Tales of the Unexpected: Edward the Conqueror starts as an elderly couple living in rural England named Edward (Joseph Cotten) & Louisa (Wendy Hiller) notice a cat in their garden, Edward wants nothing to do with it although Louisa takes a fancy to it. Inside the house Lousia settles down to her favourite pass time playing classical music on the piano when the cat pops up, not knowing how it got into the house Louisa decides to keep it & after some strange coincidence's like seeming to recognise certain pieces of music Louisa becomes convinced that the cat is in fact a reincarnation of the famed Hungarian composer Franz Listz...
This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 7 from season 1 that originally aired here in the UK during May 1979, the first of three Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Rodney Bennett this is a fairly quaint & watchable story. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & in his filmed introduction Dahl states that he would often play a piece of classical music before he would start to write in the hope that the creative genius behind the music would rub off on him which he admits it never did, well I wouldn't be so sure because the guy was undoubtedly a wonderful storyteller & this tale of the unexpected was inspired by & came about from his fondness of classical music. Anyway, this is a decent enough story that entertains for 25 odd minutes that has a gentle feel to it until the twist ending which I didn't see coming & was a nice dark way to round this particular story off. It moves along at a fair pace although I wouldn't be as convinced as Louisa that the cat was the reincarnation of Listz, I mean just recognising & reacting to a piece of his music isn't really concrete proof is it? It's a bit of stretch to go from that to be absolutely certain that the cat was the reincarnation of Listz, personally I'd have put it down to a coincidence & would have liked a bit more solid evidence but then again what do I know?
This one looks pretty good considering it's vintage & hasn't dated that badly. There's no horror or scares but it's an effective little tale which will keep you watching until at the end so in that regard it must be doing something right. The acting is alright from another strong British TV cast.
Edward the Conqueror, a title I don't get by the way, is a decent enough time waster that's worth a watch if you can catch a repeat on TV.
This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 7 from season 1 that originally aired here in the UK during May 1979, the first of three Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Rodney Bennett this is a fairly quaint & watchable story. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & in his filmed introduction Dahl states that he would often play a piece of classical music before he would start to write in the hope that the creative genius behind the music would rub off on him which he admits it never did, well I wouldn't be so sure because the guy was undoubtedly a wonderful storyteller & this tale of the unexpected was inspired by & came about from his fondness of classical music. Anyway, this is a decent enough story that entertains for 25 odd minutes that has a gentle feel to it until the twist ending which I didn't see coming & was a nice dark way to round this particular story off. It moves along at a fair pace although I wouldn't be as convinced as Louisa that the cat was the reincarnation of Listz, I mean just recognising & reacting to a piece of his music isn't really concrete proof is it? It's a bit of stretch to go from that to be absolutely certain that the cat was the reincarnation of Listz, personally I'd have put it down to a coincidence & would have liked a bit more solid evidence but then again what do I know?
This one looks pretty good considering it's vintage & hasn't dated that badly. There's no horror or scares but it's an effective little tale which will keep you watching until at the end so in that regard it must be doing something right. The acting is alright from another strong British TV cast.
Edward the Conqueror, a title I don't get by the way, is a decent enough time waster that's worth a watch if you can catch a repeat on TV.
