Suspense (1949): "A Cask of Amontillado" starring Bela Lugosi

Suspense (1949): "A Cask of Amontillado" (11 Oct. 1949; Season 2, Episode 6).

From IMDb: "In World War II Italy, Count Montressor has watched with horror as his former stable boy became a powerful Nazi general. In the process, General Fortanato has murdered the Count's sister and stolen his wife. Knowing the General plans to murder him, Count Montressor lures him into the palace's catacombs to taste the rare cask of Amontillado he has procured.".

"To give the impression of climbing down a long flight of stairs to the catacombs, Lugosi and Brent walk in circles around the same few steps. The effect is given away when their timing gets off and Brent, who's supposed to be ahead of Lugosi, is seen popping into frame behind him.".

"As the General and Count walk the stairs down to the catacombs, the stone walls (painted on flats) flutter back and forth".

"Count Montressor: Early in the war, when the Fascists were in full power, I had to give the property to a General Fortunato. Actually, Fortunato used to be a stable boy here, but he rose by devious means until he became one of Mussolini's favorites and after that a general.".

"General Fortunato: You know, life is nothing but a lot of steps - either you go up or you go down.".

"" 8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Lugosi Is Fabulous as General Fortunato!, 26 January 2008
7/10
Author: Van Roberts ([email protected]) from United States

** This review may contain spoilers **

The live-action CBS-TV "Suspense" anthology presentation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of terror "The Cask of Amontillado" updates the author's 1846 short story (first published in the magazine "Godey's Lady's Book") with its eighteenth century setting so that the action takes place just after World War II has ended, and everybody is celebrating the success of the Allied victory over Hitler. A U.S.A.F.F. sergeant (Ray Walston of "My Favorite Martian") approaches his intoxicated superior officer, a major (Frank Marth of "Satan's School for Girls") and explains that the Count (Romney Brent of "The Sign of Zorro") has come to report a murder. The major collapses in a drunken stupor onto a nearby cot, and the sergeant decides to transcribe the Count's deposition in short-hand. The Count, an older looking gentleman with patrician features, a neatly clipped mustache, a trim Vandyke beard, in the wardrobe of an aristocrat, primly informs the sergeant that the palace where the Americans are billeted once belonged to him. They sit down, and the Count begins his story.

"Early in the war," he states, "when the Fascists were in full power, I had to give the property to a General Fortunato. Actually, Fortunato used to be a stable boy here, but he rose by devious means until he became one of Mussolini's favorites and after that a general." The Count informs the sergeant that far beneath the palace lays a catacomb where "for thousands of years my ancestors have been buried . . . " The besotted major revives briefly to point out that in the catacomb is about a quarter of a mile below "down a long spiral staircase every few steps a corridor leads off." The officer pronounces it the greatest wine cellar that he has ever seen during the three years that he has spent in Italy. The sergeant mentions to the Count that it is off bounds to the troops. However, by that time, the major has passed out for good. The Count goes on to say that the catacomb: "It is so far down it is actually under a river bed." When the Fascists came to power, explains the Count, General Fortunato (Bela Lugosi of "Dracula") commandeered the palace and forced the Count to let him marry the Count's "youngest and dearest sister." The sergeant suggests that the Count should have refused, but the Count reminds him that Fortunato could summon storm troopers and resort to torture chambers. Fortunato confined the Count and his wife to a small suite over the stable. At this point, "3:10 to Yuma" writer Halsted Welles and "Never Love A Stranger" director Robert Stevens shift the story into flashback mode at about six minutes into the action.

The Count works in an office and his sister in the hospital. Meanwhile, the Count's snooty wife dines with the general on the terrace. The amorous but disheveled general and the Count's wife discuss their relationship. Fortunato values his sister-in-law's judgment above that of his simpleton wife. Nevertheless, he fails to convince her to accompany him to Rome. She refuses because she feels their flirtatious behavior appear too brazen. Stevens shifts back to the present in 8 minutes so that he can see the sergeant light up a cigarette and say: "And then?" Stevens racks focus from the sergeant to the flashback again. A year later, Fortunato returns to the palace. The general's wife has died and the Count's wife has moved to Rome. Indeed, Fortunato is bent on killing the Count. Fortunato's infidelity with the Count's wife precipitates his moral demise and seals his doom.