Buried Treasure

I thought we'd watched I Bury the Living (1958), but Ms. Spenser didn't remember it. It turned out I hadn't seen it, and I'm glad we did.

It stars Richard Boone - Ol' Paladin. That should be enough right there. Boone is a department store owner who is also on the board of a cemetary. He's checking it out and retiring the the old Scots groundkeeper, Theodore Bikel, in the cold but cozy stone cabin that houses the office. There is a big map on the wall. When a site is sold, they stick a white pin in the map. When the ... customer? dies and is buried, the pin is changed to black. A happy young couple comes in, just married, and buys a plot, so Bikel lets Boone put the pin in. But instead of white, he accidentally puts in a black pin.

And soon finds out that couple will be needing that plot, as they got killed shortly after they left. The prophecy is fulfilled. 

This creeps Boone out, but he can't believe it, He sticks a black pin in the map at random, and wouldn't you know? Another death. Now Boone is really freaking out. He tells the police about this, along with other members of the cemetary board. They don't believe it, and propose a test to disprove it...

This felt to me sort of like a Twilight Zone episode. Not so much in the plot premise, although that works, but for Boone's rapid descent into madness and terror. He's great in this - a bit Vincent Pricean. He starts suave and friendly, gets more and more haunted, and ends up twitchy, sweating and unshaven. 

A great black and white suspense thriller.