Thriller (TV Series) Dialogues with Death (1961) User Reviews

"It's hard to get used to being dead."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 25 February 2012]

Well Karloff fans will really get their money's worth with this episode. In addition to his hosting duties, he appears in both parts of a double feature episode here, and pokes a little fun at the idea as part of the introduction when both of his characters do a quick double take at each other. Ed Nelson also does double duty in the pair of stories, and wouldn't you know it, the guy can't catch a break because he's a goner in both tales. That's the idea in 'Dialogues With Death', along with the concept that sometimes the spirit of a dead person will hang around until the fact of being dead has time to kick in.

It looks to me like the first chapter included a recycled clip from an earlier Thriller episode. The scene of Tom Ellison's (Nelson) car going over the embankment was used before in #1.19 - Choose A Victim. The giveaway are those flames that briefly shoot out from under the car as it heads down the hill, though the earlier story uses more footage including the rollover. Seeing Tom's friend Harry (George Kane) already resting on a slab in the morgue before he got there seemed a bit unusual to me, but that was part of the hook. For Pop Jenkins (Karloff), it was all in a night's work.

The second story was a little more bizarre, since Karloff's character, Colonel Jackson Beauregarde Finchess and his sister Emily (Estelle Winwood) right off the bat refer to Daniel Le Jean (Nelson) and his wife Nell (Norma Crane) as already being dead. Certainly this comes as a surprise to the Le Jean's, but doesn't deter them from searching the family estate for an inheritance left by Daniel's father. The remaining story gets really creepy as they go virtually underground to examine the family burial crypt and get trapped by an immovable door. The idea of a phone buried along with the father because of his catalepsy was a clever plot element, but as we see, comes to naught when Karloff's character answers the phone. The Colonel and his sister aren't very sympathetic to the plight of their buried nephew, but at least they didn't tell him that he got a wrong number.

Karloff stars in two separate stories opposite Ed Nelson

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 25 May 2009]

After "Trio of Terror," and before "The Lethal Ladies," this would be the second of three multi-story episodes, with your host Boris Karloff starring in both, as does the busy Ed Nelson, previously seen in "The Fatal Impulse," "The Cheaters," and "A Good Imagination." In "Friend of the Dead," Karloff plays morgue attendant Pop Jenkins, who carries on conversations with his deceased charges, in a sense providing comfort for those in the after-life. Reporter Tom Ellison (Nelson) sees a big story when a recent murder victim reveals the identity of his killer, foolishly confronting the suspect to his everlasting regret, an intriguing premise with a predictable conclusion. In "Welcome Home," Nelson plays Daniel Lejean, a murderer on the run, figuring he can hide from the authorities at the decaying Southern plantation owned by his uncle, Colonel Jackson Beauregard Finchess (Karloff), who lives there alone with his sister Emily (Estelle Winwood). Daniel and his wife Nell (Norma Crane) also returned for another reason: the money his late father left behind. The Colonel states that Daniel's father suffered from catalepsy, installing a telephone in the family crypt in case he was buried alive. Believing that both his nephew and wife were reported dead, the Colonel made certain to bury Daniel's coffin with his inheritance down in the dank vault as well (another shock ending, but an improvement on the first). Pop Jenkins remains a sympathetic character, while the Colonel reminds us of Karloff's scenery chewing role in "The Boogie Man Will Get You." Estelle Winwood works with Boris nearly 40 years after starring on Broadway with Bela Lugosi in 1922's "The Red Poppy" (she died in 1984 at the age of 101). One of Ed Nelson's later villains came opposite Olivia de Havilland in the 1971 TV movie "The Screaming Woman," for which the actor himself provided his own comment on IMDb.

Two Encounters/ The Second More Imaginative

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 3 December 2016]

There are two stories here, both of them featuring Boris Karloff, in addition to his usual host position. In the first, a less impressive offering, he plays a man who has worked at the morgue for many years and has developed a way of talking to the corpses. One night a notorious gangster is brought in and Karloff manages to connect with him. Unfortunately, a police officer and his camera man come in, trying to get the morgue attendant to tell things about the murder of this man. It leads to unsettling consequences. In the second story, a tough guy and his wife show up at a house near New Orleans. He grew up in this house and knows that there is money that was promised him after his brother's death. Living in the house is a weird couple, his uncle and aunt, who tell the couple that they are both dead, but that it's nice to see them. They are confused but need the money. The guy is wanted for murder and needs the cash so they can hide. We learn about a lot of doing involving a crypt with family members who have been inadvertently buried alive. I won't say more, other than to say that this second offering has much more suspense and a plot that is very creative.

Duo For Doom

[AaronCapenBanner · 9/10 · 1 November 2014]

Boris Karloff does a double turn as actor in this two-part tale:

'Friend Of The Dead' - Boris stars as Pop Jenkins, a 40-year morgue attendant who can talk with the dead in his charge, though two newspapermen(played by Ed Nelson and Ben Hammer) make unauthorized use of information learned from a murder victim, much to their regret... Karloff is superb here, and fine segment is eerie and well-scored.

'Welcome Home' - Ed Nelson and Norma Crane play two married fugitives who visit the decaying southern mansion of Col. Jackson(Boris Karloff) and his sister Emily(Estelle Winwood) to collect an inheritance, but go to perilously extreme lengths to collect the money... Equally memorable tale is partly a dark comedy with a grim(if inevitable) resolution.

Two tales of death...each starring Karloff himself.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 26 October 2018]

While Boris Karloff was the host for "Thriller", he occasionally starred in a few episodes. In the case of "Dialogues with Death", he stars in BOTH stories in this episode.

This first tale involves a strange old man at the morgue (Karloff). How is he strange? He can talk with the newly departed and takes it upon himself to reassure the dead that everything will be okay. However, in this case, a man was murdered...and he apparently tells the old man about it. As a result of what he learned, some reporters go to investigate the case...with terrible consequences.

The second story is the more enjoyable of the two. An old couple (Karloff and Estelle Winwood) are quite adorable and easy to like. But when their nephew arrives with his new wife, it's obvious this is no normal old couple...as they inform the nephew that he's dead. And, since the wife is with him, she apparently is dead also! Naturally they don't believe them!

Overall, these are two very enjoyable short stories....well worth seeing. Much of it is because of the lovely acting (Karloff and Winwood are great) and much is because the writing is lovely. Well worth seeing and among the best episodes of "Thriller".