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Climax!
Overview
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.
Status
Ended
Network
CBS
Seasons & Episodes
Season 3
Episodes
Bury Me Later
An English vicar believes in the innocence of an artist, thought by everyone to be the murderer of a missing farmer. With the help of the murdered man's wife, he solves the mystery and unmasks the real killer.
Burst of Violence
A Texas rancher whose opposition to slavery led him to fight for the Union in the Civil War returns home to find himself despised for betraying the South even by his family.
The Garsten Case
Two nuclear scientists, married to each other, are working on a top-secret experiment when the woman is accidentally exposed to atomic radiation. With only a week to live, she and her husband decide to perform a series of usually fatal experiments in the name of science, with her as the subject.
The Fog
A strange, poisonous fog envelops a small town. In the struggle against death in the mysterious fog, several people re-evaluate their lives and those of others close to them.
Island in the City
A Puerto Rican detective in the big city tries to keep a youngster from getting into trouble, but is suspended from the force for alleged brutality to the boy.
Journey Into Fear
A munitions expert goes on an arms smuggling mission to Istanbul and becomes a target for Nazi agents.
The Midas Touch
The owner of a mine comes to a small South American town to investigate the cave-in, which caused his brother's death. But the townspeople refuse to co-operate.
Night of the Heat Wave
After serving a six-year sentence for jewel robbery, a man is released from prison. He and his wife are threatened by characters from the underworld who believe the ex-convict knows where a missing $150,000 star-brilliant is hidden.
Flight to Tomorrow
A co-owner of a small charter service plans to fake a plane crash in order to steal a casino's cash.
Night Shriek
The young bride of a Jamaica plantation owner is frightened by her husband's violent outbursts of rage. She begins to believe the rumors that he was responsible for the death of his first wife, whose body was never found
The Chinese Game
A newspaper columnist buys an unusual Chinese game at a curio shop. As he plays this game, he sees himself murdering his wife for another woman.
The Secret Thread
On a visit to his childhood home, a man discovers a cache of stolen goods in the attic. He is injured by falling crates, and, unable to leave, finds himself at the mercy of the leader of the gang that stole the goods.
Savage Portrait
After the loss of his patron and the failure of his one-man show, an artist decides that the only way he can acquire money is to steal it.
Strange Hostage
The kidnapping of a retired doctor whom the criminals mistakenly believe to be wealthy is witnessed by a young boy whose story no one believes.
Ten Minutes to Curfew
A paroled convict and a hoodlum are both in love with the same girl. The hoodlum tries to provoke the ex-convict into a violation of his parole.
Carnival at Midnight
The elderly owner of a carnival is infatuated with the bareback rider he discovered. She rejects his love and his jealousy drives him to plot murder.
The Gold Dress
Richard leaves Louella, from a prominent family, to marry Jean. Louella vows vengeance even if it's from the grave.
Circle of Destruction
A ruthless convict breaks out of prison and intimidates his family into helping him stay free.
The Trouble at Number 5
A middle-aged woman takes a job as a wealthy old lady's housekeeper and, in an attempt to gain the security she longs for, plots to dispose of her employer.
The Stalker
A businessman who testifies against a gangster learns that the criminal is now out of jail.
Stain of Honor
The son of a former governor who was assassinated is himself running for the same office when the son of the killer, who was shot while trying to escape, arrives in town under an alias. The candidate confronts the newcomer and makes it clear he plans to use the assassination to further his own career.
The Long Count
After a cocky American boxer on a European tour is defeated by a French fighter, he is befriended by a beautiful cafe owner who tries to rouse him from the depression that threatens his career.
And Don't Ever Come Back
A man wrongly accused of murder is released from prison only after the guilty man confesses to the crime on his deathbed. A newspaper reporter seeks to learn if the townspeople will accept the ex-convict in their midst now that it has been proved he was innocent of the crime.
Night of a Rebel
A young boy is ashamed of his father's bootlegging activities. When the parents of his girlfriend refuse to let her see him, he decides to run away to the big city to become a success.
Let It Be Me
Corruption in the recording industry plays out just as the music plays in.
Strange Sanctuary
In the old southwest, a pair of bank robbers must ride out after killing a man. They intend on eventually getting far away, but one seeks to reunite with his daughter in a nearby convent. When he is wounded in a gunfight, they end up hiding out there, though the men from town are a mob out for their blood,sanctuary or not.
Don't Touch Me
A successful woman designer returns to her small home town in an attempt to ward off an emotional breakdown. She is still tormented by the memory of a murder she witnessed as a child.
Mad Bomber
Months after the arrest of New York's notorious mad bomber, new bomb threats terrorize the city. A detective begins a slow, painstaking effort to solve the case.
Avalanche at Devil's Pass
Among the passengers on a train trapped by an avalanche are a possessive woman, the irresponsible playboy she's been following, a man hunting for a drug addict, and a conductor awaiting news of the birth of his first child.
Strange Deaths at Burnleigh
At the turn of the century, Scotland Yard receives letters accusing a village doctor of killing some of his patients. The detective sent to investigate is opposed by the townspeople and the doctor's attractive young niece.
Bait for the Tiger
Two swindlers in Italy hire a hungry novelist to find a woman who will pose as a missing countess entitled to an inheritance. Their plans go haywire when one conspirator is driven to murder.
The Hand of Evil
Poison pen letters threaten the career of a brilliant young college instructor whose pregnant wife has just inherited half a million dollars.
The Disappearance of Amanda Hale
An actress is plagued with dread before opening night when her leading man suddenly falls ill, a man follows her on her way to the theater, and she narrowly escapes injury from a falling sandbag.
Mr. Runyon of Broadway
New York sportswriter Damon Runyon becomes interested in a young boxer and backs him in an upcoming bout, which gamblers try to make him throw by involving his wife in a rigged crap game.
The Man Who Stole the Bible
At carnival time in Havana an American salesman rescues an attractive woman from revelers, spends some time with her, and finds his hotel room ransacked when he returns.
A Taste for Crime
To prove his connection between body chemistry and the criminal mind, a wealthy society doctor secretly joins forces with a hunted fugitive.
The Trial of Captain Wirtz
During the Civil War, thousands of captured Union soldiers were confined in the Andersonville stockade in Georgia. Conditions there were so bad that over 12,000 prisoners died and the infamous reputation of the Andersonville stockade spread. When the war ended, steps were taken to bring to justice those responsible. The trial of Captain Henry Wirz, commandant of the Andersonville prison and the charge--conspiracy to commit atrocities and murder among the prisoners. The Union prosecutor is determined to prove that Wirz himself shot down one of the prisoners.
False Witness
A man dies in an unfortunate accident at an remote hunting lodge. A passing bum who saw the accident threatens to testify that the death was no accident-- unless the widow and her mother give him cash and a home.
Payment for Judas
When one of the ranchers resisting an unscrupulous railroad agent's efforts to buy them out breaks ranks and decides to sell, the other ranchers turn against him, his wife scorns him and her brother is murdered.
Walk a Tightrope
A man arrested for a murder that was committed for no apparent reason claims he was hired by the victim's wife.
The High Jungle
A steel tycoon finds that his company is threatened by a younger man who is trying to gain control through the proxy votes of the shareholders. The older man approaches his late partner's widow in an effort to gain her support, but learns that she has already promised to help the young man.
The Giant Killer
A short man who's sensitive about his height picks a fight on the job over the issue. Then his wife gives him a pair of shoes designed to make him look taller.
Trail of Terror
Murdered doctor had been researching a rare disease.
Murder is a Witch
After meeting a woman who tells him she desperately needs money for an operation for her mother, a young man agrees to go along with a friend planning a robbery.
The Stranger Within
A young man is visiting the sister of a friend who was killed in South America when the woman claims she's being poisoned by her doctor stepfather and begs the young man to help her.
Deadly Climate
A woman vacationing off the New England coast reports that she witnessed a murder while walking in the woods. But no one in the small island town believes her except a reporter who finds a shoe at the scene of the alleged crime.
Top Cast
William Lundigan
Self - Host
Mary Costa
Self - Host
