Climax!
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.
Drama about the men who struggle to move rivers and dig tunnels.
On a snowy Christmas eve, police detective Ed Brooks hopes to be able to get away early. But a call comes in that a prowler, who has murdered several women, has struck again.
A singer orders a copy made of an antique cross for an old friend of hers, a priest. While she is in the jewelry store to pick up the cross, the store is held up by a masked gunman who steals the cross and makes his escape. The thief resembles the priest's brother. Then the third brother, a policeman, is assigned to investigate the case.
Trapped in a crossfire of human emotions, a hospital chief surgeon fights his own conscience to decide the fate of two men. He must weigh the possible sacrifice of one life for another. Drawing on years of experience, he defies the pressures of time and personal fear to face one crucial moment of judgment.
Four days before his movie is to be released, singing idol Johnny Spain is killed in an airplane crash. His press agent decides he must dig up some publicity to make the up-coming movie pay-off. He pressures Julie, a young starlet, to pose as Spain's secret love.
The story of Murder Inc. and the 1957 barber shop rub-out of mob czar Albert Anastasia. Anastasia had an appeal that belied his reputation for brutality and impetuosity. He had a sense of confidence and presence, and because he was so sure of himself he was at ease with other people.
A large Manhattan law firm hires the tireless dedicated Timothy Colt, the young lawyer. As he rises in the firm the opportunity to see the conflict between ethics and ambition are upon him. His disillusionment and the constant dishonesty shakes him to his foundations of belief against the bitter cynical conquest of his new great world.
In trying to clean up the local bookmakers, the Washington, D.C. Police department becomes convinced that members of the force are accepting payoff money. Lt. Todd Thoman is assigned the task of discovering the crooked cops.
This true story involving the crew of an in-air refueling operation for Air Force bombers who take a training team on a dangerous mission. RAF Flight Lieutenant MacKenzie Barton is assigned to an American Air Force base as a result of an exchange of pilots between the RAF and the U.S. Air Force. Barton receives orders to pilot an Air Force tanker--a plane which is capable of refueling jet bombers in mid-air. But in trying to gain the confidence of the American crew members, Barton encounters only resentment. The story is based on an actual experience.
Engineer Frank Colby and his staff have developed a nose cone capable of launching into outer space.
Leo Carson a businessman who worked his way up from machinist's helper to owner of a million-dollar business. He realizes too late that the important things in life, his family have chosen destructive lifestyles and his own mistakes have caused harm to everyone else.
In Texas, during the 1880's, cattlemen resent the intrusion of homesteaders on their grazing lands. When cattleman Mannon Tate's brother is sentenced to hang for the murder of a homesteader, Tate makes a desperate attempt to prevent the execution. Believing the sheriff is allied with the farmers, Tate takes him and his wife hostage.
Josà Aragon, wealthy Texas cattleman, is on a cattle-buying expedition on the Mexican border. After a gueling day looking over the stock, Aragon returns to his hotel, tired and dirty. A beautiful young woman sees Aragon enter the hotel, and, because of his unkempt appearance, believes he is one of the local peasants. She approaches him and asks him to do her a favor. Amused when she offers him five dollars for the errand, Aragon consents to cross the border and pick up a package for her.
When she loses her job, Gwen Dacres seeks economical lodgings in a boarding house run by a mysterious old woman, Mrs. Garr. Strange noises and incidents disturb Gwen's peace of mind. Gwen is attacked and Mrs. Garr disappears and is later found dead. Gwen starts to investigate and uncovers a twenty year old mystery.
Shortly after Ann and Robert Brewster board a luxury liner for their honeymoon cruise, Robert disappears with the fortune he received as a wedding present from Ann. Ann reports her husband's disappearance to the captain. To her astonishment he informs her that there is no record of either herself or her husband as passengers, and that the cabin number she has given is non-existent.
A munitions expert goes on an arms smuggling mission to Istanbul and becomes a target for Nazi agents.
A successful woman designer returns to her small home town in an attempt to ward off an emotional breakdown. She is still tormented by the memory of a murder she witnessed as a child.
During the Civil War, thousands of captured Union soldiers were confined in the Andersonville stockade in Georgia. Conditions there were so bad that over 12,000 prisoners died and the infamous reputation of the Andersonville stockade spread. When the war ended, steps were taken to bring to justice those responsible. The trial of Captain Henry Wirz, commandant of the Andersonville prison and the charge--conspiracy to commit atrocities and murder among the prisoners. The Union prosecutor is determined to prove that Wirz himself shot down one of the prisoners.
A steel tycoon finds that his company is threatened by a younger man who is trying to gain control through the proxy votes of the shareholders. The older man approaches his late partner's widow in an effort to gain her support, but learns that she has already promised to help the young man.
Huck and Jim once again embark on their adventure-filled trek down the Mississippi .
Cafeteria worker Rusty is cheated by stock swindlers and winds up in jail, but the crooks have to break him out in order to recover their loot, which was stashed in Rusty's safety deposit box.
A mother watches her cruel and destructive husband continually expose their young son to all kinds of violence. Finally she feels she must take steps to save her son from this sinister influence.
An insurance underwriter and his secretary are both disgruntled over their dull, monotonous routine. They fall in love, and then discover a way to cash in on a $70,000 insurance claim.
At his wealthy aunt's insistence, a rising young London barrister submits to having his palm read. The prophecies come true with alarming accuracy.
Art Shaddick, formerly a writer, now a writer's agent, sits in his gaudy, pretentious office, on the bookcase reposes an Oscar, won by Art for his last picture. That was in 1929. Since then he has gone steadily downhill, shouting all the way. When suddenly a young writer appears with a great script, it is just what Art needs, a golden opportunity to rise again to greatness.
A cultured Englishman, living in Paris, becomes interested in art for purely mercenary reasons. He sponsors a young artist and goes to great lengths to keep his protege's canvases valuable.
While decorating a Christmas tree, narrator Joan Evans recalls the story of the Christmas of her ancestors during the 1860s in Wisconsin. A 12-year old boy becomes the head of his family when both parents die. On Christmas Eve he finds a way to provide homes for his five younger brothers and sisters.
Three men prepare to test the ejector seat of a jet bomber. As they wait for favorable weather conditions, each reacts differently.
One of the most despised men in the legal profession clings tenaciously to the belief that English law is infallible. Because of his fixation he even stands trial for a murder he did not commit.
Two sports-minded priests, off for a fishing holiday, become involved with thieves, a stolen car and stolen money!
A priest becomes involved in murder when the killer confesses his crime to him.
The Louella Parsons story, based on incidents in her autobiography ""The Gay Illiterate"", is a series of flashbacks. Teresa Wright portrays Miss Parson in the drama. As she speaks with the stars the cameras will re-create incidents in her long career. The time span is from the early twenties to 1948. We see Miss Parsons' early days as a newspaper reporter in Chicago. Here she loses her job and departs for New York. In New York she resumes her career, only to be stricken with tuberculosis. When she recovers from her illness, she meets the man who is to become her second husband, and her rise as Hollywood columnist begins. As a climax to tonight's drama, there will be a tribute from the stars of the movie industry.
A young woman lives in fear that a recurring dream foretells real tragedy. The premonition persists when she falls in love with a young soldier about to leave for overseas duty.
An 11-year old girl whose home has always been the slums, steals a packet of flower seeds from a playmate. In her search for a small bit of earth in which to grow flowers, she is befriended by a youthful gang leader.
Baseball's ""Iron Horse,"" whose brilliant career was ended by a terminal illness, and who struggled valiantly against adversity.
A middle aged spinster decides to go to the country for the summer with her friend. They end up becoming involved in a murder mystery.
A retired construction firm executive seeks a respite from enforced idleness and oncoming old age. While waiting for a phone call that will confirm or deny his request for a job back at his old firm, Matthew Quade relives his past.
An extreme form of disassociative reaction to stress in which two or more separate personalities exist. The person may shift from one personality to another, which is often very different. Each personality has no memories of the other's thoughts and actions.
Private Detective Philip Marlowe decides to help out a friend Lennox when his wife is found brutally murdered. Marlowe winds up in jail accused of her murder and tries to solve the case after his release.
When his friend is murdered, Edward Wales sets out to capture the killer. He stages a seance and invites 13 people, any one of who may have killed the dead man, but it ends in chaos when the killer strikes again during a blackout.
American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss LeChiffre while monitoring his actions. The first dramatization of a James Bond novel.
A neurotic invalid whose only contact with the outside world is her phone. One night, because of a crossed wire, she hears plans for a murder which turns out to be her own. Her frantic efforts to get help and her growing terror and realisation of the truth chill you to the bone.
The death of his crippled wife causes upheaval for the husband and his mistress. Only his family friend believes in his innocence.
A steward aboard a yacht thinks his job is easy sailing until the dream voyage turns into a nightmare. The ship's officer is thrown overboard and another is hacked to death who is next.
An unsuspecting Iron Curtain refugee is used as a pawn by two French traitors while he is at a resort in France.
Thru romantic eyes she knew not what he was.
Private investigators Cool and Lam become involved in this suspenseful tale of thugs, thieves and legal chicanery.
An American engineer in Germany crosses over into the Soviet Zone on business and becomes entangled with the secret police.
The story revolves around two women, one a successful career woman, the other an ambitious girl. After giving the daughter of an old friend a job, the successful businesswoman realizes the drawbacks of her generosity.
Lt. Comm. Knowles is assigned to skipper the USS Hamilton from England back to New York. While he and his crew celebrate New Year's Eve 1943, an unknown danger lurks nearby.
They were strangers to each other, even the married ones, and they all dreamed in human ways. But the least of these eight persons did something about his little dream. In so doing, he bound the strangers in an intimate circle, whether they knew it or not. He touched them all in passing and changed their lives and dreams forever, according to their own choices. In one turn of the earth something happened.
The action of this tale of intrigue and espionage takes place in the jungles of East Africa in 1914. The destinies of Germany and Great Britain are dependent upon one man whose decision is influenced by one of the two women in his life.
An ex-cop is released from San Quentin after five years and sets out on revenge against the men who framed him for manslaughter.
The famous story deals with a boxer whose rise to fame has been at the expense of friends and associates. Through flashbacks, we see how Midge Kelly rose from the Chicago slums to a world championship.
A woman doctor probes the twisted minds of her patients in a mental institution.
A doctor forsakes the medical profession following a court trial where he was the defendant. Now a successful businessman travelling under an assumed name, he must decide between keeping his secret and saving the eyesight of a fellow passenger.
The threat of scandal, revolving around the death of a man in London, prompts an ambitious lawyer to disregard both legan and moral principles. His concern for his own career puts an innocent man's life in jeopardy.
A Scottish student has the historical Stone of Scone stolen from Westminster Abbey. His purpose is to get England to recognize Scotland's independence.
An American, in the Italian Army during World War I, who meets a nurse and falls in love with her. Together they try to find a haven from the turbulence around them.
The life of an ordinary, mild-mannered man is changed when he identifies the murderer of his employer's brother.
A handsome, devil-may-care fortune hunter [from South America] makes his home with a well-to-do Southern family. He is attracted at first to the daughter, until he discovers the mother is the one who holds the key to the family fortune.
Classic Stevenson tale of a scientist whose experiments into the duality of man transform him into the misshapen, murderous Mr. Hyde.
True story of ballplayer battling mental illness and domineering father.
A teenage boy gets into a dispute with an abusive movie theater manager Mr. Grubbs. The boy's father Tom Ditmar accepts the manager's somewhat twisted version of the incident and doesn't give his son a chance to explain his side of the matter.
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Release | 1954-10-07 |
| Producer | Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) |