The Creaking Door - "The Isle Of Lost Souls" (11-23-64)

The Isle Of Lost Souls (Aired November 23, 1964)

The Creaking Door  was South African Radio's attempt to create a compelling program of highly suspenseful, dramatic thrillers with a supernatural bent for their sponsor, State Express Cigarettes. Some commentators insist it was conceived as a spin-off of the already successful Inner Sanctum  episodes that had been syndicated for broadcast in Australia and South Africa during the 1950s. Given the format, one can see the inference, but in fact The Creaking Door stands on its own as a unique, well-produced, engaging supernatural thriller series on its own merit. The etymology of the name, The Creaking Door, bears some reflection. When legendary producer and director, Himan Brown first presented Inner Sanctum as one of three requested sponsorship candidates to Carter Products, he presented Inner Sanctum as The Creaking Door.  Not quite as chilling and melodramatic as Raymond Johnson, perhaps, but Peter Broomfield rightly camped up his delivery for The Creaking Door, and it worked. Indeed, given the reported conservative budget of each episode, it's a tribute to The Creaking Door's producers that they managed to tease so much quality out of such relatively humbly funded productions. Show Notes From The Digital Deli.