A man who almost died has developed an ability to foretell the future. The phrase “near death experience” was not really in the vocabulary of the time, but that’s the way we’d describe it today.
In the story, a man is in surgery and is technically dead for a few minutes… but is resuscitated. The experience leaves him with a psychic ability to detect when people are lying! His doctor, played by Welles, befriends the man… and has a nefarious motive behind the acquaintanceship.
It’s not the best story, but it’s an entertaining premise. Not much was known about psychology or parapsychology at the time, so the portrayal almost seems cartoonish, like you’d see in some B-movies. Listening to it all these years later it’s probably more amusing than serious, but it may have been considered more serious to its 1940s audience. The 1946 version with Brian Donlevy as the doctor and the musical and sound effects when the psychic lie detection occurs are better (and more humorous) in that presentation. Hans Conried plays Holcombe in both broadcasts.
Conried has been appearing on numerous of these Suspense episodes. He was one of the most successful actors on radio, a master of dialects, and equally at home in comedy and drama. Many know him as “Uncle Tonoose” from the Make Room for Daddy comedy series with Danny Thomas. One of his greatest Suspense performances was on House in Cypress Canyon where in addition to acting supplied all of the ghoulish noises. He was yet another actor who was never the big star but he had a much longer and more successful career than many of the stars he worked behind.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP431019
THE CAST
ORSON WELLES (Dr. Graham), Hans Conried (Roger Holcombe), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), unknown (Isabel), unknown (Aunt Jane)
Robert L. Richards adapted the script for Suspense from a submission by Marion Speed.
Newspapers did not have word about this script being used, so it was obviously a last days-before-broadcast decision. The script plans changed with the delay of Donovan’s Brain. And CBS also changed the broadcast day of Suspense from Thursday to Tuesday with this broadcast.
Only an Armed Forces Radio Service recording has survived. It is a good recording, but there is some mild distortion here and there that does not affect enjoyment of the program.
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