excellent episode. good acting and a great story.

Robert Dryden is very strong here. It's such a downbeat story, but the anti-hero steps up to the plate. Carol Teitel uses her usual incredibly annoying old lady voice. She's hard enough to listen to anyway, never mind when she uses this voice.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. Sam Dann’s Drama-Mystery had a suspenseful storyline, but had characters where one group was kind-hearted and the other was bothersome. The recording of this CBSRMT episode is slow; it wasn’t at its normal setting. Plus, some of the dialogue was cut off in the 3 Acts. Another way to Title this would be “The Espionage.” But I realize why Sam Dann called this “Cold Comfort.” It’s because the people, that our main character deals with, are definitely cold to him. No compassion, no sensitivity, not even a bit of relaxation for him. In his Prologue, E.G. Marshall uses the expression “Murder Most Foul” (which is the 470th episode title of the series) to talk about what kind of a character are we dealing with. In ACT-1, he introduces us to our main character: the optometrist and later discusses his predicament. In ACT-2, he quotes Thucydides who said, “The bravest may be those who have the clearest vision.” (The FULL quotation is actually, “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”) E.G. Marshall had his own quotation: “The clearest vision may be achieved by those who have the best made spectacles.” At the end of ACT-3, he states that we are a sophisticated society and primal urges are the driving forces of mankind. Good statement, but unfortunately, there’s nothing to be said in his Epilogue because the recording is cut off!! The sound effects of the bell dinging, tableware, newspaper, rotary phone ringing, the doors, glasses breaking, door buzzer, background noise at the police station, opening the drawer, footsteps, breaking of the glass window, police siren, the firing of the revolver, body thuds, traffic noise, and gun fire were the right essentials to go with this story. And so was the music. Pleasant melodies in ACT-1, suspenseful tracks in ACT-2, and dramatic tunes in ACT-3. And of course, our great cast: Robert Dryden (as Amos Crandall & Mr. Cheswick), Carol Teitel (as Emily Crandall & Maggie Trainor), and Earl Hammond (as Mr. Trent & Lieutenant I.W. Schwartz). Excellent job to each actor for playing their 2 roles. SPECIAL NOTE: Himan Brown plays the role of William K. Barstow. If you’re looking for a mystery story about spies, you should check this out. And for those that are Nostalgic on radio commercials, check this particular one out for it has commercials on Metamucil for constipation, Pat Summerall for True Value Hardware, V.I.S.T.A. (Volunteers In Service To America) with its number 1-800-424-8580, Julia Motto for Western Appliance, Olympic Painting Dealership, Cats’ Pawed Rubber Heels & Soles, and Susan Anton singing about sleeper comforters. Until next time…pleasant dreams. =0>

In the Bible it tells the story of Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew. Primal urges indeed can blur even the clearest of visions! Check this one out! Good episode!

Good story overall, but one detail bothered me about the “robbers.” Why didn’t they exchange the substitute glasses for the original ones? The glasses wouldn’t have been missed otherwise. Anyway, worth a listen. Robert Dryden’s performance in particular is excellent.