What happens
Pedro de Vargas returns home to Spain to find his family accused of heresy by the Inquisition, with his father and mother arrested and his sister tortured to death. Pedro seeks help from the Marques de Carvajal, who advises him to surrender, and he goes instead to the prison, where he confronts Diego de Silva. Hoping to escape the dangers at home, Pedro and the faithful Katana join Hernan Cortes's expedition to the New World, where Cortes's fleet pushes toward the land of the Emperor Montezuma. This episode of the Screen Directors Playhouse, broadcast on NBC on May 3, 1951, stars Douglas Fairbanks and Paula Morgan.
Spain and the New World, 1517
Characters: Pedro de Vargas, Katana, Diego de Silva, Juan Garcia, Marques de Carvajal, Hernan Cortes, Father Bartolome, Juan Escudero
Listen for: The confrontation between Pedro and Diego de Silva in the prison, and Pedro's decision to sail with Cortes.
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.