The Twilight Zone 1.13

The Four of Us Are Dying

starring Harry Townes, Phillip Pine, Ross Martin, Don Gordon

directed by John Brahm

Arch Hammer (Harry Townes), a man who can change his appearance at will attempts to use his superpower to his advantage but it gets him into trouble, lots of trouble; the kind of trouble that gets him killed!

Arch starts off by impersonating a dead man, musician Johnny Foster (Ross Martin). He uses Johnny's appearance to seduce Maggie, a lounge singer. Next, he makes himself look like gangster Virge Sterig (Phillip Pine) and strongarms a mob boss out of some money. The mob boss's henchmen come after him so he changes his appearance once again. This time he makes himself look like Andy Marshak (Don Gordon).

The new face gets the gangster off his tail but then he runs into Andy's father, who runs a newsstand and wants to know why Andy abandoned his parents. The experience rattles Arch but he manages to lose Andy's father and return to his hotel where he runs into a police detective who is looking for Arch. He loses the detective but runs into Marshak's father, except this time he has a gun and is looking to settle things with Andy.

Thoughts

This was an entertaining episode. It felt a little too ambitious for a half hour show but on the whole it was very well executed. I wasn't surprised that things didn't exactly work out for Arch. That's how things tend to go in the Twilight Zone. 

Notes

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Harry Townes appeared. I saw him just last week in an episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, 1.10 The Hunt. See my notes on that episode for more about other shows in which he appeared.

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Phillip Pine appeared. I've seen him before in an episode of The Outer Limits (1963), 1.02 The Hundred Days of the Dragon. See my notes on that episode for more about other shows and movies in which he has appeared.

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Ross Martin appeared. He is best known to me for playing the part of Artemus Gordon on The Wild, Wild West. He also appeared in episodes of Night Gallery, and Wonder Woman.

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Don Gordon appeared. He also appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits (1963), Kraft Suspense Theatre, and The Invaders.

This is the third of twelve episodes of this show that John Brahm directed. The previous one was 1.10 Judgment Night.

This episode was based on a story written by George Clayton Johnson. It is the first of seven episodes of this show that he had a hand in writing. He later went on to co-write the novel Logan's Run and write the screenplay for one episode of Star Trek (1966), 1.01 The Man Trap.