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Light and Shadow: Quint on Twilight Zones 1.16-1.18!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next Light and Shadow, my systematic and possibly suicidal attempt at going episode by episode through one of the best scripted shows to ever be beamed to idiot boxes, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
It’s been a while since I’ve added to the Light & Shadow archives. My apologies, but there’s a reason why I didn’t make this a weekly or bi-weekly column. As with most out there sometimes other priorities demand my attention, but I love diving into Rod Serling’s fucked up world time and again. We got a good run this time out.
This installment features episodes 1.16 (“The Hitch-Hiker” starring Inger Stevens), 1.17 (“The Fever” starring Everett Sloane) and 1.18 (“The Last Flight” starring Kenneth Haigh). Enjoy!
1.16 – “The Hitch-Hiker”
Directed by Alvin Ganzer
Written by Rod Serling, based on a story by Lucille Fletcher
Original Airdate: January 22nd, 1960
Her name is Nan Adams. She's twenty-seven years old. Her occupation: buyer at a New York department store, at present on vacation, driving cross-country to Los Angeles, California, from Manhattan. Minor incident on Highway 11 in Pennsylvania, perhaps to be filed away under accidents you walk away from. But from this moment on, Nan Adams's companion on a trip to California will be terror; her route – fear; her destination – quite unknown.
If you want an example of a Twilight Zone episode that directly influenced storytelling look no further than The Hitch-Hiker. There’s no more blatant example of cause and effect than seeing this episode and discovering where both The Hitcher (and its remake) and Creepshow 2 (“Thanks for the ride, lady!”) have their roots.
Inger Stevens stars as an all-business lady driving cross-country from New York to Los Angeles. Shortly after a near-miss blow-out on the freeway she begins being haunted by a mysterious Hitch-hiker. No matter how fast she goes the hitch-hiker is always around the next corner, at the next town, always trying to thumb her down.
Leonard Strong plays the hitcher without much menace, which kind of makes it even creepier when he leans into Stevens’ window at a stopping.
Again, those familiar with the formula of Twilight Zone probably already picked up that the near-miss wasn’t so much of a near-miss and that Ms. Stevens isn’t being haunted so much as nudged to recognize she’s no longer in the land of the living.
But what I found particularly interesting with how Serling scripted this episode is that we’re seeing the other side of a ghost story.
There comes a moment around the middle of the episode when a Sailor tags along with her. She’s grateful for a strong guy to protect her from this crazy supernatural hitch-hiker and he’s happy to ride with a pretty lady. Until she starts veering wildly off the road, her mind either snapped or dangerously close. She’s trying to hit the hitcher, who the sailor, of course, can’t see.
You see his fear as he realizes something’s off. He makes Stevens pull over and let him out and she begs him to stay, even offering to fuck him. I’m serious. Pretty risqué for the time.
The reason I love this, though, is because with any other storyteller that would have been the ghost story… a sailor in Smalltown, Nowhere USA is picked up by a pretty woman late at night. At first it’s a godsend, but then she starts rambling and trying to murder invisible people with her car, nearly killing him in the process. It’s a campfire tale, but now we see it from the perspective of the specter.
The twist isn’t the surprise… there’s been five decades of stories inspired by Twilight Zone since and it’s pretty easy to spot, but like the best TZ episodes this particular story doesn’t rely on the twist alone. There’s a lot to see in this ep and a great central turn by Inger Stevens.
Her name is Nan Adams. She's twenty-seven years old. Her occupation: buyer at a New York department store, at present on vacation, driving cross-country to Los Angeles, California, from Manhattan. Minor incident on Highway 11 in Pennsylvania, perhaps to be filed away under accidents you walk away from. But from this moment on, Nan Adams's companion on a trip to California will be terror; her route – fear; her destination – quite unknown.
1.17 – “The Fever”
Directed by Robert Florey
Written by Rod Serling
Original Airdate: January 29th, 1960
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Gibbs, three days and two nights, all expenses paid, at a Las Vegas hotel, won by virtue of Mrs. Gibbs' knack with a phrase. But unbeknownst to either Mr. or Mrs. Gibbs is the fact that there's a prize in their package neither expected nor bargained for. In just a moment, one of them will succumb to an illness worse than any virus can produce, a most inoperative, deadly, life-shattering affliction known as "The Fever".
Okay, so this is one of the cheesier episodes, I’ll grant you that. But again there’s so much going on, so many layers of commentary and a fantastic descent-into-madness performance by Everett Sloane as the frugal Franklin Gibbs that I couldn’t help but love this episode.
I’m also a fan of gambling on the screen. Especially period Las Vegas stuff. I don’t know why I find vintage slot machines and casinos so interesting, but I do… so a story about a mischievous slot machine driving a man insane was right up my alley.
The story starts when the Gibbs win a trip to Las Vegas… The wife, Flora, is excited about the trip and you get the impression that Franklin only went because he’s too damn cheap to turn down anything free. The dude detests gambling and refuses to play any of the casino games at all and even forbids his wife from doing the same.
But then a drunk slot player puts a silver dollar into Franklin’s hand, forces it into the machine and leaves to join his friends. Franklin just can’t let the dollar go to waste… it’s already in the machine, right? So, he pulls the handle and of course hits a big payout. I’d guess maybe $15 or $20 from the amount of dollar coins he collects.
That starts the addiction. At first he resists, feeling superior to all the idiots who will just keep feeding the money back into these machines, but as he’s walking away he hears a payout, coins hitting metal, that sounds almost like his name being called.
The pull is too great. After staring at his stack of coins in his room he has to go down and play, giving some excuse to his wife about how the money is dirty and deserves to be back in the machine… Three cashed checks and some 24 straight hours later Franklin is reduced to a jibbering, ranting degenerate feeding money into a machine he’s growing to believe is sentient and evil.
Why else would it keep a man hooked, paying out 5 dollars for every 6 he puts in? Then the cherry on the top… it breaks right when he puts his last dollar in. The handle is stuck and won’t budge. That pushes Franklin over and he attacks the machine, the hotel security stepping in.
Back in his room he’s finally lost it, hearing the call of the machine, a mixture of voice and slot machine sounds calling his name that is, honestly, pretty damned unnerving. Then he starts seeing the machine and his delusion is complete. He’s all the way down the rabbit hole at this point with no hope of return.
As unthreatening as a single slot machine is the finale is kind of goofy, but I dig it. It represents the addiction and underlines that those the most judgmental are really coming from a place of fear of their own inner demons.
If I were in charge I would have had Franklin somewhat recover and on his way out, pass the slot machine as someone uses his last dollar to hit the big $10,000 jackpot he was trying for, completely breaking this man.
But what do I know? I’m no Rod Serling and the way Serling ended this episode is good, too.
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Gibbs, three days and two nights, all expenses paid, at a Las Vegas hotel, won by virtue of Mrs. Gibbs' knack with a phrase. But unbeknownst to either Mr. or Mrs. Gibbs is the fact that there's a prize in their package neither expected nor bargained for. In just a moment, one of them will succumb to an illness worse than any virus can produce, a most inoperative, deadly, life-shattering affliction known as "The Fever".
1.18 – “The Last Flight”
Directed by William Claxton
Written by Richard Matheson
Original Airdate: February 5h, 1960
Witness Flight Lieutenant William Terrance Decker, Royal Flying Corps, returning from a patrol somewhere over France. The year is 1917. The problem is that the Lieutenant is hopelessly lost. Lieutenant Decker will soon discover that a man can be lost not only in terms of maps and miles, but also in time. And time, in this case, can be measured in eternities.
Ah, another Richard Matheson episode. I love these and I love Twilight Zone episodes about redemption, of which this is a particularly strong one.
The Twilight Zone is usually associated with a negative, horrific supernatural plane of existence, but every so often we see this Twilight Zone used for good and not a mean-spirited kick in the dick.
Don’t get me wrong, I love those cruel twists of fate, but I’m also an optimist and I like that the Twilight Zone can mean many things, including a second chance. That’s one of the reasons I like episode 1.2, One for the Angels, so much. Not knowing what you’re going to get with each episode also helps keep the series fresh.
As a result I couldn’t peg this episode about a 1917 British RFC pilot landing his biplane on an American base in 1959 France. I was on board with Kenneth Haigh’s Flight Lt. Decker being who he said he was. I mean, this is the Twilight Zone… time travel isn’t so out of place here. But where was it going?
At first this story seemed to be more about the Americans trying to figure out if Lt. Decker was playing a trick on them, but then it turns about half-way through the episode.
Decker is a coward, you see. He was partnered with a friend, an Alexander Mackaye, when they were surrounded by 7 German planes and Decker fled up into the clouds, leaving his friend. He got lost in a particularly brilliant white cloud and when he landed he found himself in 1959.
We don’t know this right away, we just see him finding a place to land and dealing with the Americans.
But then he hears that an Air Vice Marshal Alexander Mackaye, a famous WW2 hero, is going to be arriving soon to inspect the base he freaks out, admitting his cowardice and fear of being discovered for who he is and what he did to Simon Scott’s Major Wilson.
Slowly Decker comes to realize this is his second chance, fate’s way of telling him that he can change his ways and do some good. If he stays Mackaye will surely die back in 1917 and his later heroics during WW2 wouldn’t happen, thus possibly changing the outcome of even that war.
Decker finds it in himself to escape his semi-imprisonment and head back into the skies… back to the past.
When the elderly Air Vice Marshal Alexander Mackaye shows up we hear his story about how Lt. Decker flew up into the clouds, seemingly running away, then came charging back saving Mackaye’s life, but being shot down in the process.
In stories like this you tend to have the disbelieving party (in this case Alexander Scourby’s General Harper) realizing he was wrong and then keeping quiet about it… but not here. This time he shows Mackaye Decker’s ID and tells the story about how he landed there.
I love that. I love it when the supernatural is proven true in these kinds of stories and people just embrace it, not try to sweep it under the rug.
I’m also quite fond of redemption stories, so this one hit a nice balance for me.
Before I sign off for this installment I want to draw some attention to this:
I watched these last three episodes from the Blu-Ray release and the quality was outstanding. The contrast was sharp, the blacks deep and solid, a far cry from the milky video transfers I watched as a kid on Nick At Nite.
For fans that haven’t begun collecting TZ or those that have to have the newest of the new, I thought I’d remind you guys that the Blu-Rays are coming out a week from today, September 14th.
The Definitive Set will still be my default link at the top of these articles because it’s still a better deal, but having seen the BR transfers with my own eyes I have to recommend them to any serious TZ fan.
Hopefully the next installment won’t be as long in the coming as this one was. We have Fantastic Fest about to take over my life and I’m also preparing my month-long return of A Movie A Day: Halloween Edition for the month of October, but I have already watched the next three episodes in hopes of getting the next Light & Shadow out before all that craziness hits!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
Witness Flight Lieutenant William Terrance Decker, Royal Flying Corps, returning from a patrol somewhere over France. The year is 1917. The problem is that the Lieutenant is hopelessly lost. Lieutenant Decker will soon discover that a man can be lost not only in terms of maps and miles, but also in time. And time, in this case, can be measured in eternities.
Previous Twilight Zone Articles:
Episodes 1.1-1.3
Episodes 1.4-1.6
Episodes 1.7-1.9
Episodes 1.10-1.12
Episodes 1.13-1.15
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I love the "Trapped in time with the Blue People" Episode.
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suddenly. That scared the crap out of me when I saw it as a kid!
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He was one of James Mason's henchmen.
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Just a bit of trivia. The Hitch-Hiker is one of the Zone stories that didn't start out on The Twilight Zone. The Hitch-Hiker actually was first produced as a radio drama back before TV on The Mercury Theater of The Air with Orson Welles.
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Was from Night Gallery. Thanks for clearing that up.
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You have now entered..The Creepy Place.
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although i thought it was originally done on "suspense"i heard the radio drama before i saw the tz epiksfo in sf did old radio every night, and i loved suspense, arch obler the whistler and x-1and i think the drama plays better on radio than it does on tv
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Long way to go on this column, looking forward to more.
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Given how expensive they are?
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What a great, great show. Rod Serling is one of America's greatest gifts to the world ever.
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Always a pleasure to see and read these.
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i love how the sailor gets so freaked he runs away into the woods in the dead of night on a lonely country road.
if you do the '80s series there are some real winners in there. "A Message from Charity," "Paladin of the Lost Hour," and "The Canary Sedan" come to mind.
I don't recall that "Twilight Zone" was ever on Nick at Night, but then I was watching reruns long before they invented Nick at Night. Or Nickelodeon, for that matter. -
Keep them coming! I'm going to pop in Season 1 right now. Question, though...does the upscaling on Blu Ray justify replacing my DVDs w/ BR or will I be OK?
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Was the one that had the watch that stopped time, just as the nuclear missiles were flying into town. Anyone know the name of that episode?
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Wikipedia has a great listing of every episode and a one sentance recap, and links to larger articles. NUKE ME!
And can we get rid of the handbag salesman, please? -
....looked up into the rear view mirror and sees the hitcher in the back seat. And when I say it scared the living *crap* outta me as a kid, I'm talking about the kinda scare that sticks with someone, to the point where they're never quite the same again. That kinda scare.Oh, and fer cryin' out loud please ban these cocksuckers....I'm sure you guys do ban them, I only wish we had some way to see them tumble over the edge never to be seen again!
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Sep 08, 2010 11:28:17 AM CDT
I BELIEVE YOU'RE GOING.......MY WAY.......
by creationisttechnophobicmaniacs
Nan Adams, age twenty-seven. She was driving to California; to Los Angeles. She didn't make it. There was a detour... through the Twilight Zone.
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Sep 08, 2010 11:28:42 AM CDT
Quint, there was a magic to watching those shit tv transfers.
by stuntcock mike
But yeah, the BluRays are excellent.
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I swear I don't remember ever seeing "The Last Flight".
Thanks for this series of reviews, The Twilight Zone is STILL one of the best shows. -
At this rate, the final reviews should be online in about 10 years.
Kentucky Colonel, they shouldn't need to upscale them as they were shot on film. I can't imagine you'd notice a huge difference unless you have, say, a 92" screen (like me). -
my great-grandfather was a Flying Officer in the RFC. I can find no record of his death, so I'm guessing he travelled through time. Yes, that seems the most likely explanation.
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So happy to see it back. I saw "The Fever" late one night when my sister had just flown in from out of town. We had already thrown quite a few beers back, and were practically rolling on the floor by the time the stack of chips starts bursting out with that guttural "FRANKLIN! FRANKLIN!" To this day, its an inside joke of sorts between the two of us. All that said, the episode is a pretty solid if not surreal take on what gambling does to certain archetypes. I also just wanted to note, am I the only one who finds the hitchhiker segment in "Creepshow 2" to be really fucking unnerving? I saw that movie for the first time on Cinemax at like 2 A.M. when I was 12 or 13, and i'm just sitting there grinning through the light-hearted campy horror of the "blob" segment and the "wooden indian" segment... then all the sudden you have a mangled, half-dead hitchhiker screaming "thanks for the ride, lady!" I might've slept with the lights on that night.
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Had to say that. Super shows. I think "The Fever" saw some use at gambling addiction meetings. I'll guess I'll have to buy these since Sci-Fi had no marathon this year -- and I'm not watching at 5:30 AM.
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Actually, so horrible, but me and my friends laughed pretty hard at the hitchhiker segment of Creepshow 2. Not that it wasn't creepy. But the guy coming back again and again with that same "Thanks for the ride, lady!"... Well, I do have a friend with a twisted sense of humor. So right out of the gate the dead hitchhiker giving her sarcastic backtalk set him off laughing. From there it was all over. Because you just knew he was coming back again and again. After the first time we laughed, each time he returned we'd laugh harder. Wrong wrong wrong but we did. Talking of in-jokes, that was ours. After the movie the guy who started us all laughing would just shout that line out and start howling. I think to this day if I called my friend and went, "Thanks for the ride, lady!" He'd lose it.
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..before the bastard claimed her through her final, unfortunately successful, suicide attempt.
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I liked her. I thought she was in more than two tho. This is one of all-time the classics. Such a pretty lady. OT, but check out FIRECREEK if you haven't seen it.
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The best thing I did was not buying the standard definition edition. Can't wait for next Tuesday. As soon as the flood waters reside from Hermine, I'm watching it. Thanks, Quint.
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Does Quint really think this is an explicit offer for sex? Nan: "Look. I like you. I really like you very much. As a matter of fact, that's why I picked you up, because I liked you. I thought that we could be friends, and I'd kind of like for you to take me out. Really. Please?" Sailor: "I'm sorry, ma'am."
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