In "Carnival," Joseph Cotten plays a man, desperate to release himself from the boss who is blackmailing him to perform.
As the episode opens, a carnival sideshow act is beginning...it is "Renee--The Mechanical Man!"
Renee is a performer who controls his emotion and does only what he is told to do by his boss, O'Mara. Renee dances when O'Mara commands and speaks when he is told to recite.
When the show is over, however, Renee bursts with emotion. He isn't a human machine! He has feelings...and lots of them. Renee hates O'Mara for fifteen years of blackmail, and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife, Gabrielle.
Renee believes that the only solution is to kill O'Mara, but he is so controlled that he can't do it himself. So, he asks Gabrielle. Will she, or will she find out why O'Mara is blackmailing her husband?
The performances of Joseph Cotton and Joseph Kearns make this episode's storyline worthwhile.
"Carnival" was written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. Elliott Lewis produced and directed. Joseph Cotten starred as Renee and Joseph Kearns played O'Mara. Also appearing were Mary Jane Croft, Charles Calvert, Sylvia Syms, and Dick Ryan. This episode aired on January 28, 1952.
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