June 20, 2024: The classic Twilight Zone rewatch has begun! Episodes 5– 8!

Episode 5: “Walking Distance”

This episode first aired October 30, 1959.

Rod Serling was inspired to write this story after walking through an empty MGM lot and being struck by how much it reminded him of his hometown. In fact, there was a lot of Serling’s hometown of Binghamton, New York in this episode, including the merry-go-round at the heart of the park. In a subsequent interview about “Walking Distance”, Serling observed that people often reminisce about going back home, but it was always a home of the past that one could never really return to: ” …it struck me that all of us have a deep longing to go back – not to our home as it is today, but as we remember it.” Serling’s daughter called “Walking Distance” a very personal story for her father who would travel back to his hometown every summer. In referring to these return visits, Rod Serling once said: “I think there’s a little of this bitter-sweet nostalgia in all of us for a time well remembered.” And that’s reflected in the tone of this episode. “Walking Distance” is a regular on most Top 10 Twilight Zone episode lists while, Bernard Hermann’s score for the episode is considered one of the most memorable of the series. Serling often put a lot of himself in his stories and this episode perhaps more so than others as he was a man burdened by a hectic work schedule that ultimately affected his mental health.

“Walking Distance” was originally slated to be episode 6 of the series as episode 5 was intended be “And Here Be Tygers”, an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury short story that Bradbury himself was going to write. But when the deal fell through, “Walking Distance” was moved up in the schedule. Speaking of Bradbury who was a great influence in Serling’s writing, he gets a little nod in the scene in which Martin walks through Homewood and reminisces about the people he used to know including “Dr. Bradbury”. Also getting a shout-out is “Rooney”, aka Serling’s good friend Mickey Rooney.

Actor Gig Young gives a powerful, heartfelt performance as Martin Sloan. Nine years later, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?”. His career stalled, however, and he met a tragic end in 1978, shooting his young wife three weeks after their wedding before turning the gun on himself.

Making a brief appearance as a 4-year-old marble enthusiast is a very Ron Howard who purportedly loved working on the show.

Apparently, an organ grinder and a monkey were also booked for this episode but never used. They would appear later that first season in Episode 33, “Mr. Bevis”.

The episode was mostly filmed on sets built for the 1959 movie Meet Me in St. Louis. The network censored two lines of dialogue: “…going back to the womb” and “Oh, my God!”.

As someone who’ll often dream of their hometown, not as it is but as it once was, and who grew up admiring the works of Ray Bradbury that share many of the same themes explored in this episode – nostalgia and the elusive, unobtainable past – this one resonated with me. Sure, there were a few odd moments, like the fact Martin casually abandons his car at the gas station or the scenes of a desperate grown man trying to chase down a terrified 11-year-old, but they certainly didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of “Walking Distance”. This one is my favorite to date.

Episode 6: “Escape Clause”

This episode first aired November 6, 1959.

It shares similarities with “Elixir Number Four”, a 1946 story from the Inner Sanctum Mystery radio thriller in which Richard Widmark plays a man who kills a chemist to secure his immortality potion – only to be sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Rod Serling’s original synopses for this episode was titled “The Condemned Man Who Ate a Million Breakfasts”.

Some interesting casting notes for this one…

David Wayne who plays our hypochondriac Walter Bedeker, played the part of the Devil in the Sunday Showcase adaptation of “The Devil and Daniel Webster” the following year. He would later re-team with Serling, guesting in the Night Gallery episode “The Diary”. A well-established star of stage and screen, Wayne also played the villainous Mad Hatter in the 1966 Batman series.

Thomas Gomez, who is wonderful here as an atypical Devil, returns to play an equally devilish role in season 2’s “Dust”. A heavy-set man at approximately 290 lbs, he eventually lost a significant amount of weight. He weighed approximately 150 lbs when he was killed in an automobile accident at age 50 – making him one of the few cast members of the 1956 film The Conqueror (shot near an active nuclear site in Utah) that did not die of cancer.

Virginia Christine, who plays his somewhat clumsily-doomed wife Ethel, would later gain fame as Mrs. Olsen in the “Mountain Grown” Folgers Coffee commercials.

Similarly, actor Dick Wilson who plays the role of Jack, would become better known for his role as Mr. Whipple in the (don’t squeeze the) Charmin bathroom tissue commercials.

Raymond Bailey, who plays the no-nonsense doctor in the opening scene, would go on to play the role of banker Milburn Drysdale in 248 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies.

Finally, comic actor Joe Flynn who plays Steve in this episode would land a part on the Joey Bishop Show two years later, only to be fired after the first season for stealing too many scenes. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed him to land the role he would be known for, playing the part of Captain Wallace ‘Leadbottom’ Binghamton on McHale’s Navy. He died in 1974 after suffering a heart attack, his body weighed down to the bottom of his Beverly Hills swimming pool by the cast on his broken leg.

CBS standards and practices requested the removal of the words “idiot” and “crazy”, but Serling kept them in anyway.

The most darkly humorous episode to date, it’s one that really requires you to switch off the logic-center of your brain in order to really appreciate it. Why Walter is so obsessed with testing the limits of his newfound immortality is questionable when he could just be enjoying his risk-free life. The contract he signed never specified he wouldn’t feel any pain, so he could well have suffered a protracted and painful existence after the subway incident – but, for some reason, he seemed confident that would not be the case. Why? The glibness of the tone made it difficult to establish any real dramatic stakes, or concern for our protagonist, especially after his off-hand dismissal of his wife’s death. It’s played for laughs but not particularly funny. Just…weird. Finally, compare the perfect score of the previous episode to this episode’s stock, over-the-top music cues. They’re painfully silly in spots and really stand out as production elements of their time. Overall, a fine episode, but one I’d rate lower than “The Six Millimeter Shrine” that, while spotty, still managed to deliver a strong ending. Here the twist, while conceptually interesting, doesn’t land as strongly as it should.

Episode 7: “The Lonely”

This episode was first broadcast November 13, 1959.

“The Lonely” was shot at Desolation Canyon in Death Valley National Park where the ground temperatures reached 130 degrees. According to Rod Serling: “We lost seven people off of the crew including the cameraman, the sound man, and the script girl by six o’clock the first night from heat prostration.” Director Jack Smight: “The temperature was around 130 degrees.  One day the caterer very foolishly served a very heavy meal for lunch, and about eight crew members just dropped in the afternoon.” And, in the case of Director of Photography George T. Clemons, that drop was quite literal as he purportedly fell from a camera crane onto the sand.

In 1961’s “More Stories from The Twilight Zone” collection, Serling’s adaptation of his script shed some light on the crime our protagonist, James, had committed, a crime that, in the episode, is hinted at but never revealed.  In the short story, we learn that he witnessed his wife struck down by a speeding driver and ended up pulling the driver out of the car and choking him to death.

Jack Warden, who plays James A. Corry in this episode, was a boxer, bouncer, Merchant Marine, and a paratrooper with the 101st airborne who embarked on an acting career after WW II, often collaborating with Warren Beatty.

Jean Marsh, who plays Alicia the robot, was 21 when she left England due to an inability to land any roles because, apparently, she didn’t look English enough. She would later return and find success, first on Dr. Who, and later with Upstairs Downstairs, a show she co-created and starred in. When discussing residuals for the show, she offered the following memorable response: “I get a residual for the idea as much as I get a residual for the acting. It’s a very low fee. I think I got something like $100 an episode initially for the idea, and my royalty is based on that rate. I’ve got a saying: “If it had been made in America I’d be Mary Tyler Moore. As it is, I’m Mary Tyler Less.”

Speaking of Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Knight is uncredited as crewman Adams in this episode. The “Polish Prince of Comedy” would eventually find fame as WJM anchorman Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

His fellow crew member, Captain Allenby, was played by John Dehner who, prior to establishing a career as a radio actor and onscreen villain, worked as an artist in the Disney art department.

This was The Twilight Zone’s first foray into science fiction and, while certainly memorable, I felt that it didn’t really fulfill its potential. The concept is great, but the execution falls short. Alicia isn’t introduced until fully halfway through the episode, time that could have been spent building James’s relationship with her, establishing stronger emotional roots that would have made the ending much more impactful. In a similar vein, I also found that having Captain Allenby decide Alicia’s fate robbed the episode of the more personal and much more poignant decision James would have had to make, forcing him to choose between his freedom and Alicia. It felt to me like a bit of a cheat. In the end, however, I do love the sci-fi setting and story, so I would rank “The Lonely” firmly in the middle of the seven episodes I’ve watched to date.

Episode 8: “Time Enough at Last”

This episode first aired November 20, 1959.

“Time Enough at Last” is an adaptation of a short story of the same name, written by Lynn Venable.

Largely considered one of the show’s best episodes (In fact, it secured the #25 spot in TVGuide’s 2007 ranking of the “100 Most Memorable Moments in Television”), Rod Serling named this one his favorites of the 92 episodes he wrote for the show, along with season 2’s “The Invaders” starring Agnes Moorehead.

Surprisingly, this was the only Twilight Zone episode to receive a Directors Guild of America nomination. The episode’s director, John Brahm, ended up losing out to Phil Karlson for The Untouchables.

Serling pitched a similar post-apocalyptic-themed story titled “The Bomb Fell on Thursday”, about a group of survivors who attempt to put together the pieces of their lives following a nuclear attack. In the end, despondent and alone, they almost give up hope and contemplate suicide – until the discovery of a baby gives them hope. The story never made it past the pitch stage.

This was the first of four episodes starring Burgess Meredith whose career would hit a temporary snag after he was named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950’s. But he bounced back in a big way, gaining popularity for his portrayal of The Penguin on the 1966 Batman series. His villainous turn was so popular, in fact, that the show’s producers purportedly always had a Penguin script ready in case Meredith wanted to appear as a guest star. Meredith was also a familiar face in the Rocky franchise and was the voice of narrator in Twilight Zone: The Movie. At a tribute to Rod Serling in 1984, Meredith said “I am very grateful to Rod Serling.  He provided me with several of the best scripts I ever had the luck to perform.  In one case, the role of Mr. Bemis.  There isn’t a fortnight goes by I don’t hear a compliment about it.  Year after year, Rod used to have a part for me every seasons and every one of them [was] extraordinary.” Meredith had a Twilight Zone experience of his own when, while staying at a friend’s house on the beach, he was awakened by a dolphin’s cry for help. He ran outside in the middle of the night and discovered a dolphin caught in a net. He freed it, saving its life, and thereafter, Meredith firmly believed that the creature had reached out to him, telepathically, that evening. The incident awakened in Meredith a fascination with non-human intelligence, particularly dolphins.

I loved the straight-forward simplicity of this episode, the palpable build in frustration as Henry is thwarted again and against until, finally, he achieves his dream – only to have it snuffed out in an instant. As an avid reader (and once a kid who fantasized about living in a zombie-free post-apocalyptic environment), I truly empathized with Henry Bemis. A big part of that, of course, was Burgess Meredith’s absolutely brilliant performance as Henry Bemis, from his exasperating servility in the face of the authority figures in his life to the childlike wonder with which he enthusiastically discusses his books, the exuberant joy he displays at the prospect of endless reading and, finally, the subtle, soul-crushing response to his glasses breaking. In my mind, I was kind of imagining that he would eventually be able to locate an optometrist and cobble together some sort of reading monocle. “Time Enough at Last” is my favorite of the episodes I’ve seen for this rewatch and feel it’ll be a hard one to beat – but it’s honestly been so long since I’ve seen this show and I’m quite sure I never saw all the episodes, so I’m prepared to be genuinely surprised.

So, what did you all think?

The post June 20, 2024: The classic Twilight Zone rewatch has begun! Episodes 5– 8! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.