"Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by speak again their immortal tale: Mateo Falcone."
This episode, first broadcast on November 14, 1943, is an adaptation of a short story with the same title by Prosper Merimee, first published in 1829. A subplot was added, and the fugitive in the original was made into the eponymous Mateo's brother, making him the capricious Fortunato's uncle, intensifying the drama. To add a bit of confusion, the online title in most places is "Matao Falcon", even though that is not the exact title of the original, and not how the name is pronounced throughout the episode.
Fortunato is established as extremely bright and curious at first - it's only with time that more unsavory aspects come to the fore. The child's moral quandary is set up throughout: will he follow the dictates of his stereotypical Corsican familial honor, or the rule of law? He chooses his path, with tragic results.
Most of the voice actors are attempting Italian accents, except for the child's, who jarringly sounds like a precocious Midwesterner. The story is driven by a series of dialogues involving the many characters - again there is a bit of a free-for-all when violence is afoot, but here it's pretty clear what ultimately happens.
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