November 2, 2024: Our Twilight Zone rewatch continues with season 5, episodes 21-24!

Season 5, Episode 21, “Spur of the Moment”

This episode first aired February 21, 1964.

The initial title for this episode was “Pale Rider”.

Writer Richard Matheson reflected back on this episode: “I liked that story. The only thing I didn’t like was that, I thought, in the beginning they gave it away. You should not have seen her face when she was chasing the young girl. It should have been just a a scary figure in black, in the background.”

Director Elliott Silverstein also had mixed feelings about this episode: “The lesson I learned from that one is never ask an actor if he or she can ride a horse. I said to her “Diane, can you ride a horse?”. She replied “Yes, absolutely.” It’s the stock answer that any actor will give. And much to my frustration and shock, when the time came to get her up on the horse with the camera running alongside, she didn’t even know what side of the horse to get up on. We had to fake the whole. thing.”

Diana Hyland , who played Anne Henderson, was 27 when she played Anne Henderson at ages 18 and 43. She was cast opposite Dick Van Patten in Eight is Enough (1977), but passed away from breast cancer after filming only four episodes.

Marsha Hunt, who played Mrs. Henderson, had her career scuttled after being branded a communist for signing a petition in support of free speech. She supported civil rights causes and died at the age of 104.

Philip Ober, who played Mr. Henderson, appeared in I Love Lucy (1951) with his wife Vivian Vance. He was apparently physically abusive with her and, one day, when Vance showed up on set with a black eye, Lucille Ball confronted Ober and threatened that if he didn’t divorce Vance, she (Ball) would.

Roger Davis, who played David Mitchell, landed the lead role in the series Alias Smith and Jones (1971) when his friend, and initial series lead, Pete Duel, died of a self-inflicted gunshot while drunk.

Robert Hogan, who played Robert Blake, portrayed Reverend Tom Winter in the popular soap opera Peyton Place (1964) and Police Sergeant Ted Coppersmith in The Rockford Files (1974). Bob Crane’s Colonel Hogan in Hogan’s Heroes was apparently named after Robert Hogan.

This was a solid episode that, honestly, would have been great had the director not dropped the ball and, as Matheson pointed out in his critique, tipped the twist by revealing Anne as the woman in black on horseback right off the top. I thought Diana Hyland pretty terrific though.

Season 5, Episode 22, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

This episode first aired February 28, 1964.

This episode/short film was based on the short story of the same name, written by Ambrose Bierce. It was first published by the San Francisco Examiner in 1890.

Bierce often drew on his own Civil War experiences for his writing.

Near the end of production for The Twilight Zone’s fifth season, Rod Serling attended a French film festival where he saw this short film. He was so impressed that he purchased the rights for a one-time U.S. network broadcast of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” for $20 000. It may have seemed like a pricey purchase at the time but the decision ended up saving the show approximately $100 000 on the production of a new episode.

This French short won the 1961 Academy Award for Best Short Subject as well as the 1962 Golden Palm (Palme d’Or) for best short subject at the Cannes Film Festival.

Shortly after “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was acquired for broadcast, ABC offered to pick up The Twilight Zone for a sixth season, but Serling turned down the offer because the network wanted the show to lean more heavily into horror. As a result, this proved to be the show’s fifth and final season. Serling, meanwhile, went on to produce the horror-themed Night Gallery (1970) years later.

Gorgeously atmospheric, this beautifully directed episode is bolstered by a haunting score and a final, devastating twist that is trademark Twilight Zone while not actually being Twilight Zone.

Season 5, Episode 23, “Queen of the Nile”

This episode first aired March 6, 1964.

This was the final writing credit for Charles Beaumont who died three years after this episode aired. Like his previous late Twilight Zone episodes, “Queen of the Nile” was ghostwritten for him, in this particular case by longtime friend and collaborator Jerry Sohl. On his inspiration for this episode, Sohl stated: “I had a scarab ring many years ago, and knew that the scarab ring was the symbol of fertility and immortality in Egyptian times. … After about half an hour we had the story worked out. I just went home and did it, sent it in, and they shot it the way I wrote it.” He would later reflect: “That one was a lot of fun to do, and I think they did a great job on it.”

In the original first draft, Pamela is visited by a handsome young policeman investigating the disappearance of Jordan Herrick. Pamela starts flirting with him and we are left with the suggestion that she has found her next victim…

Actress Ann Blyth, who played Pamela Morris, was an accomplished singer who started her acting career at age 16. Her breakout role was opposite Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945) for which she received an Oscar nomination. On the heels of the movie’s release, she was vacationing in Lake Arrowhead when she broke her back while sledding. The accident had her laid up for six months before she resume her career in musical theatre, film, and television.

I thought this one a pretty good episode with a delightfully macabre ending. I’m sure there will be viewers who felt bad for poor Jordan, but I felt little sympathy for the nosy, romantically-aggressive rube.

Our Twilight Zone rewatch continues with…

Season 5, Episode 24, “What’s in the Box”

This episode first aired March 13, 1964.

William Demarest, who played Joe Britt, got his start in vaudeville but gained fame as retired sea captain Uncle Charley on My Three Sons (1960), replacing actor William Frawley when he fell ill. He earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in The Jolson Story (1946).

Joan Blondell, who played Phyllis Britt, debuted with Ziegfeld Follies before graduating to Broadway. She starred opposite James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) and Blonde Crazy (1931) in addition to other films. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in The Blue Veil (1951).

Sterling Holloway, who played the TV repairman, debuted in silent films but was able to find success in talkies due to his distinct voice. A director once judged him “too repulsive” for the screen so he quit acting for five years, but returned to in order to make money after the stock market crash of 1929. He played Uncle Oscar on Adventures of Superman (1952) and voiced Winnie the Pooh among other Disney characters.

So basically “A Most Unusual Camera” right down to the accidental plunge out the high-rise window, but with less interesting performances. Ho-hum.

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