Reviews

This film may be looked on by a future civilization as the death hour of western culture. Elegant Olivia de Havilland is the tormented heroine. She is beseiged by weirdos, wackos and winos while a prisoner in her own elevator. The tone is very nasty and predates A Clockwork Orange. The violence has a deranged grin on it's face and makes Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Strait-Jacket look like The Waltons. That they made a film like this in 1964 is incredible, though it would be par for the course now.

For fans of Miss de Havilland only, who want to share in this weird nightmare. Once you start watching you simply can't leave her there.

Teresa Wright is so extremely charming in this even as she plots and murders. Fun to see her in such a different role. The story doesn't matter that much as its the light and fluffy side of this show. Great actress outshining other beautiful women younger than herself as the other wives.

The whole drama is full of oblique suggestions of how the nurse murderer might be inside or outside at any moment. Time is not spent on building up the psychological portraits of the characters like in other episodes but instead invites the mind of the viewer to keep guessing the outcome of this dark and atmospheric tale. Its all the more of a nightmarish maze to try to solve as sounds of screaming and weather elements keep playing with the mind.

Solid horror.

A man and his fiancé play out an elaborate bid to fake his suicide when his business partner threatens prosecution for embezzlement. The leads play this one well and make it clear this is a light entry about empty headed losers. Joanna Moore blends the look of innocence with that of a dumb crook's girl. Self parody of the genre and working better than some of the other episodes that attempt it.

The most enjoyable aspect of the show is the chance to see more of many wonderful actresses - in this case Kim Hunter. This really is a showcase for her ability to draw you into a drama a carry it superbly. She seems unstoppable in her plans. This being a straighter story than so many of the highly implausible tangled webs of some others is another reason to like this entry.

A lot of care obviously put into this episode that has some nice suspenseful moments in the catacombs. Not one to watch if you're recently bereaved, but this macabre entry is an atmospheric and singular one from the pen of the great Ray Bradbury.

Slow building and often with repetitive dialogue about the jurisdictions concerning life and death.

I expected perhaps a little more from the ending, however the ride is enjoyable if macabre.

In Hitchcock TV a housewife is often very vulnerable. Even answering the door to a gas man in this case is perilous as men are so often wolves in sheep's clothing.

Where to begin? It becomes apparent this is a very odd story when the housewife (played by Lola Albright) lets the intrusive man light her cigarette and lays on the bed with her legs akimbo listening to his plans. The pervading unreality about this is clear from the start as the husband (played by George Kennedy) is just too goofy.

Hitchcock's epilogue had already been prefigured by a line spoken by one of the characters.

Teresa Wright is best remembered for starring in Hitchcock's classic ''Shadow Of A Doubt'' and here again some twenty years later the home and family are not the safe place they seemed. The middle aged Teresa Wright in this case is a country wife immediately frightened by the deeply repugnant nature of the hired hand played by Bruce Dern (later to be directed by Hitch in ''Family Plot'').

Certainly not for squirrel lovers this is a serious and harrowing psychological episode. Not the usual depiction of a husband (played by Pat Buttram) in relation to a wife. Hitchcock's epilogue may come as unwelcome as twenty-first century sympathies may not accord with the television required moral standards of the time.

As reviewers are commenting on the motel setting like ''Psycho'', I would like to add the faded vaudevillian that Franchot Tone plays makes this like ''Psycho'' meets ''Whatever Happened To Baby Jane''.

A young man encounters a traffic cop and then gets involved with a bizarre old vaudevillian with an equally bizarre grip over a frightened young woman, Rosie (Sharon Farrell) who is found trying to run away.

I found the ending unsatisfying and one of the worst in any Hitchcock TV show. Until then its a good novelty for those who may have only seen Franchot Tone as a matinée idol of 30's and 40's movies.

Hitchcock takes a dig at contemporary TV in his introduction. There's an allusion to June Lockhart's series ''Lost In Space'' with him accompanied by robots and I love his oblique reference to ''Bewitched'' to show his usual scorn at advertising.

Hitch talks about TV becoming removed from reality, yet the lack of caution taken by the title character (played by June Lockhart) on becoming the second wife in this story is pretty incredible too. All the suspicion starts afterwards The enjoyment is in following the workings of her mind about this extremely saturnine husband who makes coffins.

Light on story but well played by the two principals.

The only reason I watched this one through was because I like to watch Jeanette Nolan give her dark, atmospheric performances. The screen's black and white Lady Macbeth to Orson Welles plays her part with the usual vocal mocking menace. Despite all this even a great character actress with a scalpel cant pull off the operation of saving this story.

The young missionaries are just too saintly. The plot is wearisome and the ending is exasperating as it asks the viewer to review so much of what is seemed to be known and fill in with highly implausible conclusions.

Thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing if you can take John Wyndham's weird world where a woman (Barbara Barrie) wakes up finding her name has been changed to Mother Orchid. At first it might seem like the vision of very right-wing politicians as we see mindless women with absolutely no choice about the defining role of giving birth they are chosen for.

As time goes on you will see an infinitely more complicated situation unravel and find out why the other women of this dystopia insist there is only one sex. The sight of Barbara Barrie rolling in the bloated body make-up (incongruous with her face) has to be the weirdest moment in this series. (Maybe not a good episode to watch if you're currently pregnant).

Man does appear in the form of Leif Erickson (much too far in for anyone to confuse this with an episode of 'The High Chaparral'). Gladys Cooper plays a historian shedding some light for the confused woman. The historian's take on consumerism sounds like one of Mr Hitchcock's digs at the commercials. Also there's Virginia Gregg (excellent character actress of so much Hitchcock TV) adding to the fine acting support as a doctor.

I recommend this very singular episode which is carried nicely by a stirring central performance from Barbara Barrie.

Film just cant get more emotive than this. Its scenario may seem dated now, but nonetheless with a vividly atmospheric setting and soul-stirring music its a beautiful and cathartic journey. Mark Lester is fantastic as the autistic Phillip. The story highlights the desperate and frustrating difficulties for parents to communicate with a child with autism. Sylvia Syms as his mother twice says 'I want to love him', truly heartbreaking. The natural (well-meaning) errors of the parents are well delineated as they try to understand what's best for Phillip.

I give nothing away about the ending except to say it left an enormous and yet serenely gentle impression on me watching the first time as a child.

The Colnol played by John Mills (bless the great actor's memory) believes that wild animals may help to unlock the running-wild nature of the boy. Yet the strength of the story, for me, is much more than the love of a boy for a blue-eyed white colt. Most importantly I think the film presents the need of close attention to and understanding of a child who isn't 'normal', rather than thinking out of fear for their well being. The world is more beautiful for people like Phillip. I hope you will enjoy this film.

The richly Gothic sounding organ music of Poulenc set to images of gargoyles tells you what kind of series this is. The sort they don't make any more. "Supernatural" is a series for people who may enjoy reading old Gothic horror short stories or the original novels "Dracula" and "Frankenstein". Not for those who like today's style of horror movie. Beneath the horror fantasy "Supernatural" may as well be called "Unnatural" as it focuses on Victorian sexual repression almost as much as it pays homage to Mary Shelley, Sheridan Le Fanu etc.

A little peaceful time to yourself is essential if you really want to escape into this slow building wordy world of sinister misty nights. Join the Club of the Damned,or at least damned good actors achieving mixed results. Two episodes are much too peculiar and addled (like "Mr Nightingale" - ear-trumpets and all - too boring). "Mr Nightingale" and the one with Denholm Elliot would make the M.R. James "Ghost Stories For Chritmas" look modern and sexy. However Billie Whitelaw is so beautiful, elegant and lethal in the two-parter "Countess Ilona" and "Werewolf Reunion"."Night of the Marionettes" is worth seeing with Gordon Jackson and Pauline Moran on the trail of Mary Shelley(in which Sdyney Bromley, the little actor who whees up the wall as the Porter in Polanski's MacBeth, adds to the tone). You'll be trying to place the mysterious looking actor Vladek Sheybal too - ("From Russia With Love").

"Dorabella" is another atmospheric piece of escapism before bedtime. If you have a lot of patience!

There are some nice twists regarding some of the storytellers.

Join the club.

George Clayton Johnson wove a story around a childhood game, like tag, in which the kid who kicks the can releases all the 'captured' kids in the game. Old age has captured the residents of Sunny Vale, an old people's home. A sad beginning has Charles Whitley (Ernest Truex) having his hopes dashed of going to live with his son. Whitley starts acting nostalgic and his curmudgeonly but well meaning friend, Ben Conroy (Russell Collins), becomes concerned that he may be going senile.

Magical, funny, sad, but ultimately delivering a pleasant afterthought in Serling's epilogue, this is a charming episode. The relationship between the two contrasting old guys is good and Truex plays Whitley's childlike ways brilliantly.

The primary appeal of this witchcraft and folklore entry is to see Anne Francis starring in the Zone again after the classic 'The After Hours', (series one). She plays Jess-Belle a country girl who is determined to still get her man Billy Ben (James Best) even when his engagement to Elly (Laura Devon) is announced. Jess-Belle is impulsively naughty in turning to Granny Holt (Jeanette Nolan)- a finely played prim but duplicitous witch. Anne Francis carries the piece in a long black wig as the passionate girl tormented by the consequences of her supernatural powers. She makes Jess-Belle a sympathetic character who never means any harm beyond her desperate action to steal away Billy Ben. She keeps this Valentine's Day/Halloween story from sinking amidst the form-changing silliness in the plot. It's light entertainment that's far from TZ at it's best, but is well played by all, including Virginia Gregg (from 'The Masks', series five) as Jess-Belle's mother.

Rod Serling introduces the tale as one with ancient elements put into a setting nearer our time. The story seems more like 'Night Gallery' than TZ - a little more in the vein of 'I'll Never Leave You-Ever' with Lois Nettleton in ancient Wales. Serling asked writer Earl Hamner Jr to produce a script using his knowledge of folklore. He surely got that.

Jeanette Nolan was married to John McIntire who also sold a love potion in 'The Chaser' (series one) as Professor A. Daemon. Those two stayed married- unsurprisingly.

Both Virginia Gregg and Jeanette Nolan provided the voice of Norma Bates in Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. I shall stop showing off my trivia knowledge now.

Rod Serling came close to death himself in the Philippines in WW2, the setting of this entry. The title is taken from Shakespeare's 'Richard III' that Serling quotes from at the end. Lieutenant Fitzgerald (William Reynolds) finds that he has a very disturbing supernatural ability to foresee death impending on the faces of other soldiers. He explains this situation to Captain Riker (Dick York).

Death is something we just don't want to foresee and this Zone is about the nightmare of one man possessing such terrible knowledge in a tense situation where such knowledge is least welcome, as death is close to the soldiers anyway. The pace may be slow but the horror is unrelenting.

Sad, nightmarish, but poignant as well as one soldier looks on a wedding photo of a recently deceased colleague saying 'War stinks!.

The story opens in 1876 with cavalry men. A riffle shot is fired and it gets heard by three National Guardsmen in 1964.

The men are on maneuvers near the scene of The Battle Of Little Big Horn. Two of them , Connors (Ron Foster) and McClusky (Randy Boone), are somehow incredibly knowledgeable about the fate of General Custer and the Seventh Cavalry. They find a canteen with 7th cavalry written on it looking as good as new. The third man, Langsford (Warren Oates), thinks they are going crazy as they talk about following Custer's trail.

A fairly predictable entry that offers little more than some history and an average supernatural tale. It's alright for a late night ghost story that wont give you nightmares but might increase your knowledge of Custer's last stand.

Gig Young plays Martin Sloan in this. There's a second lead character called Sloan in the Rod Serling written 'On Thursday We Leave For Home' in series four. Other surnames that Serling gave to a vital character more than once in a TZ episode are Horn, Koch, and Beechcroft.

'Walking Distance' explores a subject that Serling touched on several times in TZ and 'Night Gallery', that of a man going back to a happier time in his life. Martin Sloan is first seen honking his car horn and looking agitated. He is the vice-president of an ad agency and at thirty-six finds himself by chance within walking distance of Homewood where he grew up. First he meets a little boy (Ron Howard) who says he cant be Martin Sloan and runs away, but Sloan begins to realize the happy days of his childhood are still happening here.

The story is deceptively simple but the message is strong. You only get one unique stab at life and you must cherish the present. Martin Sloan gains a fantastic perspective by chasing after his eleven-year-old self hoping to tell him to enjoy the 'happiest' part of his life. The essence of a carefree childhood can stay a valuable part of you.

The carousel is a good plot device interestingly filmed for showing the elusive and magical quality of childhood happiness that nonetheless is nearer to you than you think. Walking distance actually.

An anti-war message from WW2 hero Rod Serling. Set in the Philippines where he served comes a drama of two halves about an ambitious young Lieutenant called Katell (Dean Stockwell). In the first half Katell takes over a platoon in August 1945 and clashes with his Sergeant (Albert Salmi). The war experienced Sergeant Causarano hopes his weary soldiers will not have to attack a cave where the enemy is holed up. Katell is lacks the Sergeant's battle experience and 'hasn't been shot at yet'. He wants to prove his manhood by leading an attack in the last throes of war. Sergeant Causarano hopes the necessary job of war is done without many more men having to die-on either side.

There is a 'Quantum Leap' for Dean Stockwell as he gets to see war from another perspective. If that's not TZ enough, well, Leonard Nimoy is one of the soldiers.

I think Serling is suggesting we would be better off if the whole world could see each other as humans and not see some others as a hated entity that has to die just to satisfy the ambitions of leaders. See what you think?

Bernard C Schoenfeld wrote some decent stories for film noire and a strong contribution to 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. However, turning to outside writers usually turned out unsuccessfully for TZ. Most of the good episodes came from the fifth dimension trinity of Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson (although they also wrote some bad ones sometimes). There is a second valuable tier of writers including Earl Hamner Jr, George Clayton Johnson, and Montgomery Pittman.

This entry is a terribly weak tale about a little computer boffin called Ellman (Wally Cox) who consults his machine about how to win the love of a woman. Very predictable and depressingly tiny in it's scope. At least it's pleasant but that's about all.

Other season five episodes by 'outside' writers that are too terrible to judge TZ by are 'Caesar And Me', 'The Encounter', and 'What's In The Box'. Jerry Sohl and John Tomerlin wrote well for season five, but were ghost writing for Beaumont.

This threadbare sporting story is the penultimate entry of season one. Set in the past, so this robot pitcher Casey (Robert Sorrell) would seem to be a one off. Baseball coach McGarry (Jack Warden) is struggling with the Hoboken Zephyrs until Casey's robot precision pitching sees them winning. Casey picks up an injury and McGarry has more trouble.

The baseball league is not meant for robots (Richard Matheson's 'Steel', series five, is better where boxing is for robots only in a very near future) so there has to be a couple of twists as it cant be fair play.

One of the very few weak entries in the fabulous first series.

The wish to be young again was something Rod Serling said he was obsessed about. John Holt (Joseph Schildkraut) and his wife Marie (Alma Platt) are an old couple who go to a company called New Life that deals in selling new bodies that would give them a hundred years more of life together.

Best not to apply logic to this one as it's raison d'etre is to tell a simple story about love. At least you feel very much in 'The Twilight Zone' with this one as the couple look over potential new bodies and the music adds a mysterious quality. The poker game in the middle just feels like padding, and for me, the ending was predictable.

You can usually find good old fashioned, noble values in the Zone. Here is no exception.

Lou Bookman (Ed Wynn) is a pitchman who receives a visit from the officious but strangely human Mr Death (Murray Hamilton). Bookman is given just hours to prepare for his own earthly demise- a condition granted here for one who is going to die a natural death. Bookman tries to outwit the not-so-grim-reaper, but a worse scenario presents itself.

Rod Serling's script is tailored to the personality of old Vaudevilian turned actor, Ed Wynn, who absolutely radiated kindness and humanity on screen. This second episode is an insight into Serling's intention of making the ordinary extraordinary and showing the little guy with the inner greatness of the finer, nobler, gentler qualities, vitally important to human life.

Series five had a lot of high points but it had a lot of dreadful lows as well. This unrelenting diatribe against an employer who wont consider the human importance of his workforce is typical of the lows. No doubting the truth of the message here or it's importance, but it does not justify a weak story like this to join the ranks of the Zone- the best TV show ever. The ending is ridiculous so don't have any hopes that this might get better.

TZ was limping towards it's death in season five. Best to remember the highlights it did have, but forget this dire effort.

Woeful.