What happens
Escape presents The Fugitive, adapted from Vincent Starrett's story and broadcast on August 15, 1948. A master thief escapes from the prison of Tarontel in southern France and flees through the forests toward the village of Sanzrouse. Along the way he meets an old knife maker who gives him a blade, then seeks shelter with Marie, who has promised to wait for him. Hunted by the townspeople and by his rival Lemieux, he must decide whom he can trust as the night wears on. The broadcast cast includes Louis Van Rooten and Ben Wright.
Southern France, a prison at Tarontel, the village of Sanzrouse and its forests, and the Chateau de Montaut, 1940s
Characters: Thief (narrator), Lemieux, Marie, Paul, Merlot, Old knife maker
Listen for: The old knife maker's gift of the blade engraved with 'reason' and 'irony', and the thief's growing suspicion of the people around him
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.