The Whispering Tree

Would have been a "10" except for the lack of FESTUS!! Really good morality play. Which way will Matt fall? Is the inexplicably wide-faced wife going to stick around a few more minutes after waiting eight years?! Who knows!! But Ed Asner and the actor (Saxon) playing the convict are remarkably good in this episode! As another reviewer said, the colors are striking here, and this installment is an especially good hour of TV.

Such a marvelous cast in this episode. I don't like Edward Asner as a person, but I've got to admit he was a dam' good actor, and in this episode shines as a bulldog of a range detective out to retrieve 40K dollars that were stolen and buried eight years ago.

Jacqueline Scott is her usual winsome and adorable self--how I love her dimpled smile--as the wife of the man who did an eight-year stretch for stealing the 40K dollars.

John Saxon, who I like more and more each time I see him, does well as the ex-con trying desperately to remember where he buried the loot.

And there are good cameos from eldritch nasties Rex Holman and Allan Jaffe.

Also captivating is a certain supernatural element. A tree that whispers proves the key to the treasure hunt. What does it whisper? Why does it whisper? How can it whisper?

This is high-level Gunsmoke, and it doesn't get any better than that.

The color of the ep is often beautiful bright blue. But Saxon and beautiful Scott (as a married couple reunited) are both tops. The story is very powerful and memorable. Death count is rather high but it is in keeping with the theme of the plot and is not gratuitous. Morgan Woodward relegated to small part here. He would be on Gunsmoke much more often in the future in more prominent parts

Many of these are relatively easy and don't require a lot of interaction mentally but this one is complex, and the outcome undetermined and in question from a variety of well constructed forces which play naturally, not contrived or made with characters in the extreme. And the acting is so powerful!! I hadn't been a fan of John Saxon but he shows such a variety of depth and emotions here, as does Jacqueline Scott who plays his wife, and all are perfectly believable. Even the kids with their small supporting roles demonstrate good acting chops. I don't think there's a gratuitous or irrelevant moment in the bunch.