The Twilight Zone 1.10

Judgement Night

starring Nehemiah Persoff

directed by John Brahm

Carl Lanser (Nehemiah Persoff) is aboard a ship headed across the Atlantic, bound for New York City, in 1942. All he can remember is his name and that he was born in Frankfurt, Germany. He has no memory of boarding the ship or anything beyond his name and place of birth. The captain and some of the passengers try asking him questions. He seems to know something about German submarines but beyond that he's a blank slate.

The ship was part of a convoy but got separated from the other ships. The fog is thick. Lanser gets very nervous when he hears the engines stop running. He starts to think that something significant is going to happen at 1:15 AM. He tries to warn everybody that the ship is going to be attacked but no one seems to hear him.

A German submarine attacks the ship at 1:15 AM. The captain aboard the submarine is Lanser.

Thoughts

This was an okay episode. I don't love it. It feels as though something is missing. There is a twist in the tale but it just didn't land hard enough to satisfy me. I was expecting a bigger payoff in the end but I'm not sure what would have satisfied me.

Notes

This is the only episode of The Twilight Zone (1955) in which Nehemiah Persoff appeared. He also appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The most recent thing I saw him in was an episode of Wonder Woman, 1.11 Formula 407. He's also been in a few movies I have seen including Day of the Outlaw (1959).

Patrick Macnee played the part of the first officer aboard the ship. This is the only episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) in which he appeared. He is best known for playing the part of John Steed in The Avengers. He also showed up in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Night Gallery, Orson Welles Great Mysteries, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985).

Ben Wright played the part of the ship's captain. This is the first of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. He also appeared in episodes of Four Star Playhouse, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Invaders, Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman. He appeared in four episodes of The Outer Limits (1963). I watched the first of those Outer Limits episodes just last week, 1.10 Nightmare.

This is the second of 12 episodes of this show that John Brahm directed. The first one was 1.08 Time Enough at Last. He also directed episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.