Dick Powell stars in this episode of "Four Star Playhouse". He plays a warden at a prison who is convinced that a man on Death Row is innocent--and he is arguing in vain with the governor to get the young man's death sentence stopped.
Later, an inmate in the prison is stabbed and on his deathbed HE confesses to the crime for which the other man is awaiting execution. So, the warden tries everything he can to locate the governor and get a stay of execution--and there are only hours left until the man's time has expired.
The show makes an extremely compelling case against capital punishment in cases where there isn't 100% certainty that the convicted person was guilty. In addition, the acting was quite nice. Powell was terrific as usual and Stacy Harris was particularly good as the sadistic and completely unsympathetic deputy warden. It's actually an interesting thing to see Harris in such a role, as on "Dragnet" he almost always played completely despicable characters who clearly COULD have benefited from the use of the death penalty!
Later, an inmate in the prison is stabbed and on his deathbed HE confesses to the crime for which the other man is awaiting execution. So, the warden tries everything he can to locate the governor and get a stay of execution--and there are only hours left until the man's time has expired.
The show makes an extremely compelling case against capital punishment in cases where there isn't 100% certainty that the convicted person was guilty. In addition, the acting was quite nice. Powell was terrific as usual and Stacy Harris was particularly good as the sadistic and completely unsympathetic deputy warden. It's actually an interesting thing to see Harris in such a role, as on "Dragnet" he almost always played completely despicable characters who clearly COULD have benefited from the use of the death penalty!
