In one of his last newspaper columns, Fred (Dick Powell) has accused
several people running out of a burning building instead of saving others
of cowardice - much to the dismay of his proofreader Ella (Dorothy
Malone), who has studied psychology and seems to like to argue with Fred
... and much to the dismay of some psychopath who now threatens to kill
Fred. Ella is instantly scared stiff, and will during the course of the
episode try to save Fred's life more than once, Fred on the other hand
thinks little of this threat and lives on his everyday life ... until he
visits a caved in theatre for one of his columns. There he hears a scream
for help from someone buried under the rubble and follows it - right to
the building's cellar, where he realizes the man under the rubble actually
knows his name ... and must thus be the killer setting a trap for Fred.
Fred runs off in terror, right into the arms of the police, who assure
him there is no killer around, it was just a bad joke of an inmate in an
insane asylum. It is only then that Fred realizes that panic made him
almost leave a man to die, just like the people he accused of cowardice in
his article ...
So-so episode of the series, not really bad but by no means free of
kitsch while - due to its rather stagey direction - lacking any real kind
of suspense which would have vastly helped the story to develop to full
potential.
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