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Circle of Fear: At the Cradle Foot

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"At the Cradle Foot"
Series Circle of Fear
Season 1, Episode 4
Circle of Fear 1x04 001
Air date September 29th, 1972
Writers Anthony Lawrence
Director Don McDougall
Producers William Castle; Joel Rogosin
Starring James Franciscus; Elizabeth Ashley; Lori Busk; Lisa James
Episode guide
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"The Concrete Captain" 		Next
"Bad Connection"

"At the Cradle Foot" is the fourth episode of season one of the Circle of Fear television series. It was directed by Don McDougall with a teleplay written by Anthony Lawrence. The episode first aired on NBC on September 29th, 1972.

Plot[]

Paul Dover, recently divorced from his former wife Karen, has a dream that his young daughter Emily gets murdered as an adult. Paul has had premonitions come true before; one in particular involved the death of his father, which he ignored to his lifelong regret. Convinced that Emily will be murdered some twenty years from now, he goes to the town of Dale Haven, Wyoming in the hopes of preventing the events he had foreseen from coming to pass.

While there, he rents a room at a boarding house from Julie Barnes. It turns out that Julie is engaged to a man named Rafe, who turns out to be the father of the man who murders Emily in Paul's vision. After discovering that Julie and Ed's child has yet to be born, Paul attempts to change these future events. He tries seducing Julie, which earns him Rafe's enmity. When Paul refuses to let up, Rafe approaches him with a shotgun and the two men grapple. During the fight, the gun goes off, killing Rafe.

The courts determine that Paul accidentally killed Rafe in self defense and he let go. Julie then reveals that she is pregnant with Rafe's child. Learning this, Paul realizes that Rafe's death means nothing and that his daughter's future fate may still come to pass. Paul is prepared to kill Julie, and ostensibly, her child to prevent the birth, but ex-wife Karen convinces Paul to let things be. They will just need to be extra vigilant when it comes to protecting their daughter for the next twenty years.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Actor Role
Sebastian Cabot Winston Essex

Guest Starring[]

Actor Role
James Franciscus Paul Dover
Elizabeth Ashley Karen Dover
Jeremy Slate Rafe Norris
Meg Foster Julie Barnes

Co-Starring[]

Actor Role
Lori Busk Young Emily Dover
Lisa James Grown-up Emily
George McCallister, Jr. Rafe Norris, Jr.
Karl Swenson Ed Barnes
Judson Pratt The judge

Notes & Trivia[]

Allusions[]

  • The title of this episode is taken from the phrase, "The clew of our destiny lies at the cradle foot", by anonymous. This slogan is seen atop the steps of the Dale Haven Courthouse in this episode.

R.I.P.[]

Quotes[]

  • Winston Essex: You know, I've often marvel at the extraordinary shape and size and variety of dreams; those elusive glimpses of things that go bump in the night, and like you, I waken in the clutch of a cold fear of something that I only half remember. Perhaps the stuff of dreams is merely the unfinished business of conscious being taken up by the subconscious.

See also[]

External Links[]

Keywords[]

Birthdays | Cemetery | Dogs | Dreams | Gunshot victims | Handgun | Horses | Nightmares | Premonition | Revolver | Shotgun | Smoking | Wyoming

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