"Tales of the Unexpected" Depart in Peace (1980)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Alan Gibson

Writers:

Roald Dahl (writer)
Ronald Harwood (dramatisation)

TV Series:

"Tales of the Unexpected" (1979)

Original Air Date:

3 May 1980 (Season 2, Episode 10)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Bizarre | Famous Opening Theme | Cult TV | Anthology | Supernatural

Cast

Roald Dahl	...	Himself - Introduced by
Joseph Cotten	...	Lionel
Gloria Grahame	...	Gladys
Maureen O'Brien	...	Janet
John Bennett	...	Royden
Peter Cellier	...	Wilkins

Average tale of the unexpected.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Tales of the Unexpected: Depart in Peace starts as rich art collector Lionel (Joseph Cotten) is contacted by by an old friend named Gladys (Gloria Grahame) who reveals a painting of herself that she has had done by up & coming artist John Roydon (John Bennett) & also lets Lionel into Roydon's unusual working practices. Lionel then has the idea to use Roydon to paint his current girlfriend Janet (Maureen O'Brien) & use his unorthodox methods to test her love for him but the plan backfires...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 10 from season 2 & originally aired her in the UK During May 1980, the second of ten Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Alan Gibson this is nothing particularly special even by this show's usually lacklustre standards. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & is a pretty useless story of a plan backfiring in a spectacular fashion, during his introduction Dahl states his love for fine art & paintings & tells the story that he brought a dirty old painting in a shop in Brighton for 25p & when he cleaned it up he had an original Renoir landscape on his hands! Jesus Christ why does nothing like that ever happen to me?! Some people just get all the luck eh? This isn't the show's finest 30 odd minutes, the character motivations here are poor to none existent, the storytelling is strangely weak considering this is a Dahl inspired tale & I don't really get the ending either which just doesn't add up to me or make any sense.

This one looks OK, there's no scares or suspense & I don't really like this story much so I'll stop writing about it. The acting is alright from yet another familiar cast.

Depart in Peace, a title which means nothing in context with the story, is another instantly forgettable Tales of the Unexpected episode as if there weren't enough of those already.