The DuPont Show of the Month (1960)
Two Episodes:
Treasure Island (1960)
Director:
Daniel Petrie
Writers:
Michael Dyne (adaptation), Robert Louis Stevenson (novel)
Stars:
Hugh Griffith, Max Adrian, Michael Gough
Young Jim Hawkins (Richard O'Sullivan) recounts his adventures that began when the old pirate Captain Billy Bones (Boris Karloff) took up lodgings at the Admiral Benbow Inn on the English coast near Bristol, run by Jim and his mother (Betty Sinclair). The Captain brought a seaman's chest with him, which he wouldn't allow anyone to touch. He told Jim that he would pay him a monthly allowance if Jim would let him know whenever any seafaring men showed up at the inn, especially a seafaring man with one leg. The Captain, though a gruff old salt, was clearly frightened of this unknown man, who he referred to as " the Devil incarnate."
One night, when the Captain was drunk on rum, and forcing the inn's other customers to sing along with him, as he regaled them with wild tales of his adventures at sea, a seafaring man came to the inn and accosted the Captain, who clearly was not pleased to see him. He referred to this former shipmate as Black Dog (George Mathews). Black Dog tried to persuade Billy Bones to share something with him, but the Captain chased him from the inn with a drawn cutlass, as the other patrons screamed and dove for cover. The Captain suddenly collapsed, and Jim and his mother sent for Doctor Livesey (Michael Gough). The Doctor brought Billy Bones out of the worst of his sickness, but warned the old sailor that if he kept on drinking rum, it would kill him. The Captain scoffed at the idea and declared that " doctors is all swabs", and begged Jim to get him a glass of rum, as soon as Doctor Livesey had left the room. The Captain was feverish and very excited, as well as drunk, and tried to tell Jim something the boy could not understand, about a great treasure they would share between them, if Jim would help the Captain escape from his former shipmates, who were going to slip him the Black Spot. Jim tried to calm the Captain down, as meanwhile, Doctor Livesey asked Jim's mother about their lodger, and if he had ever said anything about his past. Jim's mother replied that the old salt was always spouting wild tales about adventures at sea, and sometimes had mentioned a Captain Flint. The Doctor warned her that she and Jim were in great danger, because Flint had been a notorious pirate leader, and the Captain's old shipmates were clearly after him, for some reason. The Doctor told Mrs. Hawkins to hide, while he went for help to Squire Trelawney (Douglas Campbell), and the King's revenue officers. Jim went downstairs and was suddenly grabbed by a sinister blind man, who had entered the inn unnoticed. The blind man threatened to break Jim's arm unless Jim led him to the Captain. When old Billy Bones saw the blind man, he was terrified; especially when the frightening creature forced Jim to hand a small black piece of paper to the Captain. He warned that he would be back soon with more of their old shipmates, and Billy Bones had only a short time to hand over the thing they wanted.Jim saw that the paper was in fact the very Black Spot that the Captain had spoken of. Billy Bones was weak and very ill, but he stood up and told Jim he had to get away immediately. Jim tried to help the Captain as best he could, but the old pirate suddenly collapsed and died, leaving Jim holding a map of some kind that he had taken from the sea chest.
The Outpost (1962)
Director:
Fielder Cook
Writer:
Roger O. Hirson
Stars:
Neville Brand, Richard Conte, Keir Dullea
The tale centered on a group of soldiers, played by Keir Dullea, Richard Conte, Everett Sloane and Neville Brand, sent to a desert outpost, each having committed an act of brutality or cowardice. Commanding the outpost was Claude Rains as a character simply labeled "The Colonel."
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 DVD, $9.99 (https://www.zeusdvds.com/the-dupont-show-of-the-month-1960-dvd/))
