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Title

The Suicide Club

Plot

Russian roulette, anyone? A high stake gambler finds the game getting the better of him as his new club demands him to murder someone, or choose suicide.

Episode

0087

Air Dates

  • First Run - May 7, 1974
  • Repeat - July 28, 1974
  • Repeat - September 23, 1978
  • Repeat - June 16, 1979

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

212
177     35


24 Responses to Episode 0087

This was a compelling adaptation. Especially great performance by whoever played Mr. Smith.

Fred

At least the police were competent. I'd actually rather play Russian roulette than this game! Crime drama; no supernatural elements.

Andy

Competent police officers!!! Glad to see the crime solved! Crime drama, no supernatural elements.

Andy

An elegant and riveting episode. Really gripped my attention! All of the characters were distinctive and interesting.

Nancy

Just as the title indicates, this is a radio play of the Robert Lewis Stevinson story. An excellent listen but my copy was less than perfect and therefore a bit annoying.

Rudy Perey

The lowdown: Mr. Harris, a millionaire compulsive gambler has lost the thrill that he once experienced from gambling. By chance, he meets a gentleman who introduces him to "the supreme gamble". In order to get in on the supreme gambling, he must first join the club...The Suicide Club. This is a well organized club that is well funded from members like Mr. Harris.

Guillian Bushong

A high stakes gambler joins a club where he may be asked to commit someone else's suicide, or be forced to commit suicide. One creepy story that is exceptionally well acted. Highly Recommended.

Bart Runas

A multimillionaire compulsive gambler is bored with the low stakes games he plays and seeks out some more exciting bets. He is approached by the “director” of a club whose members gamble over life and death.

Jess Mirarza

On one hand I preferred the ESCAPE version of The Suicide Club, since it faithfully adapted Stevenson's story. Mystery Theater was of course longer and had more time for character development, I heard both versions last fall.

Benjamin K.

Nice - with a "happy" ending. Heh heh, it did keep me guessing!

Gaspar Jr.

Been awhile since I've been here . . . I missed it! Someone once said, "Suicide is the sincerest form of self criticism." Strange tale . . . not bad but not a favorite for me.

Sammie

This is in my top 5 for favorite episodes. Riveting. 5 stars.

DAVY JOE

If you have seen the 1932 film THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and/or the 1995 film THE GAME, then you're going to enjoy this CBSRMT episode because this story will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's based off of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1878 short story entitled "The Young Man With The Cream Tarts." I'd prefer to call it "Death's Private Clubhouse" because that's what it mainly is in The Suicide Club. The members in this club want to die, but cannot take their own lives. So, the Director of the club gives each member a card from the deck. Anyone who gets the Ace of Spades, will be murdered. Anyone who gets the Ace of Clubs, will be the murderer. Now THAT is something you would see on an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. What I loved the most was the cast: Barry Nelson (as Victor Harris: the gambler), Marian Seldes (as Iris Lorne: the drug addict), John Baragrey (as John Smith: the Director of the club), Lloyd Battista (as Lucas: the Director's servant) and Dan Ocko (as Lieutenant McFee). Each played their roles very mellow, even when the characters are dealing with death. When John Smith gives Victor Harris his mysterious card, he says, "Feel the excitement of not knowing. Live the supreme thrill of wondering." Talk about suspense at its finest! Speaking of suspense, E.G. Marshall grows the intensity in our story and our main characters. Victor Harris's hooked on gambling so he joins the club for the thrill. Iris Lorne is hooked on drugs and joined the club because she was sick of life. In ACT-3, she gets hooked on love, so Victor comforts her at the 33-minute 7-second mark. She did drugs to comfort herself, then later gets comforted by Victor with compassion & companionship. A dose of Romance, I should say. I rate this 4 out of 5 stars for a couple of reasons. FIRST REASON: It had music tunes to fit in this drama-mystery but it needed more. It needed bone chilling music like in Ep. #0016-DEAD FOR A DOLLAR or even Ep. #1245-THE JUDGE'S HOUSE. And the SECOND REASON: The Climax & Resolution ended too quickly. George Lowthar did great on writing this adaptation, but just like Robert Louis Stevenson's story, both versions ended too fast with no suspense. A better ending would be if John Smith had to play as well, he'd get the Ace of Spades, Victor Harris gets the Ace of Clubs, Victor doesn't have the urge to kill, so Lucas steps in and does the deed. There are so many adaptations of this in films & radio, it has to be read, watched, and listened to many times over. A classic worth checking out.

Russ

I loved this episode. It's well acted and very well written. More then that is the fact it's such an unusual story..it's a very intriguing concept. I'd give this 4 stars easy...one of the more interesting episodes. Excellent! I can't elaborate as to the specifics any better than Russell has already. This tale is an excellent representation of how the future is cautiously represented. There have been so many tales that have played on this theme. Twilight zone, Night Gallery, The outer limits, "Back to the future"

Aaron

Very good episode even if I can't understand the compulsions related in the story myself. In a sense it made me sad to think of the people in the world that are really like the people in this story, but hopefully they find someone or something to help them out of their low state. I did wonder how many of the deaths were actually NOT done by the members but by the assistant - after all, if they have problems killing themselves how could they kill another person? You'd think they might get so upset after killing another person that they would follow through with themselves, but I'm not a psychologist nor do I play one on TV so I'm just guessing.

Alec

One of the best of the series in my opinion. My father introduced me, and I've been listening ever since. Amazing

Reid

One of my favorites. It was also an episode of an older horror/mystery show called Murder at Midnight.

Shade

Saw a reenactment of this show done live in Chicago many years ago. Wbbm in Chicago put it on and it was great to see it done live with all the sound effects and great acting. It was after the original series ended, some time in the late eighties when they tried to revive the series.

Don

Darkly humorous in some way, to me.

Robert

This one could have used Fred Gwynne as one of the bad guys.

BF

Awesome episode! Such great acting and sound effects allows easy visualization!

Louis Storo

I seem to be alone, but didn't care for this one. The psychology didn't seem to make sense. Also, a fair amount of scenery-chewing.

charles barnes

Enjoyed this adaptation. Seeing what goes on in this world just in the news, makes you wonder if such a thing exists, although keeping it secret wound be difficult. Actors and actress did a great job, for such people would be either on edge wanting to die or having an indifferent opinion about life. Really enjoyed the ending where something good came out of the sadness. To bad there were no commercials of news.

Nancy

It wasn't the first time this drama was done on radio and/or film. I have heard and seen earlier versions. In fact, there's one version from an episode of 'Suspense' (TV version) with Ralph Bell from around 1950.

Anne


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