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Title

The Way to Dusty Death

Plot

A strange story of hatred set in the back woods, where a baron would rather let a dead man's body get decomposed in the open, unattended by any ritual or funeral. When the deceased man's daughters fail to reason with him, the baron's son steps in to plead with him.

Episode

0708

Air Dates

  • First Run - September 13, 1977
  • Repeat - January 29, 1978
  • Repeat - December 30, 1979

Actors

Writer

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Rating

47
34     13


5 Responses to Episode 0708

A battle between families goes on until the ultimate price is paid. Good voice acting by all. I usually do not like stories of love when it comes to CBSRMT. This one was tolerable for me because love did not take over the whole story. I found it a bit strange that all would be forgiven if a proper burial was allowed. After all, a young man and son was just shot to death. Could that ever be forgiven?

Vinny Viola

I think the idea was that when people got shot, both sides realized how futile the feud was and decided to drop it. I am not sure this would happen in real life, but it makes a good story.

Amy

This is an adaptation of Sophocles' "Antigone" that's given a West Virginia/Kentucky twist by Stella and Arnold Moss. Instead of Creon and Antigone, think "Hatfields and McCoys". Arnold Moss plays Crane Webb, a former captain in the civil war who's a crack rifle shot and landowner in that neck of the woods. He fancies himself the law over all that's his domain, and opens the play by shooting Paul Carpenter, who with his sister (played by Evie Juster) just crossed the brook which separates the two families land. They were trying to retrieve a colt which they believe the Webb family kept after it wandered onto the captain's property. (Capt. Webb had already shot their father some time back.) When Webb and his son (played by Don Scardino, who also played the ill-fated brother) discover Carpenter's body, Scardino masks his sadness. That's because he and Carpenter's other sister (played by Marian Seldes) are in love with each other. They really want to marry and end all the hostilities between the families. In the meantime, Crane Webb insists that the body remain where it fell, unburied. Of course, the Carpenter sisters (and eventually the younger Webb) must insist on giving it a decent burial. If you've read Antigone you can guess how well this will turn out. I did enjoy this one, though, mainly for Moss' always dependably Shakespearean performance. Like Sophocles' play, a sobering lesson on the effects of pride.

Jenny Christophers

Episode 0708, "The way to dusty death" was based on Shakespeare (think Arnold Moss writing and starring in a Shakespearean play about the Hatfields and the McCoys).

Kurt

Let's be glad that mental midgets like Crane are in the lower 1% and the upper 1% just THINK that way.

Randy McLeod


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