The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.24

Long Live Walter Jameson

starring Kevin McCarthy, Edgar Stehli, Estelle Winwood

written by Charles Beaumont

directed by Anton Leader

Professor Sam Kittridge (Edgar Stehli) suspects that his colleague Professor Walter Jameson (Kevin McCarthy) is older than he claims to be. Jameson is engaged to Susanna Kittridge, his colleague's daughter. Walter confesses to the truth, he is more than 2,000 years old once Sam presents him with the evidence he has amassed.

Sam doesn't want Walter to marry Susanna now that Walter has confirmed his suspicions. Walter refuses to break things off with Susanna but after returning home he discovers that he isn't the only one who has a say in the matter. Laurette (Estelle Winwood), one of his former wives, is waiting for him when he gets home. She insists that he break things off with Susanna.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.23

A World of Difference

starring Howard Duff

written by Richard Matheson

directed by Ted Post

Arthur Curtis (Howard Duff) discovers, suddenly, one day that the world he knows isn't exactly what he thinks it is. He is actually an actor named Gerald Raigan. That's what everytone calls him when shooting stops on the movie. He doesn't understand why they keep calling him Gerry. He doesn't recognize Nora, the woman who claims to be his wife. He can't find the home he remembers. He doesn't recognize Brinkley, the man who claims to be his agent.

None of it makes sense to Arthur Curtis. It is like a bad dream for him. Nothing can dissuade him from believing that he is Arthur Curtis. He returns to the studio only to find that the set is being taken apart. He sits back down in the office he knows. His wife Marion enters. He's so happy to see her. He leaves the office with Marion.

The Twilight Zone 1.22

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

starring Claude Akins, Barry Atwater, Jack Weston

written by Rod Serling

directed by Ron Winston

The power goes out suddenly on Maple Street after an unknown object passes overhead. Nothing works including things that aren't plugged in like portable radios and cars. The residents don't suspect anything strange until really strange things start happening: cars starting by themselves, lights coming on in just one house. The residents of Maple Street grow increasingly paranoid as to whom they can trust.

The tension turns to hysteria when someone is spotted walking down the darkened street. One man brings out his shotgun. Another man takes it and shoots the approaching man, killing him. It turns out to be someone they all knew. Things get progressively worse as more weird things happen.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.21

Mirror Image

starring Vera Miles, Martin Milner

written by Rod Serling

directed by John Brahm

Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) is waiting for a bus to Buffalo, NY. She doesn't understand why everyone keeps telling her that they just saw her a minute ago when she is meeting them for the first time. Twice sees she sees herself. Once in a bathroom mirror and then again in on a bus that she is about to board. Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner), who is waiting for the same bus tries to help her but he ultimately decides to call the police and let them deal with the matter. That gets her out of his hair but then he starts seeing someone who looks just like himself. 

The Twilights Zone (1959) 1.20

Elegy

starring Cecil Kellaway, Jeff Morrow, Don Dubbins, Kevin Hagen

written by Charles Beaumont

directed by Douglas Heyes

Three astronauts Captain James Webber (Kevin Hagen), Kurt Meyers (Jeff Morrow), and Peter Kirby (Don Dubbins) land on an asteroid that looks very much like 20th century Earth. They left Earth in the year 2185. Their spaceship got damaged. They had only just enough fuel to land on the asteroid. There are people on the asteroid but they are all frozen in place. None of them moving.

Webber, Meyers, and Kirby wander around town unsure what to make of what they have found. They meet a man who moves, Jeremy Wickwire (Cecil Kellaway). He tells them a little bit about where they are and then he tricks them. He drinks a toast with them but he is not human and what they drink kills them and preserves them. He puts them back on their spaceship and they become part of the museum piece that is on this asteroid.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.19

The Purple Testament

starring Dick York, William Reynolds

written by Rod Serling

directed by Richard L. Bare

Lieutenant Fitz (William Reynolds), a platoon commander serving with Company A in the Philippines during World War II discovers that he can tell when men are about to get killed. He tells Captain Riker (Dick  York), the company commander, but Riker doesn't believe him.

Thoughts

This was interesting episode. It isn't heavy on plot. The ending wasn't too surprising when I got to it. Most of the weight of this episode is found in the performances of the two lead actors. I think they were both quite good.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.18

The Last Flight

starring Kenneth Haigh, Alexander Scourby, Simon Scott

written by Richard Matheson

directed by William F. Claxton

Lieutenant William Terrance Decker (Kenneth Haigh) of the Royal Flying Corps passes through a cloud and finds himself transported from 1917 to 1959. He doesn't understand what happened, nor do the US Air Force officers who question him, Major Wilson (Simon Scott) and Brigadier General Harper (Alexander Scourby).

Decker doesn't admit it at first (in front of the general) but later he tells Major Wilson that he's a coward. Just before he arrived in 1959 in abandoned a comrade when they faced overwhelming odds in an aerial fight. Based on some information that Decker gets from Wilson about Mackaye, the comrade he abandoned in 1917, Decker decides that he must go back.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.17

The Fever

starring Everett Sloane, Vivi Janiss

written by Rod Serling

directed by Robert Florey

Franklin (Everett Sloane) and Flora Gibbs (Vivi Janiss) are in Las Vegas on an all expenses paid trip that she won. Franklin is disgusted by everything he sees around him in the hotel where they are staying, most notably the casino. Everything changes for Franklin after someone gives him a silver dollar and asks him to give it a try. He wins around $20 dollars. He takes the money up to their room but then he starts to hear the machine calling his name. Only he hears it.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.16

The Hitch-Hiker

starring Inger Stevens

written by Rod Serling, Louise Fletcher

directed by Alvin Ganzer

Nan Adans (Inger Stevens) keeps seeing the same hitch-hiker as she drives cross country from New York to Los Angeles. She spots him for the first as she is getting a flat tire repaired in Pennsylvania and then again as she is getting ready to get back on the road.

She drives south from Pennsylvania. Somewhere in Virginia she spots him again. She doesn't understand how he keeps getting ahead of her. She almost gets hit by a train at one point just after seeing him.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.15

I Shot an Arrow into the Air

starring Dewey Martin, Edward Binns

written by Rod Serling, Madelon Champion

directed by Stuart Rosenberg

A rocket ship carrying eight men takes off from Earth but not long afterwards it loses contact with ground control and disappears from all radar screens. The rocket crash lands on an asteroid. Four of the astronauts are killed during the landing. Another is seriously injured and dies hours later.

Corey (Dewey Martin), one of the three survivors, starts questioning everything that the mission's commander, Colonel Bob Donlin (Edward Binns), one of other two survivors says. Pierson, the third survivor, and Corey explore the rocky area where they have landed but only Corey returns. He claims at first that he doesn't know why Pierson hasn't returned yet. Donlin insists that they go looking for him.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.14

Third from the Sun

starring Fritz Weaver, Edward Andrews, Joe Maross

written by Rod Serling, Richard Matheson

directed by Richard L. Bare

Scientist William Sturka (Fritz Weaver) and pilot Jerry Riden (Joe Maross) both work for the government. They learn that nuclear war is about to break out and make plans to escape with their families. They are under surveillance by Mr. Carling (Edward Andrews).

Carling keeps them on their toes but late one night they break into the base where they work. They, along with their wives and Sturka's teenage daughter, steal a spaceship and head for another planet where humans also live. A planet that is the third from the sun around which it orbits. A planet that is more similar to their own than they realize.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 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 Twilight Zone (1959) 1.12

What You Need

starring Steve Cochrane, Ernest Truex

directed by Alvin Ganzer

Fred Renard (Steve Cochrane) notices that wandering salesman (Ernest Truex) seems to know exactly what people need. All the salesman has are knickknacks but he always seems to pull out of his box exactly what people need. Renard decides he's going to capitalize on this. The first thing he gets from Renard is a pair of scissors. He takes them but he's highly doubtful until later his scarf gets caught in an elevator door and he needs the scissors to cut his scarf before it strangles him.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.11

And When the Sky Was Opened

starring Rod Taylor, Jim Hutton

directed by Douglas Heyes

Colonel Forbes (Rod Taylor) goes to visit Major Gart (Jim Hutton) in the hospital. Both were crew members aboard X-20, a spaceship. Everyone seems to believe that it was just the two of them aboard the X-20 but Forbes remembers that there was a third crew member, Colonel Harrington. Forbes recounts what he recalls about the past 24 hours to Gart but Gart doesn't recall Harrington. He's mystified by Forbes' story but then Forbes leaves the room and disappears and Gart is the only one who remembers him. Not long after that he's gone too.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 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 Twilight Zone (1959) 1.09

Perchance to Dream

starring Richard Conte

directed by Robert Florey

A man goes to see a psychiatrist. He hasn't slept in almost four days. He's afraid of falling asleep because of the dreams he's been having. He tells the psychiatrist about the dreams. His plan doesn't exactly work.

Thoughts

There wasn't enough here to hook me. There was a twist ending but it wasn't too surprising. It didn't add a layer to the story that made it seem worthwhile to me. I was left feeling like there was something missing.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.07

The Lonely

starring Jack Warden, Jean Marsh

directed by Jack Smight

Corry (Jack Warden) lives alone on asteroid. He was sent there because he killed someone’s back on Earth. He was convicted of murder even though he claimed it was self defense. He is 4 years into a 50 year sentence. A supply ship stops every 3 months to bring him supplies. 

Corry is lonely. He can’t stand living there by himself with only a few minutes of human contact every few months. 

The next time the supply ship comes it brings him a special package, a robot named Alicia (Jean Marsh) that looks and acts just like a woman. Corry rejects Alicia at first but over time he mellows and grows to love her and having her there. 

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.06

Escape Clause

starring David Wayne, Thomas Gomez

directed by Mitchell Leisen

Walter Bedeker (David Wayne) sells his soul to the Devil (Thomas Gomez), in return for immortality. He tests the terms of the deal and tries killing himself but quickly finds that the Devil wasn't lying. He can't die. His condition leaves him bored.

Walter goes to the roof of the building he lives in with the intention of jumping. His wife doesn't believe he is truly immortal. She follows him up there, trying to convince him not to do it but she trips and falls from the roof. He isn't disturbed by her death. He instead sees it as an opportunity. He calls the police and tells them that he killed his wife.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.05

Walking Distance

starring Gig Young

directed by Robert Stevens

Martin Sloan (Gig Young), age 36 accidentally travels back in time 25 years and winds up in the town where he grew up. He meets his younger self and his parents. He tries to tell his parents who he is but they think he's crazy. He tries to tell his younger self to enjoy life but only ends up spooking him. He discovers that it isn't quite so easy to return home.

Thoughts

I watched this episode once before, about 5 years ago. I didn't write very much about it back then but you can find my notes here.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.04

The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

starring Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam

directed by Michael Leisen

Barbara Jean Trenton (Ida Lupino), aging and past her prime movie star, spends most of her time sitting at home watching her old movies. She dreams of returning to that life but doesn't think that it's possible until Danny Weiss (Martin Balsam), her agent, arranges for a meeting with a studio head.

Barbara takes the meeting but quickly discovers that they don't want her to star in a movie. They want her to play a supporting role. She walks out indignant.