EDITOR’S NOTE: The Spider was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, October 3, 1964 at 1:00 a.m.

Chatrand the Great (Edmund Loew) asks his fans on a radio show — how do you do magic on a radio show? — that he is looking for the true identity of his assistant Alexander (Howard Phillips), who lost his memory two years ago after an accident. Beverly Lane (Lois Moran) believes that he’s her brother and answers this question. But then there’s a murder — of Alexander’s abusive uncle John Carrington (Earl Foxe) — during their act and Chatrand has to get him out of trouble.

The sets and the magic are pretty great, as they were created by William Cameron Menzies, who co-directed with Kenneth MacKenna. This has mesmerism, mind reading and a seance and hey — it’s only 59 minutes. If it all feels like it’s happening in real time, this was based on a stage play.

It was remade in 1945 as a very different movie yet still based on the same play.

You can watch this on YouTube.