

Theatre Macabre
Horror legend Christopher Lee hosts this anthology in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, each half-hour episode adapting a story from a classic author, with tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde.
Cast

Christopher Lee
Self โ Host
Seasons
E1First Love
Oct 1, 1971
Vladimir, the teenage son of a local rich man, falls madly in love with his new neighbor's daughter Zina competing for her affections along with a host of her other suitors.
E2The Man Who Demoralized Hadleyburg
Oct 8, 1971
A stranger comes to town with a bag full of gold and a test for everyone.
E3The Tortures of Hope
Oct 15, 1971
A man is about to be executed by the Inquisition. Is hope enough to save him?
E4Mateo Falcone
Oct 22, 1971
A young Corsican boy defies local customs and dishonors his family when he turns in a bandit to police.
E5The Vampire
Oct 29, 1971
Intertwines multiple stories, including a framing device about a young man named Runevsky, and explores themes of obsession, the supernatural, and the line between reality and imagination.
E6The Swashbuckler
Nov 5, 1971
A psychological character study revolving around Luchkov, an aggressive, manipulative former military officer who lives for duels and social domination.
E7The Actress
Nov 12, 1971
A failed actress wants to go back to her husband, who has fallen into alcoholism.
E8The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether
Nov 19, 1971
A narrator visits a French mental asylum where the 'soothing system' of patient-led care has been overthrown by a new, more severe method, only for the narrator to discover the 'doctors' are actually the patients, and the 'keepers' are those locked away, tarred and feathered.
E9The Rajah's Diamond
Nov 26, 1971
Follows the journey of a cursed, valuable diamond as it passes through the hands of various characters, revealing their greed, folly, and the dark allure of wealth. The narrative links these tales through the diamond's movement from London to Paris, exploring themes of crime, deception, and morality.
E10The Nose
Dec 3, 1971
A government official's nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.
E11Tell-Tale Hearts
Dec 10, 1971
A nameless man insists on his sanity while confessing to murdering an old man because of his 'vulture-like' eye.
E12Markheim
Dec 17, 1971
A man murders an antique dealer on Christmas Day to steal from him, only to be tormented by his own conscience, personified by a mysterious visitor who may be the Devil, forcing him to confront his evil and ultimately choose confession over further sin.
E13The Barrel Organ
Dec 24, 1971
Reclusive, cultured lawyer Mr Tomasz's solitary life is transformed by a blind orphan girl who moves in next door and her barrel organ, which he initially despises but comes to cherish as a source of joy and connection, ultimately leading him to help her.
E14The Canterville Ghost
Dec 31, 1971
A young American couple inherits an English castle, only to find that it is haunted by the spirit of a disgraced ancestor, doomed to stay on the estate because of his cowardice. The only way he can escape is if one of his descendants performs an heroic act, something he intends to get the husband to do.
E15Decameron
Jan 7, 1972
From Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron No. 40.'
E16A Matter of Conscience
Jan 14, 1972
From Ambrose Bierce's 'A Matter of Conscience.'
E17The Husband Under the Bed
Jan 21, 1972
From Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Another Man's Wife and a Husband Under the Bed.'
E18Pavoncello
Jan 28, 1972
From Stefan Zeromski's 'Pavoncello.'
E19The Song of Triumphant Love
Feb 4, 1972
From Ivan Turgenev's 'The Song of Triumphant Love.'
E20The Postmaster
Feb 11, 1972
From Alexander Pushkin's 'The Postmaster.'
E21A Terribly Strange Bed
Feb 18, 1972
From William Wilkie Collins' 'A Terribly Strange Bed.'
E22The Fatalist
Feb 25, 1972
From Mikhail Lermontov's 'The Fatalist.'
E23Resurrection of the Offland
Mar 3, 1972
From Alexandre Dumas 'The Resurrection of the Offland.'
E24Boarded Window
Mar 10, 1972
From Ambrose Bierce's 'The Boarded Window.'
Storyline
Horror legend Christopher Lee hosts this anthology in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, each half-hour episode adapting a story from a classic author, with tales by Edgar Allen Poe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde.
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