The Year I Knew Too Much is an episode of Tales from the Black Lagoon.
Audio
Patreon exclusive.
Cast
Plot
Ben Chapman, no longer an actor and now a hired heavy to a local crime lord, begins this tale by delivering six hunting rifles to a breathtaking beauty on a movie set (they all blend together for him). Marnie Bennett approaches Ben with a threat, as she doesn’t want the guns on the set.
Chapman tries to assure her that the guns are not loaded. It doesn’t matter to Marnie, because if Grace Kelly gets the guns, it would violate her parole. “The Boss” can’t have that.
Ben knows he works for Jack Dragna and not Marnie’s boss, but she offers to buy him a drink, and that soothes any qualms he had about the matter.
By the end of the month, they are going out every night. Marnie schemes to get him out of town, presumably, he’s still laying low after the death of Diane Chaney. Marnie has fond memories of Hawaii, and the two scheme to get away from the mainland.
Then picture wraps, everything changes for Chapman and Bennett.
It turns out that Marnie’s employer is none other than Alfred Hitchcock, and Edward Clark, the main stunt man on “Strangers on a Train,” dies of a heart attack. So too did Robert Walker, one of the leads in the film, of, you guessed it, heart attacks. Marnie is suspicious, and Ben agrees that it’s too much to be a coincidence.
Here the point of view shifts to Marnie’s, and we follow Marnie back to Hitchcock’s office.
It is also revealed that Maxine, the Wardrobe Assistant, is also dead (perhaps another heart attack?). All three worked on “Strangers On a Train”.
Their next project of the Boss’s doesn’t start until the Spring, so Hitchcock and Bennett decide to try and solve these mysterious murders.
Notes
Oddly, "Strangers on a Train" was released in 1951, four years before the events of “Tales From the Black Lagoon.” 1955 was two years before the end of the Lone Ranger television series. 1955 was also the year Grace Kelly met the Prince of Monaco, and she married him the next year.
Continuity
- This is the 30th episode of the Thrilling Adventure Hour.
- The previous episode is Down in Moonshine Holler - Beanstalk.
- The next episode is The Cross-Time Adventures of Colonel Tick-Tock - Electric Rivalries.
- The prior Tales from the Black Lagoon episode is The Complete Tales from the Black Lagoon (TAH #26).
- The next Tales from the Black Lagoon episode is The Year I Knew Too Much part 2 (TAH #34).
Production
This episode was recorded and engineered in studio by Eban Schletter. It was released on July 31, 2011.
- Writers: Ben Acker and Ben Blacker
- Music: Andy Paley and the Andy Paley Orchestra with Charles Burns and Jake Gideon
