User Reviews

Helen Rune (Rachel Kempson) buys an old and isolated mansion on the coast near Roman Fall. Her husband is a best selling mystery writer who is also a recluse. Soon thereafter Helen is at a restaurant having lunch with an old beau, Professor John Hamilton. At a nearby table, Colonel March is unabashedly eavesdropping on their conversation. A somewhat shady Hollywood agent approaches Helen as he wants to buy the screen rights to her husband's novels. A reporter who wants an exclusive interview with Rune is also nosing about. When Helen notifies the police that her her husband has fallen over the sea cliff to his death, she is soon approached by a blackmailer who says he has evidence that she killed her husband. The story has an interesting although somewhat obvious conclusion. It was a treat seeing Rachel Kempson as Helen Rune. I had never seen any of her performances but did know she was the wife of Michael Redgrave and the mother of Vanessa, Lynn and Colin Redgrave. As good as Kempson's performance was, it was Karloff's March with his usual flair and dash of humor that was the real highlight of the episode.

Episode 25, "The Strange Event at Roman Fall" is set on the coast, at a spooky isolated manor called Cliffside House, next to Roman Fall, several hundred feet above the raging sea. The real estate agent Hocksby (Russell Waters) is selling Cliffside to Helen Rune (Rachel Kempson), who likes the seclusion, no neighbors to pry into her husband Stanley's private life. Mr. Rune is a reclusive figure, author of 5 best selling mystery novels, making his work very attractive for Hollywood dealmaker Ben Crowder (Lionel Murton), who has thus far been unsuccessful trying to pin Stanley down, or get Helen, both his wife and secretary, to sign away any movie rights. Professor John Hamilton (Philip Friend) is an old friend of Mrs. Rune, who never really noticed her before she was married, but now wants her to tell her husband about their affair so that they can marry. There's a snooping reporter, Peter Ford (John McLaren), who has heard rumors about Stanley Rune living with a tribe in Pakistan, commenting on how no one has ever seen famous mystery man Rune, or even knows what he looks like. When Mrs. Rune phones the police about her husband's accidental death upon the rocks below Roman Fall, the eavesdropping Crowder decides it's the perfect time for a little blackmail. Further complicating matters is the reporter, who publishes an article telling his own eyewitness account of Stanley Rune's death. Despite this being his sole series appearance, Philip Friend receives billing alongside Karloff and Ewan Roberts during the opening credits. A leading man in Britain since the early 40s, he made his final feature, "The Vulture," in 1966, followed by five more TV credits before his death in 1987.