Haute tension

In 1947, I "Kraft Theatre" debuted on television and it stayed on the air until 1958. Well, this isn't exactly true. Instead of being canceled, it was renamed "Kraft Mystery Theatre" and remained that until, oddly, it was renamed "Kraft Suspense Theatre" in 1963 and played for two more seasons until the Kraft shows came to an end. That is a very long run and today you can see many of the later episodes of "Kraft Mystery Theatre" and "Kraft Suspense Theatre" on YouTube...and they are worth finding. Each episode was a self-contained story with all sorts of action and plot twists that sometimes made them marvelous. But, like any anthology show, it did have some disappointments as well- -a few terrible episodes. Don't give up if you try a few and you aren't hooked...there are some real gems among the shows. And, most importantly, they're fee to watch and have usually aged quite well.

This is a terrific program. It's on a rerun channel in my area (ME TV), and what a treat. It is truly excellent on every level. Perhaps its competition on other channels at the time caused it not to run as long as it otherwise might have. The actors and acting are top level. The plots are ingenuous and well executed. The sets and settings are high quality. You have variety with each program. It manages all this without offending the sensibilities - showing it can be done. For any mystery/somewhat thriller aficionado, I would think this one would rate high. If DVDs of this are available, they would well be worth pursuing. You have the variety and reliability. Excellent offering.

I remember this TV show being released in France during the late sixties and far more recently on minor channels. Yes, this TV series was very unusual, as were CHEVY THEATRE or BOB HOPE PRESENTS...Dramas, thrillers, crime...Very surprising plots, although not every one may be worth for my own taste. For this series, for instance, some episodes bored me to death; some looked like a PEYTON PLACE intrigue with expected results. And if there is something I hate more than anything else in this kind of stuff is f...expected results, expected endings. In big screen movies, OK, I agree, but certainly not for small stories like these ones I am talking about now. I crave for sad, ironic, ambiguous or "open" ends and not happy endings. I don't think suspense was the master link of this TV show.

I barely remember the show itself except as more serious competition with the first season of "Thriller" which at the time was more detective, pulp, noir kind of material. I distinctly remember the opening credit sequence with the abstract images floating eerily about a stylized shadow of a pursued man with one of the best themes written for television. John (Johnny) Williams rules.

Usually I'd watch a series of anthologies in chronological order. Unfortunately only a handful of the preceding Kraft Television Theatre and Kraft Mystery Theatre are currently available online. I was able to see all but six Kraft Suspense Theatre episodes, most are worth seeing with good picture quality. My favourites:

9 The Hunt. James Caan plays an easy-going surfer who drives into a small town where the small minded locals are non too friendly, especially sadistic sheriff Mickey Rooney.

14 Leviathan Five. Thoughtful drama, five men trapped in an underground laboratory decide one of them has to die so the others have enough air until they are rescued.

18 The Threatening Eye. A scheming French minx (Annie Fargue) worms her way into the affections of dull married businessman Jack Klugman. Very similar to the Thriller (1973) episode Sign it Death with Patrick Allen in the Klugman role. I'd give Sign it Death a slight edge, mainly because Allen makes a far more credible catch.

22 Portrait of an Unknown Man. Clint Walker files a claim on an old mine and moves in on some insular locals who don't take kindly to his taciturn manner, except the put-upon daughter of the storekeeper.

30 Operation Greif. A small group of US soldiers in France near the end of WW2 suspect one of their comrades of being a Nazi spy, but do they suspect the wrong man?

31 A Lion Amongst Men. I enjoyed this one the most. James Whitmore plays a decorated Korea veteran who tried to re-live his glory days by setting up a paramilitary organisation, for what purpose was not really explained. It's a more overblown reprise of the heavy handed authoritarian he did in The Twilight Zone episode On Thursday We Leave for Home.