Theatre Macabre: Season 1 Episode 21 A Terribly Strange Bed

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A gambler tries his luck at a mysterious gambling house.

Series Index

Theatre Macabre (1971-1972)

Characters/Groups

Host - Christopher Lee

Jane - Maria Ciesielska

Tom - Wieslaw Golas

Inspector - Leon Pietraszkiewicz

Doorman

Lisa - Aleksandra Karzynska

Turkish Racing Fan - Tadeusz Kondrat

Raymond - Maciej Maciejewski

Croupier - Czeslaw Przybyla

Melby - Leon Niemczyk

Character thumbnails with links to profiles

Detailed Synopsis

The Host introduces William Wilkie Collins' story, A Terribly Strange Bed.

A group of police and an Inspector walk to the wharf as Tom watches. The police pull a body out of the water that has a red flower on the suit breast and the Inspector pulls out what appears to be a suicide note. A detective says it is the second suicide this month and the Inspector realizes that both suicides had a red flower on them. Tom tells him that he has seen red flowers near his hotel, but the Inspector says red flowers grow everywhere. Later. Tom goes to a casino and is let in by the Doorman. Lisa tells him that the casino has roulette, baccarat and Turkish racing. Tom watches Turkish racing which consists of mice racing along a track. During the race a Turkish Racing Fan claims the race is rigged. Lisa walks up to Tom and hands him money which she thinks he dropped and suggests tonight might be his lucky night.

Tom orders a cognac from Raymond and Raymond tells him Lisa's name and that she inherited the casino from her father. As Tom is watching the roulette game, Jane walks up to him and correctly guesses the right number and color. He suggests she play and she plays with Tom's money and loses. She tells Tom that she will pay him back and Lisa sees her and gets upset that she gambled. Tom plays roulette and wins. Lisa shakes her head at the Croupier and he ends the game. After the game, Melby introduces himself to Tom and invites him to play at his casino. Lisa asks Tom if he would like to play a game of cards with her and he wins hand after hand. Lisa sends Raymond home and asks Tom about himself. As Tom is distracted Jane switches out the cards. Tom suddenly starts to lose and drops the cards on the ground and Lisa ends the game.

She gives Tom a red flower and Jane invites him to stay the night. She shows him his room and Lisa brings him some wine, which Tom notices has a weird look to it. They have sex and before leaving, Lisa puts a note in Tom's coat. Tom wakes up and notices the bed canopy is starting to lower down. He rolls off the bed and shortly after Lisa enters the room. He shoves her into the bed and the canopy starts to crush her. He then walks into the hidden tunnel she came from and finds Jane controlling a device. He asks her why she did it and she tells him that Lisa did it, because of Jane's gambling debts. They return to the room to help Lisa and as Tom is walking over a rug, Jane presses a lever and he falls down a chute into the harbor. Lisa then takes his money from his coat and throws it in the chute after him. Tom swims to a boat and the Inspector fishes out Tom's coat.