Alan Ransome is a hard charging business executive who spends all his waking hours pushing to get ahead.\u00a0 His neglected wife Eileen is ready to give up on their marriage but she decides to try one last idea to see if they can reconnect.\u00a0 On a trip to London that Alan must make she demands that he bring her along and that they travel by ocean liner.\u00a0 Because of the season and the short reservation timing the only ship available is a very old one called the Lady Anne.<\/p>\n
When they arrive at the dock two fellow passengers question whether the Ransomes have made a mistake.\u00a0 These two old men McKenzie and Burgess say that a mistake has occurred because the trip on the Lady Anne is an excursion that was privately booked by a group.\u00a0 They relent when Alan shows them their tickets.\u00a0 But later, just as the ship is ready to embark McKenzie and Burgess make a last attempt to buy back the tickets from Alan for $10,000.\u00a0 Alan refuses.<\/p>\n
Going over the passenger list Alan discovers that no one on board is under seventy-five years of age.\u00a0 When Alan and Eileen go into the passenger\u2019s lounge, they discover that this used to be a honeymoon ship and that all the passengers are former honeymooners who wanted to ride on the final voyage of the Lady Anne before it is retired.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Alan and Eileen reflect on the failure of their marriage and Allan admits that his business life is more important to him than his marriage.\u00a0 They decide to divorce when they return from the trip.\u00a0 Toby McKenzie, the man that tried to buy their tickets invites Alan and Eileen to a \u201ctea\u201d with him and his wife Millie.\u00a0 Ian Burgess stops by and the three older people talk affectionately of their memories of the Lady Anne back when they were young married couples.\u00a0 Ian\u2019s wife was supposed to accompany him on this voyage but she died shortly before.\u00a0 The talk of love and happiness affect both Alan and Eileen but when they leave the tea they get into an argument.\u00a0 After speaking angrily to Eileen Alan turns away from her and looks over the ocean but when he looks back, she is gone.\u00a0 Alan feels panicky and starts searching the ship and alerting the passengers and crew of Eileen\u2019s disappearance.\u00a0 The McKenzies assure Alan that Eileen will show up soon and not to worry.\u00a0 That night when Alan returns to his cabin Eileen is waiting for him in bed wearing a nightgown given to her by Millie.\u00a0 And somehow Alan and Eileen manage to reconnect and Alan realizes how mixed up his priorities have been.\u00a0 They rekindle their marriage and the next day they are in a celebratory mood when the ship is throwing a party.\u00a0 At some point Alan notices that the ship engine has been stopped.\u00a0 But the passengers are in no way alarmed and the party goes on happily.\u00a0 At one point Captain Prothero joins their table and asks the older passengers if they\u2019ve told the Ransomes about the event coming up but the passengers decline to talk about it.\u00a0 The party continues happily until Captain Prothero returns and asks the passengers again if they\u2019ve told the Ransomes about what will happen that night.\u00a0 McKenzie says they decided not to spoil the evening.\u00a0 Then the Captain tells the Ransomes that he will have their belongings loaded on a lifeboat and they will be set out on the ocean.\u00a0 He assures them that a beacon will alert the Coast Guard and they will be picked up safely but that they cannot stay on the Lady Anne.\u00a0 Alan resists but one of the ship\u2019s crew pulls a pistol on them.\u00a0 As they are being loaded on the lifeboat Alan says that he thought the passengers were his friends.\u00a0 The passengers lower their eyes in sadness but Eileen tells Alan that she knows that they are their friends.<\/p>\n
Alan and Eileen are lowered down in the lifeboat and drift away.\u00a0 They are picked up in a few hours by the Coast Guard.\u00a0 When they returned to shore, they looked for news of the Lady Anne.\u00a0 But no news of the ship or its crew and passengers was ever heard of.<\/p>\n
This is a very odd story.\u00a0 Obviously, the Lady Anne is transporting these old couples to a heavenly hereafter and the Ransomes are being let off to allow them to continue their young lives.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t any way of explaining how exactly the Ransomes were able to get tickets to a ghost ship but this is the Twilight Zone.\u00a0 I thought I\u2019d b a little harsher with this episode but McKenzie and Burgess are played by two actors that I enjoy watching quite a bit.\u00a0 McKenzie is played by Wilfrid Hyde-White who has a small but memorable part in the movie \u201cThe Third Man\u201d and Burgess is played by Cecil Kellaway who was the murdered husband in \u201cThe Postman Always Rings Twice.\u201d\u00a0 Both of them are great fun in this teleplay along with a few other fine character actors.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say B.<\/p>\n
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