We continue to explore our Listener Library! This time, we listen to “Valse Triste,” an episode of Lights Out recommended to us by Lionel. Thanks, Lionel! Two young women stumble upon a mysterious hermit who commits their fate to the outcome of a coin toss. Can anything be done to escape the deadly consequences? How does the famed composition Valse Triste relate to the themes of this story? What could “Make mine vanilla with onions” possibly mean? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!
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According to an academic article posted recently at Taylor & Francis Online (“Fantastic Antifascist Radio Drama: Cultural Politics in Arch Oboler’s Lights Out”), the original 1938 “Valse Triste” script ends when the hermit “kills one of the women and reveals to his bride-to-be that he is a leper.” I haven’t read this particular script, but quite a few of the 1930s Lights Out stories were toned down when they were rebroadcast in the 1940s. Perhaps leprosy was too gruesome for the 1942 censor, so mere facelessness was substituted. Also, the script apparently calls explicitly for the use of Sibelius’ “Valse… Read more »
I wish we could hear the Karloff version. The actor on this version kept reminding me of this:
https://youtu.be/xdq9B7OZ01s?t=5s
So, are we to assume that the remaining woman was eventually rescued by the searchers? I’m assuming that Mr. “I Haven’t Got a Face” didn’t have time to pack and make his way to the seashore with an unwilling “bride” in tow.
The dual coin flips were good, very cool. But, the big issue is that it wasn’t progressive script, but very much along the lines of moralistic horror writing. You have two women who both defy conventional feminine mores. Strong women who ultimately are raped and murdered. Because of the endings for the women, the story isn’t holding up the women to be emulated, but rather to be examples of what happens to willful women. Also, notice how once the women were in a locked house, they were completely helpless. They don’t fight back. They turn on each other. They aren’t… Read more »