The Pit and the Pendulum

Originally Aired: November 28, 1947

Suspense #273, "The Pit and the Pendulum," stars José Ferrer as Captain Jean Dalbray, a French artillery officer imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition during the Napoleonic Wars. Accused of destroying the Holy Church of Saint Martha the Innocent with cannon fire, Dalbray defends his actions as military duty, insisting the church was being used as an enemy powder magazine. The Grand Inquisitor, Fra Pedro de Spiglia, shows no mercy. Dalbray's marriage to the Spanish noblewoman Donna Beatrice Valdez cannot save him, and he faces a terrible choice between two horrific methods of execution.

Alone in absolute darkness in his dungeon cell, the weakened captain struggles to maintain his sanity. He hears the voice of his wife Beatrice comforting him, though he knows she exists only in his fevered imagination. As she encourages him to measure the limits of his cell and take courage, Dalbray must confront both his physical imprisonment and the psychological torment that awaits him. The Inquisition's sentence stalks him "like a tiger," forcing him to face an unknown horror that will slowly reveal itself in the darkness.