he's gone to a reunion dinner. He shouldn't be very long. Do you know where Bill's gone? I'll meet the address. No, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter. I'll be around in the morning. Oh, by the way, is he still living at the same place? Yes, just near the work entrance on the left. Thanks a lot. Goodbye. I'll tell him you rang. Goodbye. What now? Round of the Locksley works. We'll have a check with Mister Bill as soon as he gets home. What's the time now on South Parks? Two? We're no nearer to getting bread out. Look, he might be already dead. Look, can't we come clean about it? No, no, we can't come clean about it. Yeah, he's taking his time over dinner with our bill. Look, I tell your name, we should never. This is silly condition for a man to get in there. Ah, hello. Get into the car a minute, Bill. We want to have a little chat with you. Who are you? I don't know you yet, even. That's right. Now, look, fellas, I don't want to play games. I just want to go to bed. Come on, get in. Get in. That's better. You see, it isn't a joke. Now, answer me quickly. And no funny business. Where are the records of safe combinations kept? Where? In the manager's office. In a safe? Yes. And where's the manager? He's away. Away? Way away where? I don't know where he is. But I tell you, he always has a game of golf before breakfast on Sunday mornings. Whereabouts? Residence club, Redlands club. I reckon he's turned the truth, Jeff. Yep. Yeah, I reckon he is. All right, then, let's go. Wait a minute. You're coming with us, fella, and you better be telling the truth. There's two men's lives and a fortune at stake. But you do what we tell you. What's your manager's name? Mister Bella. Mister Andrew Bella. Okay. We're going after Redlands to wait for him. It's about time. Something coming now. All right. Wake up. You wake up. This fella coming along the drive, is he Bennett? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's him. Listen, call him over. Call him over here. And remember, you've got a gun sticking in your ribs. Mister Barrett, I. Mister Venomous. Good heavens, Hunter, what are you doing here? Desire. This gun's loaded. Mister Bennett, we have many time to waste. Now get in. What of all the country? Find out. Argue. This is a matter of life and death. Come on, get in. What's the meaning of this? You're an intelligent nun, or you wouldn't be what you are. So take all this in. We're driving you back to your works. When you get there, you're gonna open up your safe and tell us the combination of the strong room of Joseph Munson, the city jeweller. The lives of two men are at stake. I'm sorry, I can't help you. The combinations of safes and strong rooms are the property of the owners, not the Locksley safe company. The caretaker rules been changed. Now, there's no point in my calling you but your blood poor. I knew it. That was only at months request you have to conduct him. We can't home. Why? Because he's one of the men trapped inside the strong room. What? What's the time? Cord to wait. Drive straight back to Munson's place and step on it. All right, all right, but what's the use? Is there any way out of this at all? Benny, how does a man remember a five figure combination if he doesn't write it down? Any one of a hundred possibilities. Phone number backwards, his car registration number, his birthday. And numbers. We call these aides mnemonics. All right, Peter. All right. We're going back to Munson's. And we're gonna try every number we can lay our hands on until we get that strong room door open. Lynn, I can't take anymore. We tried everything. His life assurances, dog license, even a number of the darn safe itself. There must be a way. Something we've ever looked. Brad. Brad, we're trying to get you out. Do you hear me? You're wasting your time. They wouldn't hear a bomb go off. His car insurance number. We tried that. What's the time? It's. No, it can't be. But what you're stocking. Come on, someone. I never wear one at the weekends. Mine's a tremendous fine bunch for the watch among the four of us. What about Munster? Down there you have one wristwatch. Here we are. One of them old fashioned turnips. Says just on ten, if you can trust him. It's a priceless antique. Hey, try it with the watch. Here, give it to me. There. Inside the lid. A number. Every watch has one. Oh, I think. It's so faint, I can't make it out. Yeah, let me have it. Yes, here you are. 43869. Go on, Bennett, try it. That's it. Stand back. Stand back, all of you. What the. Keys. Go. Branch. Gun. Hold your gun. Jack. Get back or I'll shoot. I mean it. Leave his gun where it is. Mister Bennett. Bill Huntley. Take his gun. Mister Bennett. Porter, are you all right? Yes, yes. Where's Brad? What have you done with Brad? If you saw him, there's no need to go on in there and get your big, strong brother. He was breathing when I last touched him. But only just hold this gum for me, please, Bill. It's just a bit shaky. Police. Here. Look, I'm waiting for a month since the jewelers. I want to report an attempted robbery, but violence. Be listening for another mounting drama of action and suspense when we again bring you the 11th hour. [00:28:10] Speaker A: That was the tomb from the 11th hour here on the mysterious old radio listening society podcast. Once again, I'm Eric. [00:28:19] Speaker C: I'm Tim. [00:28:19] Speaker D: And I'm Joshua. [00:28:20] Speaker A: I love when we do stuff we've never done before and we get to learn something like, oh, here's another series we knew nothing about and hadn't touched on on this podcast. And there's just such a wealth of old time radio drama out there, it just, you know, I don't know what episode we're on, 300 and something. Um, but I keep thinking, you know, how many years are we going to do this and are we ever going to run out? It just seems like it's just an endless supply of material at our disposal. [00:28:51] Speaker C: Crushing burden. Yes. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Um, and I really love this intro because I was excited to find out what's the 11th hour all about? And we really don't know, which I actually find lovely. Like, I love it when we don't know stuff like where did it come from? And all of that, by the way, all of that we don't really know much about this always ends up going back to that south african radio stuff, like they had no record keeping at all or anything. So this was Tim's choice. Tim, what prompted you to bring this? [00:29:30] Speaker C: To skip ahead a few steps in the process, because there was numerous false starts of, I want to do a show that's like this from here. Listen, listen, listen. Nope. I want to do, like, this kind of show. Listen, listen, listen. Nope. So the one that panned out was, I want to find one of these australian or south african shows because there's a whole world of radio that happened in the southern hemisphere that we've dipped our toe into a little bit, but not a whole lot. So when I found the 11th hour. There was a lot of episodes, and I started listening to a few. I really liked what I was hearing, and I'll get into that more details as we talk. But one of the main reasons I chose this one was, as I said in the intro, there were some I listened to and, like, the sound quality is just too bad. [00:30:16] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:30:18] Speaker C: Which, you know, depending on your calibration of how old you are. [00:30:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:24] Speaker C: Some are better than that. But this one, I would, of course, if he immediately saw the title the tomb and thought, what's that about? And I thought, no, I'm not gonna do that. That's the obvious choice for me. And then skip ahead a couple hours like I'm doing the tomb. [00:30:39] Speaker A: Right. The other ones you listen to. How does this compare? Is it all kind of. Does this fit the style and the form of this, or is it all over the place? [00:30:50] Speaker C: I have a limited little peephole of which I have looked through this whole series. Some of them are more explicitly like, this is just a photocopy of suspense. And some of it is almost seems like a precursor to nightfall. In some ways of this is going to tell a story in a really different kind of weird way. Part of why I like the tomb is the storytelling structure and style. It's telling the same kind of story that you'd get from suspense, but in a more modern kind of way. [00:31:20] Speaker D: I thought, yes, it really gets to the castle at the top. That's the first thing I thought. You get squealing tires, help. Let me out. And suddenly you're in this car with this guy, and the story is just going. It's like you fell through a trap door into the story. I didn't expect them to start the story at the 11th hour. Like, literally, they started at the absolute latest. You could start it and still follow it. Any later in the story would require, like, a flashback or exposition. So I thought that was fascinating and hooked me right away. Now, I think the problem it suffers from is that when you start with that much momentum, it's hard to keep it right. And so I think it pays for that tension and excitement at the beginning with a little lack of energy at the end. [00:32:23] Speaker C: As I was starting to listen to it, I got like, okay, that's a bank robbery. Needs an open safe. I get it. The tomb is. They're going to get stuck in the safe. And so I was delighted when it's, like, ten minutes and the safe is the issue. Like, all that concern for. I see the ending coming is I see the beginning coming, and how much of the story was after that happened. So I had a different experience of when that moment hits of, like, our story has become very different now. That was a pleasure to me. [00:32:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:52] Speaker D: And maybe I'm not being clear enough. I think the first 15 minutes of this is brilliant. I did not expect the guy who owned the shop, Munson, to fall against the door to trap two of them inside, two of them outside. I think where it lost me is the decision not to stay. There it is in the strong room with those two. There it is, all the tension and them having to negotiate their relationship. As soon as it leaves, it becomes almost. [00:33:25] Speaker C: It's a different story. [00:33:26] Speaker D: Silly. [00:33:26] Speaker A: Yep. [00:33:27] Speaker D: It becomes a farcical, tensionless game with. [00:33:32] Speaker A: A resolution that just is. [00:33:36] Speaker C: Yeah. The very end beat I like on paper, but it wasn't executed well. [00:33:40] Speaker D: I enjoy the irony of the solution to a race against time story. Being in someone's pocket watch. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Sure. [00:33:48] Speaker D: That's fun. [00:33:49] Speaker A: In their turnip. [00:33:50] Speaker D: Yeah. In their big, fat, ugly pocket watch. The thing I think they really missed out. If you're going to leave the strong room and you've established that it's soundproof, take advantage of the fact that once we go on the other side of the door, we have no idea what's gone on in there. And I would have liked to have the end where they open that door and something has changed since we were last inside because the characters couldn't hear if it changed. We couldn't hear if it changed. And the fact that it just remained exactly where we left, it was a little bit of a damp squib, sad trombone combo. [00:34:31] Speaker A: You're. I'm going to repeat everything you just said, but just to. To back it up, you either stay in that and have two people in a room and suspense and the idea of how they're going to get through that. Right. Everything you just said, you just stay in that room. Or if you leave that room, when we come back, we need to have a surprise of what has unfolded in that room. Neither of those things happened. And again, I will also say I love that we were dropped from a trapdoor into that. Okay, we're in a car and you're going to give us the combination. And. And we were going and it lost so much. [00:35:09] Speaker D: Position is so natural, too. It's a scenario in which you grab this guy and you need to tell him what you need him to do so it doesn't feel stilted or artificial that the listener is being caught up along with David Porter. I mean, it sounds like I'm being critical because it's one of those weird things where I think I was blown away by the first 15 minutes of this. It's competing against itself. [00:35:30] Speaker C: No, I would vote to the criticism, and I think it's valid that they should have cut away while there is still a dispute of give me the gun. [00:35:39] Speaker D: No. [00:35:41] Speaker C: So that's up in the air as to who's going to have the gun when the door opens. [00:35:45] Speaker D: Yeah, I think we just needed one more switch. Although, honestly, that the scenes was so well written with the two of them in that strong room, that I could have stayed there for the full 30 minutes. [00:36:00] Speaker A: It feels like we could end this podcast discussion in the sense of you had something and you let it go and you didn't follow through on it, and then you had something else and you didn't pursue that storytelling wise. [00:36:18] Speaker C: Yeah, it cuts out of there, and then it's a totally different kind of story. [00:36:21] Speaker A: Yep. [00:36:22] Speaker D: And I think I might have liked that other kind of story better if they weren't so successful in the first half. [00:36:28] Speaker C: Yeah, that's fair. [00:36:29] Speaker A: What did you think of it, Tim, when you were done listening to it? Same reaction, very close, of just the. [00:36:34] Speaker C: Very, very end of like, I was enjoying it, enjoying it, and then it cuts out, and then it's this whole different kind of story of there's unknown amount of oxygen in this room. We gotta go. We gotta go. We have to make a solution. And every step of the way that the solution was we have to wait hours. For me, that was successful in sort of twisting the knife, of the expectation of, like, what is that? What are they gonna find when they open that door, if they can open that door? Like I say on paper, I liked the idea of they opened the door, and there's the guy that took hostage with the gun and calls the police. They've managed to successfully get themselves arrested in execution. It was like the argument between these four people, and it was like a theater show of these four people trying to open the safe. And the successful opening of the safe was, to me, the ending of it, and the rest was kind of like. And that's the plot just kind of shaking itself out. [00:37:29] Speaker D: Yeah. I think if there had been some change in who had the gun or something had happened that surprised us, when that door finally opened, they were kissing. Yeah, it would have been a little more exciting, and I would have forgiven the runaround that we went through for the last 15 minutes. But I think Eric and I have made a point. I don't mean to beat that into the ground. What I want to do is take one moment, though, to compliment that first half that I liked so much. And I know Eric mentions this a lot, that he gets hung up when people don't react in a logical way. And one of the things I appreciate about that first half is that David goes through all the rational avenues of escape in that he tries to jump out. He offers to just give them the combination. He attempts to persuade the captors that Munson doesn't have much money in his. There's no money there and none of it works. And then because they've established David's profession and that he installed this when he's inside the strong room and he has the upper hand because of his knowledge that all tracks, all the information is laid out so carefully and there's payoff almost every minute of that 1st 15 minutes that it's just really impressive. I love the moment when the guy who's stuck in there with David. David shames him for being so calm, as if he didn't lock this, kidnap this guy and put him in the safe. Like, you have a wife and kid. How can you be so calm? Shame on you. And like, it's just a nice bit of irony. [00:39:10] Speaker A: Nothing else to do. It's the only. Only recourse. I like that answer. [00:39:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:17] Speaker A: It's a hard discussion to have because for me, it's a very cut and dried discussion. And I agree with everything Joshua has just said about all of that. I think the other thing still, and I think the production quality is pretty good. I think it paces pretty well. Even when the story itself isn't a good pace. The. The actual production and performance of it's at a good pace. It just is such a sad trombone ending, like. And I kept. I'm with Joshua. When they open up that safe, I mean, they. Okay, we got it. Click, click. Okay, stand back. Okay. [00:39:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:00] Speaker A: All right, I got them. Call the cops. [00:40:05] Speaker D: It's also funny from our contemporary position where we have so many passwords, so many different id numbers, and they're like, how can someone remember a five digit number? [00:40:19] Speaker A: It's impossible. He's got to have written it down to. [00:40:24] Speaker D: I couldn't possibly. I have room in my brain for my Social Security number. That's it, right? [00:40:31] Speaker C: My dog license number. [00:40:37] Speaker A: I still know my college id. [00:40:39] Speaker C: That was also part of the. We got to go find somebody knows the combination for me was like, I know beforehand, nobody at that safe company knows that combination. Like the one. Like, I know that as a human being, who knows what safes are like, yep. [00:40:54] Speaker D: And sometimes, well, we were talking about this a couple weeks ago with August heat, about like this. Knowing the end sometimes is suspenseful in that sense of dread, that sense of inevitability. But in a script like this, it's like, well, now I just have to go through all these motions. And I know because it's an. The engine of the script runs on suspense. [00:41:15] Speaker B: I. [00:41:15] Speaker D: And so when you know the end for sure, it kills it. Although I do like, at the end, they've established that. Uh, Bill, I forget what his connection to the safe company was. Uh, but he's drunk from night at a reunion and not knowing that when David steps out of the safe, he's like, here, Bill, take the gun and cover them. [00:41:39] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:39] Speaker D: Gave it to the drunk guy. [00:41:41] Speaker B: Right. [00:41:41] Speaker D: My hands are shaking here. Drunk you, McDrunkerson? [00:41:46] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:47] Speaker D: Point this gun at them. That was kind of fun. And their moral outrage that they're four grown men without a watch among them. [00:42:00] Speaker A: Right. [00:42:00] Speaker D: I don't know. That was just a sign of being a responsible adult. [00:42:04] Speaker C: The little character. Think of Bill's like, months at the shop. [00:42:11] Speaker D: Yeah, that was funny. I have one. [00:42:14] Speaker A: Right. It's like not wearing pants. [00:42:16] Speaker C: Would that be the pawn shop bill? [00:42:24] Speaker B: But, yeah. [00:42:24] Speaker D: Just that beginning is fantastic. [00:42:29] Speaker A: Yep. Any other thoughts? Should we vote? [00:42:32] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:42:34] Speaker A: I don't like it. I liked its beginning as everything Joshua just said, everything we've just said, all there had so much potential, and there were so many choices that could have been made at so many points in this to make this really great. And it didn't. Therefore, boo. I, you know, like, but I. If. If I am judging the first, you know, the setup, yay. Good job. So. But overall, that's not what we're judging. So. No, you gotta finish the game right? You gotta. [00:43:11] Speaker D: I'm gonna vote the opposite of Eric in that the first half was so good. I'm really glad you brought it, and I really enjoyed it, and it carried me through to the end. Even though I was disappointed by the ending. [00:43:22] Speaker A: I didn't say it wasn't. Glad Tim brought it. [00:43:25] Speaker D: No, I'm glad Tim brought it for that reason as well as. Did you hear how many times Eric said just what Joshua said? I agree with Joshua. That's just, like, sweet, sweet music to my ears. So thank you for that. [00:43:40] Speaker C: One of the main things that was in my head, and I go, that makes this episode worthwhile to bring. Overall, I enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed the back half more, but totally agreed. The very ending was a wet trombone. That is not what you guys said, but I'm gonna say it's a wet trombone. [00:43:58] Speaker A: Wet trombone is one of the worst VHS movies. [00:44:03] Speaker D: Don't google that at work. [00:44:06] Speaker C: But as I was listening at the beginning, I thought, oh, yeah, it's the tomb. They're gonna get stuck in the safe, and that's gonna be the story. And when they got there for me, it clicked in my head of what writing teachers will tell you to get yourself in trouble. I don't know if it is in this category of what this was written for, but that idea of a bad script would have that be the end of dun dun dun. This is our tomb. The end that. The good choice is then to move that up to the beginning. And it's much more interesting to find out of what happens when you get yourself in this impossible situation. So, in part, it was me to pretend to be a writing professor, pointing at this as a good example of that, even if the actual execution of, well, how do we get them out of this impossible situation? [00:44:55] Speaker D: So you were trying to teach us a lesson. No, thank you, Professor Tim. [00:44:59] Speaker C: Our listeners. I was trying to teach our listeners a lesson. I'm sure you guys, as long as. [00:45:04] Speaker D: You'Re condescending to someone. [00:45:09] Speaker A: All right, Tim, tell him stuff. [00:45:10] Speaker C: Please go visit ghoulish delights.com students. You can find other episodes of our podcast are pontificating. You can also leave comments, vote in polls, have your opinion heard and graded. And you can also link to our store and buy some swag, just like at school. And you can become a Patreon member. [00:45:33] Speaker D: Yes, go to patreon.com themorals and pay your tuition. No, seriously, give us money sometimes. That's all I have to say. But join us on Patreon. We have all sorts of great extra bonus podcasts. So many of them. Now, we've been doing Patreon long enough that if you become a member now, if you were smart enough to just hold out, you can gorge on the bonus material. [00:45:58] Speaker C: It's a crushing burden. [00:45:59] Speaker D: It is. It is. Yeah. We've got years worth waiting for you. So just give us a little dough, and you will have a lot of extra morals to listen to for extra credit. [00:46:11] Speaker A: You can see the mysterious old radio listening Society theater company performing live as we do recreations of classic old time radio shows and a lot of our own original audio drama live on stage. To find out where we're performing and what we're performing every month, and sometimes more than once a month, just go to ghoulishdelights.com and there you'll see what we're performing, where, and how to get tickets. If you can't join us for whatever reason, use a Patreon. I don't know. That was a weird sound I just made. I made a weird sound. As a Patreon, we record them in either the audio and or video version is available to our patreons as part of their perk of our live shows. So what's coming up next? [00:46:58] Speaker D: I was just trying it out. It was really difficult. Next we have a speaking of Patreon, one of our patrons has requested an episode of x minus one, the Lifeboat Mutiny. Until then, look out where it lost me is the decision not to stay. There it is in the strong room with those two. There it is, all the tension and them having to negotiate their relationship. [00:47:26] Speaker A: I agree with everything Joshua has just said. Everything Joshua just said, everything we've just said. I'm with Joshua. When they open up that safe. I agree with everything Joshua has just said about all of that.