Old-School TV: Lights Out- 'The Passage Beyond'

 Yes, I've found an even older, even more obscure Horror Anthology Show!

Lights Out started out as a Radio Show and moved to TV in 1946.  

Most of you don't have Parents that were alive when this started, do you?

The Show ran until 1952, which is when more of these kinds of things started to pop up like Tales of Tomorrow and One Step Beyond.

Why is this one so lost to History?
Let's take a look at one of the two Episodes I now own- thanks, Alpha Video- and see.

This is...

A Couple and their friend return home after a night out.

Instead of talking about something scary like Politics, they discuss how a previous owner- and the Husband's Ancestor- killed her husband in the House long ago.  She wandered the Hallway with the murder weapon in the aftermath.

Good talk.

When the Wife leaves, the Husband starts hitting on the friend.  She's not saying 'no' to this.

They agree to meet later that night when the other woman is asleep.

On the way to meet her, the Husband thinks he spots her.  
She won't answer him, so he follows her, even as she goes to the titular passage.

The other woman arrives...but so does the Wife.  She makes up a lame cover story.

The Wife doesn't seem to fall for it, especially since she says that the Ancestor told her what was going on.

While they talk, the ghostly woman appears, going on her walk.

Stupid interrupting ghosts!

After the ghost leaves, they open the passage and the Husband is alright.  The other woman leaves and he vows to be faithful...from now on.

That's...likely.  The End.

This one is dated in many, many ways.  On one hand, that's a bad thing.  Watching more modern Horror/Sci-Fi Shows, you get more in terms of excitement.  On the other hand, this is interesting watch from an historical perspective.  As many people like me have noted, the early days of TV were much more like watching Plays than what would become a 'TV Show' soon enough.  This definitely feels like a 2-Act Play filmed in a very basic way.  The Acting isn't...great, but I got some joy out of it.  The Actress that played the Wife, for instance, has a strangely-vacant delivery.  There's alot of 'Acting for the Back Row' in this one too.  That said, I had alot of fun with this one, even if it is more of an historical oddity than a good Episode.  I have another, but, sadly, it is not the one that this one actually promises me...

Yes, not alot actually happens.  That said, they make some nice atmosphere here and it is neat to see what early TV was.