The Hitchcock Project-Final Escape by John Resko [9.18]

by Jack Seabrook

"Final Escape" is an episode that is remembered for its horrifying ending, but the show that aired on CBS on Friday, February 21, 1964, had a complicated history that remains hard to unravel.

The onscreen credits state that the show's teleplay is by John Resko, from a story by Thomas H. Cannan, Jr., and Randall Hood. However, the University of Wisconsin holds the papers of Jerome Ross, who was a TV writer for decades. In those papers is a folder containing a large amount of material related to "Final Escape," including a typed but unpublished four-page "original story" by Tom Cannon titled "The Fate of Paul Perreau." The story is also labeled a "synopsis," and the time is given as 1950; the place is Devil's Island, the notorious French penal colony off the coast of French Guiana that closed in 1953.

In the story, Paul Perreau is a wealthy, young French bachelor who is sentenced to 20 years on Devil's Island for a financial crime. After Perreau spends months in a cell, the prisoner in the next cell suggests that the only way to escape is in a pine coffin and that they should arrange for the jail's doctor to put them both to sleep and end their suffering. Perreau taunts the prison's commander into having him flogged and he is taken to the infirmary, where he proposes a scheme to the doctor: when the prisoner in the next cell dies, Paul will join his corpse in the coffin and be buried. The doctor tells him that he will be able to survive underground for thirty minutes, by which time the doctor will have dug up the coffin and freed Perreau. The plan goes off without a hitch until Perreau, sealed in the coffin and buried underground, lights a match and discovers that the corpse next to him in the coffin is that of the doctor.

Stephen McNally as Captain Tolman

Presumably, the "Tom Cannon" whose name is on the original story/synopsis is the same person as "Thomas H. Cannan, Jr.," one of the authors credited onscreen with the story on which the show that aired is based. Cannan lived from 1934 to 1992 and only has one other credit on IMDb (as "Tom Cannan"), as writer of the teleplay for a 1975 episode of The Streets of San Francisco that deals with an escape from Alcatraz prison!

The Jerome Ross folder also includes two drafts of a teleplay that Ross wrote that is titled "Final Escape" and based on "The Fate of Paul Perreau." Also contained in the folder are a step outline (a scene-by-scene breakdown of the story), a treatment (a detailed prose summary of a script idea used to pitch a project), and handwritten and typed notes that Ross kept, including notes about story conferences he had with Robert Douglas, who would later produce "Final Escape" for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. From the notes, it appears that Douglas gave the story to Ross to draft a screenplay.

Robert Keith as Doc

On June 6, 1963, Ross jotted down ideas of how to broaden Cannan's story in order to make it a character study of Manuel (Perreau's new name), Commandant Sandoz (the warden/commander of the prison), and Dr. Echevara (the infirmary doctor). Manuel is described as a "Louis Jourdan character," referring to the suave, French actor who was one of the stars of Gigi in 1958. Manuel is allowed to keep a locket with his mother's picture in it; unbeknownst to the commandant, diamonds are hidden inside the locket. The commandant has a native girl as a companion.

A June 12 story conference with Douglas was their third meeting, and they decided to replace having Manuel flogged with having him put in a sweatbox; it's noted that this was used in the 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai. Ross also lists plot points that need to be planted along the way so that they can be brought up again later in the story. Outline notes on June 15 state that the location will be changed from Devil's Island to the fictional Isle of Sorrows, and the step outline is dated June 17.

Edd Byrnes as Paul Perry

In this outline, Manuel is now a wealthy playboy in Rio de Janeiro who is arrested for murder and transported to the Isle of Sorrows, where he boasts of his certainty that he'll escape. The rest of the plot follows the original story. Ross notes that the location was changed because Devil's Island closed years ago. Ross and Douglas had more story conferences on June 18 and 19, deciding to change Manuel's crime from murder to forgery and to make the commandant a more intellectual character who resents Manuel's privilege.

Ross then worked on the first draft of the teleplay, which is dated July 15, 1963. It opens with a prologue set in Rio de Janeiro, where Manuel, who now has the surname Braganza, is shown living the high life until he is arrested for a headline-making robbery. In the first act, he is taken by boat to the prison on the Isle of Sorrows, where Sandoz watches his arrival, accompanied by a young, pretty Indian girl. Dr. Echevara is introduced and has spent thirty years on the prison island; he and Manuel bond over their shared love of poetry. The doctor gives Manuel a break and classifies him as suitable for modified labor rather than heavy labor. Manuel visits Sandoz and boasts that he'll escape soon, but Sandoz explains that the half mile of water separating the island from the mainland is home to man-eating sharks; one of the other prisoners who tried to escape is missing an arm. Manuel finds a bunk next to an old prisoner who is dying, and he observes prisoners on work duty making bamboo shades and wooden coffins.

Nicholas Colasanto as the dying prisoner

In act two, Manuel is growing desperate and planning his escape when Sandoz orders him to be placed on the burial crew that takes a boat to the mainland to bury prisoners' corpses; Sandoz expects that Manuel will try to escape and plans to have him shot in the attempt. This fate befalls another prisoner, however, and Manuel returns to the island, where he proposes his scheme to the doctor before refusing to work and being put in the sweatbox for four days. In act three, Manuel ends up in the infirmary and explains his plan to the doctor, who demands half of the money that Manuel stole and tells the prisoner that he can only survive thirty minutes inside a coffin underground.

In the final act, the other prisoner has died and Sandoz presses the doctor about what Manuel is planning. Manuel observes the corpse placed in the coffin and joins it; the lid is nailed on and he is transported to the mainland and buried. In the final scene, shots alternate between Manuel inside the coffin and the scene above ground, where no one is present. Manuel discovers the doctor's corpse and there is a final scene where Sandoz has watched the burial through binoculars and moves the king on a chessboard before remarking, "'Checkmate, Braganza.'"

John Kellogg as a guard

Jerome Ross had another story conference with Robert Douglas on July 18. Douglas thought that the story was too modern and needed to be opened up, and he told Ross to delete Sandoz's female companion. A revised teleplay is dated July 18, 1963. This version opens with Sandoz and the doctor playing chess, and instead of showing Manuel being arrested and transported to the island, these facts are conveyed through dialogue between the chess players. There is more focus on Sandoz's poor upbringing and his resentment of Manuel.

The rest of the teleplay is similar to the first draft, but the final shot of Sandoz at the chessboard is cut and the story ends with Manuel discovering the doctor's corpse and screaming, "'No-o-oo-o!'" as his last match burns out.

Jerome Ross (1911-2012) wrote for TV from 1950 to 1980 and won Edgar Awards in 1954, for an episode of Studio One, and in 1967, for an episode of Mission: Impossible. He wrote two episodes of The Outer Limits, but no episodes of the Hitchcock TV show are credited to him.

What happened to Jerome Ross's teleplay and why is he not credited onscreen in the version of "Final Escape" that aired on TV? That version is credited to John Resko, "from a story by Thomas H. Cannan, Jr. and Randall Hood." The Catalogue of Copyright Entries lists a screenplay titled "The Fate of Paul Perreau," whose first draft was registered on February 19, 1962, over a year before Jerome Ross began working on his teleplay. The screenplay is credited to Tom Cannan, Jr., and Randall Hood, from an original account by Hannah Firoved, a pseudonym of Cannan and Hood. A copy of this screenplay is held at the University of Iowa, but when I requested permission to get a copy for research purposes, a lawyer for 20th Century Fox informed me that no copies are allowed and the only way to review the screenplay is to travel to Iowa and read it in person.

Ray Kellogg as the blacksmith

It appears that Cannan and Hood wrote a screenplay that was never produced. Somehow, a synopsis then made its way to producer Robert Douglas and, for some reason, the author's name on the synopsis is listed as Tom Cannon. This is undoubtedly Tom Cannan, but why would an author misspell his own name? Randall Hood (1928-1976) has only one credit as a writer on IMDb and it is this episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He also directed four films and one TV episode between 1961 and 1978.

"Final Escape" aired on February 21, 1964, so it was probably filmed in late 1963 or early 1964. At some point between mid-July 1963 and the time the show was filmed, producer Robert Douglas must have decided that Jerome Ross's teleplay was unusable, because the teleplay for the show that aired is credited to John Resko and it is based on a story by Cannan and Hood, presumably the screenplay that the pair copyrighted in 1962.

Oddly enough, though John Resko (1911-1991) is a fascinating character, he has no other credits as a TV or film writer! Convicted of murder when he was eighteen years old and sentenced to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, his sentence was commuted to life in 1932 by future president Roosevelt, who was then governor of New York. Resko spent almost twenty years in prison and was released in late 1949. While in prison, he took up painting and became a talented painter of rather modernistic, haunted scenes. His 1956 book, Reprieve: The Testament of John Resko, was well-received, and it was adapted into a film titled Convicts 4 that was released in September 1962.

Bernie Hamilton as a prisoner

The TV version of "Final Escape" differs from Cannan's synopsis and Ross's teleplays in many ways. Paul Perreau/Manuel Braganza has been Americanized as Paul Perry and the events take place in an unidentified location, though Captain Tolman (as Sandoz has been renamed) asks Perry in an early scene if he really robbed "'nine banks between here and Boston.'" A sign at the gate reads "State Prison Lumber Camp No. 2." The show begins with Perry, a shackle on his leg, trying to escape on foot and being caught by an armed guard. Perry is walked back to a prison truck by Captain Tolman and a group of guards; the captain remarks that the prisoner made off with almost $500,000 and suggests that if Perry turns in his partner and returns the money, he could be released.

The guards and Perry climb in a truck and, on their way back to the prison, they stop at a desolate, dusty graveyard, where Doc, who is elderly and drunk, is having difficulty placing a wooden marker on a new grave. He hates to bury prisoners and can't keep away from the bottle on burial day; he also has a bad heart. Tolman tells Doc that his granddaughter Elissa might be admitted to the county hospital, where she could be cared for; he adds that "'alcohol and a weak heart don't mix.'" We learn that Perry has a reputation for trying to escape from every prison where he's held, and the scene shifts to the prison, which looks like a series of shacks in the middle of nowhere. Act one ends with a guard remarking that no one has ever escaped from Captain Tolman's prison.

Stacy Harris as the lawyer

The first act of "Final Escape" thus introduces the three main characters and their relationships and sets up the conflict between the prisoner with a reputation for escaping and the captain who never lets anyone go free. The third key figure is the doctor, who hates his job of having to bury dead prisoners, drinks heavily, has a bad heart, and has a sick granddaughter for whom he can't afford treatment.

Act two begins with new shackles being put on Perry's ankles before he is brought to see Captain Tolman, "'de facto warden of this camp.'" Tolman talks Perry into signing a guilty plea, explaining that his attempt at escape would add five years to the ten he is already serving, while a guilty plea would increase his prison time by just a year. Outside, Perry is assigned to help Doc make coffins; the doctor  remarks that each one has "'room for two of me in there.'" After Doc nearly collapses and clutches at his chest, the men relax with cigarettes and it's revealed that, while Perry has been in this prison for less than a week, Doc has been here for twenty-nine years.

Perry meets with his lawyer in the prison's dining room during visiting hours, while across the room, Doc attempts to comfort his granddaughter, who is crying and confined to a wheelchair. As visiting hours end, Perry makes a bird by folding a piece of paper and hands it to the girl, who cheers up. Tolman then summons Doc to his office and, after plying him with alcohol, the warden asks the doctor to befriend Perry, encourage him to try another escape, and advise Tolman. After the captain offers to help Doc's family, the old man agrees, but Tolman cautions that an extensive waiting list means that it will be a long time until Elissa is admitted to the hospital. Doc says that she needs money for a specialist and a "'chance at a healthy, normal life.'"

Hinton Pope
as a guard

Doc and Perry continue to work side by side and Doc explains that he only makes twelve cents a day and his son makes very little money doing odd jobs; they need $5000 for Elissa's operation. Doc tells Perry to write to his partner on the outside and have him send $5000 to Doc's son; in exchange, Doc will help Perry escape. Doc explains the plan about being buried in a coffin alongside a dead prisoner; Doc will wait to erect the grave marker and, when everyone else has left, he'll dig up Perry, who will then be able to escape. Though Doc says that there will be "'plenty of air till I get to you,'" Perry is skeptical, but Doc talks him into agreeing and Perry asks Doc for his son's address.

In Act two, Paul's prison sentence is lengthened, which strengthens his motivation to escape. He begins working alongside Doc, whose granddaughter is introduced. Tolman asks Doc to encourage Perry to escape, and in this version it is Doc who proposes the doomed plan, not Perry.

The third act begins as Tolman confronts Doc, whose son and granddaughter have left town. Doc lies and says that he borrowed money from an old school buddy, but Tolman suspects that he's lying and that he got the money from Perry. Prisoners are shown working outdoors in the prison yard, using ropes to place large trees on a flatbed truck. One convict is crushed in an accident and ends up in bad shape in the infirmary. Back in the prison yard, Perry stages a fake accident that makes it look like his foot is injured; he is admitted to the infirmary and his leg shackles are removed so his foot can be put in a cast. Tolman announces that Perry will be sent back to the main prison the next day and Doc comments that the other prisoner is near death. Perry's impending transfer makes his escape urgent and, though Doc warns him not to kill the other prisoner, the man dies anyway.

Betsy Hale as Elissa

Act three sets up the show's finale by causing one prisoner to be near death, having Perry stage his own seeming injury, and adding time pressure when Tolman says that Perry will be transferred the following day. Everything is now in place for Perry and Doc to execute their plan.

Doc is drinking heavily again as act four opens. He instructs Perry to be sure to pull the shroud over his head when he gets in the coffin and gives Perry tobacco, matches, and chocolate before leaving the infirmary and falling down the stairs outside in a drunken stupor. That night, Perry removes the cast from his foot before sneaking out of the infirmary and across the prison yard, avoiding being spotted by a sentry. After seeing Tolman leave the morgue with two prisoners, Perry sneaks in. The morgue is in shadows as he climbs into the coffin next to a corpse that is covered by a shroud. Perry pulls the lid over the top of the coffin and there is a close up of him inside.

In the morning, prisoners nail the lid on the coffin and shots of Perry in the confined space alternate with shots of the prisoners loading the coffin onto a flatbed truck. There is a dissolve to the graveyard, where shots continue to go back and forth between showing Perry inside the coffin and showing the prisoners filling in the grave with dirt and leaving. There is no sign of Doc. Perry lights matches and speaks his thoughts out loud, while above, the gravesite is desolate. Perry grows more desperate, offering to give Doc anything he wants and pounding on the coffin lid. Above, there is no one. Finally, as Perry bangs on the lid, the shroud slips off of the corpse lying next to him and there is a close up of Doc's dead face. Perry sees it and mutters, "'Doc...Doc...'" before the screen fades to black.

In the end, Paul Perry succeeds in making his "final escape," but no one else knows that he is trapped in the coffin, buried alive, and doomed to die from lack of oxygen. He will be thought to have escaped the prison without a trace when the truth is something much worse.

John Alderson as a guard

"Final Escape" is a slow-paced episode that turns out to be all setup for the final twist. There is an overuse of Bernard Herrmann's five-note theme from "Behind the Locked Door," and the show as a whole looks low-budget. The biggest problem is the final shot, where the revelation that the corpse is Doc lacks the impact needed to convey the real horror of the situation.

The TV show that aired in 1964 is significantly different than the original story by Tom Cannan and from the draft screenplays by Jerome Ross; perhaps that's why Ross did not receive a credit. The location has been moved from an island off the coast of Brazil to somewhere in America, and all of the characters have been Americanized--Paul Perreau/Manuel Braganza becomes Paul Perry, Captain Sandoz becomes Captain Tolman, and Dr. Echevara becomes Doc. In the final version, Doc suggests the escape plan to Perry, while in the earlier versions it was Perry's idea. Doc's granddaughter is introduced to motivate him to suggest the plan to Perry and, instead of Perry going to infirmary after being beaten or put in a sweatbox for several days, he fakes an injury while on work detail.

The result is an ineffective episode that wastes a great ending. Perhaps this is an example of too many cooks spoiling the broth, but "Final Escape" might have worked better if Jerome Ross's teleplay had been used.

"Final Escape" was directed by William Witney (1915-2002), in his only effort for the series. He served in the Marines in WWII and directed serials for Republic Pictures. He made films starting in 1937 and directed TV shows from 1954 on. He also directed another prison escape movie called I Escaped From Devil's Island (1973). A website is devoted to him here.

The final shot of Doc, lying dead in the coffin

Starring as Captain Tolman is Stephen McNally (1911-1994), who succeeds in creating a sense of cruel authority. He acted in many Westerns and was on screen from 1942 to 1980. He starred in a TV series called Target: The Corruptors (1961-1962) and appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits, but this was his only role on the Hitchcock show.

"Final Escape" is the next-to-last screen credit for Robert Keith (1898-1966), who steals the show as Doc. Keith had a long career on film and TV from 1924 to 1964. He also played many roles on Broadway, from 1921 to 1951, and he was in the original cast of Mister Roberts when it premiered in 1948. Keith was seen on the big screen in The Wild One (1953) and Guys and Dolls (1955), and this was one of his two appearances on the Hitchcock show; the other was "Ten O' Clock Tiger." His last role was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. His son, Brian Keith, was also in several episodes of the Hitchcock series.

Edd Byrnes (1932-2020) plays Paul Perry. He was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger and had a long career, mostly on TV, from 1956 to 1999. He played "Kookie" on the TV series 77 Sunset Strip and was a teen idol for a short time; this clip, of him lip-syncing with Connie Stevens to his hit single, "Kookie, Kookie, Lend me Your Comb," demonstrates a level of hysteria among female fans that predated Beatlemania by several years. "Final Escape" was his first TV role to air after 77 Sunset Strip ended.

In smaller roles:

• Nicholas Colasanto (1924-1985) as the prisoner crushed by the tree; he served in the Navy in WWII and later had a long screen career that lasted from 1957 to 1985. He appeared in Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976) and his best-known role was as Coach on the sitcom, Cheers (1982-1985). He also worked as a TV director from 1966 to 1981.
• John Kellogg (1916-2000) as the prison guard in the first scene who says, "'he don't look so dangerous to me'"; he was on screen from 1938 to 1990 and also appeared on The Outer Limits.
• Ray Kellogg (1919-1981) as the blacksmith who puts on and removes Paul's leg shackles; he was on screen from 1942 to 1972, had a small role in Hitchcock's Topaz (1969), and appeared on The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.
• Bernie Hamilton (1928-2008) as the Black convict; he was on screen from 1950 to 1985 and had a regular role on Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979). He was on The Twilight Zone and also appeared in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat."
• Stacy Harris (1918-1973) as the lawyer who meets with Paul during visiting hours; he was a busy voice actor on radio from 1946 to 1960 and appeared in numerous TV shows and a few films from 1950 to 1972. He was also in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("The Old Pro") and another episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
• Hinton Pope (1919-1995) as one of the guards by the truck in the early scene where Paul is captured and taken back to prison; he was on TV from 1961 to 1981 and appeared in no less than nine episodes of the Hitchcock TV series, including "A Tangled Web."
• Betsy Hale (1952- ) as Doc's granddaughter; in her short screen career, from 1959 to 1965, she was in an episode of Thriller, played a small part in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), appeared in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Road Hog"), and had a small role in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
• John Alderson (1916-2006) as another guard; he had a 40-year career on screen, from 1951 to 1990, and appeared in three episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Crocodile Case."
He was also in Fritz Lang's Moonfleet (1955) and Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955), as well as one episode of Night Gallery; he was a regular on the TV series, Boots and Saddles (1957-1958).

Season Hubley as Lena Trent

"Final Escape" was remade for the 1980s color version of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and, while it features important changes and is only half as long and in color, it works better than the original version. The main character is Lena Trent, a wealthy woman who is sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband. She is sent to Mohave women's prison, where she tries to use her wiles on every man she meets, finally charming the warden into assigning her to a light work detail. In this version, Doc is an older Black man who needs cataract surgery. Lena tries to escape in a laundry truck and is sentenced to thirty days in solitary confinement.

After her thirty-day term ends, she is beaten by another prisoner and sent to the infirmary, where she manipulates Doc with lies and a promise to fund his operation. She suggests the plan to bury her and dig her up, and this stripped-down version of the story works better than the overly long original. Acting, writing, and direction all work together to create a suspenseful mood and the final scene is more effective than the conclusion of the hour-long version. The teleplay by Charles Grant Craig adheres more closely to Tom Cannan's original story than does John Resko's teleplay for the hour-long version.

Watch the original version of "Final Escape" here and the remake here and judge for yourself.

On a related note, Al Feldstein's story, "Escape," published in the Vault of Horror #16, cover-dated December 1950-January 1951 and on sale on September 19, 1950, also concerns a crook who plans to sneak out of prison by hiding in a coffin. Little does he know that the coffin is bound for the new prison crematorium!

Sources:

Cannon, Tom. "The Fate of Paul Perreau."

The FICTIONMAGS Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

"Final Escape." The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 2, episode 18, CBS, 21 Feb. 1964.

"Final Escape." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 1, episode 4, CBS, 27 Oct. 1985.

Full Text of "Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. Parts 3-4: Dramas and Works Prepared for Oral Delivery Jan-Dec 1962: Vol 16 No 1-2," archive.org/stream/catalogofcopyrig31634libr/catalogofcopyrig31634libr_djvu.txt.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub, 2001.

IMDb, www.imdb.com.

"Obituary: Jerome Ross (1911-2012)." The Classic TV History Blog, 29 Mar. 2012, classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/obituary-jerome-ross-1911-2012/.

Ross, Jerome. "Final Escape." 15 July 1963.

Ross, Jerome. "Final Escape." 28 July 1963.

Ross, Jerome. "Notes." 6 June 1963-18 July 1963.

Ross, Jerome. "Treatment." 17 June 1963.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Scripts - Special Collections - The University of Iowa Libraries, www.lib.uiowa.edu/scua/msc/tomsc350/msc302/msc302.html.

Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

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