Midnight Viewing - Tribute to Jeannot Szwarc (1939 - 2025) Part 2

Will you wait, Miss.

School.

Welcome back Midnight viewers to part two of our Look at the Late Great.

Jenno'swark, in a twelve dollars and fifty cent pine box, reposes the body of a frontier of Frankie, armed but disarmy, a victim of an old West philosophy that any man with a good eye, a limber finger, and a well known trigger skirts the pastures of immortality. But this chap found out the hard way that immortality is a wish, a word, but infrequently your reality.

You wait your pleasure in a painting we call the Waiting Room.

The Waiting Room was written by Rod Serling, directed by Jeno'swark, and stars Thieve Forrest, Albert Salmi, Jim Davis, Buddy Ebsen, and Gilbert Rowland. They're throwing out some blank as blank credits all of a sudden in the opening credits, which I don't understand. This is the story of a gunslinger named Dictor who stops into a saloon and encounters a literal murderer's row of fellow outlaws. The problem is they're all dead. They are not Dictor. Oh no, anyone but Dictor.

So what was funny is Season four, episode eight of Tales from the Crypt Showdown aired in nineteen ninety two. That was not even an episode of Tales from the Crypt. Father Malone, correct me if I'm wrong, but that was actually a two fisted Tales segment that had been repurposed into a Tales from the Crypt episode, which would explain why the theme almost doesn't match that show and almost more matches this show, and as much as this show's

Wow, Tales from the Crypt is the equivalent of the Southeastern Asian Conflict of the late nineteen sixties. Okay, Mike, what do you think of this one?

I don't know if it's a badest nom, but it definitely felt like it went on as long as the Korean War did. In mash it was a very long long segment. I literally I looked down at one point, I looked back up and I said, this is still going on? What's going on?

What?

How can this be happening?

You were dictor all of a sudden, Yes.

Twenty eight minutes, twenty eight breaking minutes, and you feel every single one of them.

But you know what, Rob no longer had control at this point, and they were doctoring his scripts when he wasn't looking.

Oh right, sure, it's too bad that they took step in additional minutes of them reminiscing out because boy, I really miss that, Oh boy, good lord. It's just it's you know what it is. It's almost a blackout sketch again. And even the Tales from the Crypt episode is the same way. If an old Western guy wanders into town and the town looks deserted and there's a bunch of

Yeah, like most of Serling's loop episodes, which we've gotten quite a we've got a lot back in the Twilight Zone, but we certainly have had some here as well, just recently. What is that clacking sound in the heavens? To be honest with you, the first twenty minutes or so of this, not twenty, but like ten, I was actually totally intrigued. I'm a sucker for the supernatural. I'm a sucker for the Old West. Put them together. I'm on board. And the performances are solid uniformly.

Yeah, Buddy Epsen's fucking great. He's awesome. He's so good he can't even salvage how bad this segment is.

And it's shot beautifully. The problem is, as soon as the first gunfighter steps outside, all lingering out of what's going on here dissipates. And that's within seven or so minutes of the episode beginning, and now we've got twenty one to go. It should have remained as oblique as possible, because when it was oblique, when it was unclear what was happening, I was really into it. I was intrigued. I want it to be I wanted it to be really mysterious and not, oh my god, they're not just

This is how I die.

He already knows. He mentions it himself like, oh, I heard you got gunned down by so and so and such and such, Yes, that did happen. I'm that guy.

And here you don't understand though, how did it happen? I don't get it. How are you here now? It's like, dude, put one, one and two or next to each other. There is nothing else in between it. It's you're dead. You're dead, you're dead.

Tell me what has happened?

And I love that. It even does the thing where it's like, well, do you remember how you got here? I don't even remember how it got here. Did we never leave? We never left, We're still there. It's like that, it's so again, this is seventy two, so we're not It's still It was used then, but it's overused now. Maybe it's our twenty twenty three sensibilities peeking through. But it doesn't even feel. It feels so rote it The rotness of it gets in the way of it even

To be, just that they kept doing it over And I love a good groundhog Day type story. A time loop story is great, but not this way, not that we get to hear every single person every time, just over and I'm like, please just figure it out.

Other thing I liked quite a bit it was the second gunfighter, the gun the gunfighter who's sitting closest to Buddy Ebson. He's the second one to get up and go. That guy's performance was fantastic. That's Albert Selmi. I knew I knew him from somewhere. He's Noonan's dad in Caddy Shack. Whose child is this?

What?

How many Kochs did you have? That guy was that fucking fantastic Western character here in the winter.

He really sticks it to Steve Forest too. He's like, I don't want to be your brother, and I would never be related to some vulture like you. It's like geez Christ, Him and Buddy Ebsen are turning in real, like blistering performances in this. I appreciate that they showed up and they were like, we know what you're asking us to do. Lean into this really hard and they do. Like I appreciate the commitment to what they're needed. It's just like, you don't need it this much.

Yeah, because the tone demands the performances those guys are giving that first opening sequence when we're unsure as to what's happening here. It's it needs a level of seriousness bolster everything else. And that's what's good about the episode. That can I just ask you, guys, because I was unclear on this the opening and closing shot of him riding up to the hanged man which turns out to be him, was that day for night or was that night?

It looked like a hard light to me anyway.

Yeah, in the opening the first time I said, I went, that's gotta be day for night, and then at the end I was like, no, it really looks like a light. So I'm with you.

By the way, when it comes to horror mixed with Westerns, I'm a sucker from Brett Hart. And yeah, this had so much promise of oh cool, an Old West segment. We haven't had one of those before. Even what was it what was the Star Trek episode like Day of the Gun or whatever that was shot? So yeah, just the amazing like big red backgrounds and just that kind of like symbolism rather than sets type of.

Thing set fronts obviouslyzy saddle set fronts right.

Yeah, obviously they didn't have that much money or anything, but it worked out really well. So and this one, like you guys said, shot very well, looks really good. But just the storytelling.

Yeah, and I've said this before, like the hamdbone purple prose that I usually accuse Sirling of, if you put it into a period piece that it alleviates a whole lot. Suddenly it sounds like sparkling dialogue. And I have very little to complain about. The problem is it just never ends, and it goes nowhere, and we're all in on it, like the guys who were sitting in the fucking saloon from the scene one, and we're just waiting for the dummy to wake up. And I work twenty eight minutes for that.

But I guess the other thing that I wonder is, obviously you have the story of a guy who's died, and then is this the first time he's gone through this? Are they like at the point, Like the way that they're acting, it's like this motherfucker is not remembering time to time. So is this like ten loops into this? Which is that would have been a more interesting conversation to go towards as what does it mean to be here? Is there any way to leave? Or are we doomed

I do think that this is this character's first time because he rides up and he looks at the hanged man and doesn't bother to figure out who he is, and then the next time he comes he changes that. So I think this was his first time at the After Life rodeo.

Maybe, but Steve for seems pretty dumb.

Yeah, I would think at least the Buddy Ebsent character would be like this guy again.

Yeah, I'm saying that's why they're so frustrated with him. It's like this guy just keeps coming back asking the same stupid goddamn questions, and we keep telling him the same shit over and over again, and he's just not listening. Fuck this guy.

The Albert Salmi character would have said, how many times do we have to tell you this? You idiot?

That would have been what I would have written, because it would have been more interesting as opposed to just okay, like he's here for the first time, but he doesn't realize it. Maybe it's okay, maybe I understand why you don't realize it.

Then no, but and it would let the character off the hook, maybe like we know he's an idiot from the opening. We would then view this scenario through the ghosts who are already participating his eyes, and it's kind of a tragedy could have that could have worked.

They're much more interesting to those amongst you with a predilection toward antique collection or the occasional bargain hunting that takes place in out of the way nooks and stalls. This painting suggests a certain required wariness when it comes to your shopping. There are moments when behind some dusty book or in a cobwebbed corner of an ancient vestibule, you'll uncover a little object duart which can horrify the heck out of you, such being the case in this painting,

We call the painting the Last Rights for a Dead Druid?

All right, Last Rites of a Dead Druid? Written by Alvin T. Sappinsley, directed by Jenno Zwark or should I say Jeno Zoom. The segment is a zoom fest. More on that in a minute. And also you didn't see it at home, but Ron's introduction was very atmospheric. There's a lot of camera moves this episode. There's a lot of zooming in and out for bumpers. I dig where it's going anyway. Druid stars Bill Bixby first. This is

Is that reactive?

I don't care? And Donna Douglas as Mildrick as Mildred mcvain. She gets the and as credit that that trend has continued into the next segment. It also starts ned Glass. He's in two Cold Check episodes Spanish Moss Murders and Horror in the Heights, which I did with you guys on the On the Kill Jack daves.

Over There almost a decade to go down the first.

Time I met you, mister Michael. But the unseen performer in this segment is Gerald Penny, Gerald Perry Finnerman. He was the cinematographer. I mentioned the zooms and the focus pulling. Here he's doing muscular work and it's delicate and elegant. The focus pulling, like I said, is out of hand. He was a lifelong TV camera guy with occasional for rays into features. But there were some interesting TV shows he worked on, like Cork the Richard Benjamin Sifo written

Similarly to the last segment, it was a tadlong, but it was goofy if that was what they were going for. I had a chortal or two throughout, and I'll tell you why, because that statue doesn't look like Bill Bixby at all, no matter how hard they try to convince you. They could have had him rip his own face off and put it on there, and then it would have been like, yes, now it looks like Bill Bixby, only because Bill Bixby's actual face is on it. It doesn't

I thought this was a lot of fun. I had a great time. First off. I think that the Night Gallery should expand just from posters or sorry paintings into satuary as well. I think that they really need to expand their business, and having this in the gallery I think would be a great conversation piece and it could be sold fairly easily. I'm not sure who's in the market for life size statues of people screaming with crowbars in their hands.

An ancient crowbar, by the way, an ancient crowbar.

Yes.

And to your point, Mike, I thought that they were going to do something with a statue because Rod is standing in front of a weird dragon statue at the beginning of this episode, and I was like, oh, hold on, are like there are things in the background in the night gallery that aren't paintings. They just never go up to them. And it's like, why wasn't this that time, of all times you could have your Bill Bixby statue just standing there.

I actually have an answer for that, which is the sculptures were all purchased all at once, make us weird objects to Pepper the background and Tom Wright did all of the individual paintings for the episodes because they even if they're going to have statues show up, it's still a painting gallery. I agree wholeheartedly with you. They should have just had the goddamn statue sitting in the night. Gawn already goes this thing.

Isn't it weird looking? Won't you like to know what the story behind this is? Yes, we would, Rod, but I get but again, like I get why they had to stick with the consistency of the paintings. The paintings ultimately are more successful, but that you could have made it feel more tailored to each story, like you know, a specific item like look at this item.

Here, A narrow view of what a gallery can hold, even when they're displaying what a gallery can hold right all around him.

I really was hoping that the statue would change as it was going through. I did like that this episode has what the last episode didn't, or a segment I should say, which is actually things happening and changing so it's not just the same thing over and over again. I was afraid the first time the statue showed up in his bedroom that it would only terrorize him at night and that it would just keep doing the whole

It's really a fistfight. Yes, yeah, I totally agree, because here's the wife who is one thousand percent adorable, Carolynley, and then here's the temptress. It's like, what could they possibly owe her? Oh yeah, okay, I got it.

I got yeah, yeah, And I honestly it took me a minute to realize that that was Donna Douglas. I and she even had the Southern accent, so I'm like, why did I not just immediately think Ellie May when I saw her, and I guess it might have been the outfits or something, but man, oh man, she's a knockout.

Of Beverly Hillbilly's alumni in this episode too, right.

Yeah, yeah, and yeah, Buddy wasn't looking too bad either.

No, yeah, she's no, she's great, she's great. I don't know if the segment needed another like her character, like, she's not in cahoots with the Sorcerer, She's just she's just tempting him. So it feels like these things happening

We've got a triangle here, and it's a pretty good one. But to your point, Chris, what we needed is more of Mildred's character to get her point of view from what was going on here. Having said that this is one of my favorites from this season, like, I had a blast watching this one. I thought Swark's direction is on point. I thought the story was good. Even if

Oh, just the maid that comes up. I'm just putting in my notice.

The poor maid that's just like a guest. She's have to leave. Now. This man's trying to cook his cat. Oh, it's so good.

It's just the adr of all the cats sound effects. The poor cat's just like, what are you doing? And then the sound effects.

As a callback to an earlier Night Gallery episode, Bill Bixby struck me this time round as a perfect analog of Roddy McDowell, because when he's endearing, he's very endearing, and when he's smarmy, oh, I just want to drown him. And he gets both here and now added layer here the sort of fierce character the fierce Bill Bixby. We get here as the Sorcerer was actually pretty great too. I mentioned the all the zoom's going on here when Bill Bixby lays out the statue's origins, This is before

He sure does say is it twice? Actually? Which is hume there.

Just a little odd to hear it so casual, you know.

I also laughed like crazy when they said the statue's eyes have changed, and then they cut to it and it looks like a whole different head on the statue, this.

Orange red eyes though these red eyes or head.

I'm like, what did they do refurbish its head?

I actually loved the shop owner who's just had this thing sitting around for years, Like, this is the freakiest fucking thing. I would get that thing out of my shop and take it away, you know, after a while, if it's sitting in your shop, he's like, I think it's time to just get rid of this nightmare of a piece of artwork because it looks like a human being stuck in concrete.

Oh wait, oh wait. He's only getting rid of it to make room for a dinette, so otherwise he wanted to have it around some more. I guess he takes it back at the end, he doesn't get that one back, and he's very mad. He wants it back.

Had a set.

Yeah, so Bill Bixby murders his wife. Then at the end, like after he turns, he just kills her and then just becoming Anton Levey of the seventies.

Gets their Yeah, she's right, Yeah, I kind of like it doesn't mind at all.

Hey, that's a fun bad ending, like a bum it's a bummer of an ending, right. I guess if you perceive the Bill Bixby character as the hero of the piece. He gets frozen, but you know, the bad guy wins in the end. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

Oh, speaking of zooms, that second scene, the scene where Mildred gets confronted by him that she doesn't mind at all things talk about the first of all, they're subtle like hints with lighting, and then they got that circular fucking barbecue that explodes into flame. But the scene where, like I said that, there is this very subtle lighting shift on Bill Binksby and then he's possessed. So it's mostly Bill Bixby's performance that sounds. But that whole scene

These are originals too. These aren't based I mean, that's the other thing. A lot of these are like you go and Look and it's based on a short story by X Y and Z. And these two segments have both been a Serling original and a Sapinsley original, and Serling is what he is.

But this is way better, way better.

Yeah, yeah, this one. I think if I had seen this when I was a kid, it would really stick with me. I could see, Oh, don't you remember that episode with Bill Bixby where he turns it to a statue because at the end when he's going to beat it with that with his own crowbar, I thought that was very effective.

And remember we had an episode with James Farantino earlier in this season. It's basically the same story as this one, so they can keep telling the same stories over and over again as long as they're eventually going to get it right. Because they got it right here.

And this was better than that segment two, that one that you're referencing.

I think way better, That's what I'm saying. A thousand yeah better. But it's the same idea. It's the same plot effectively, but reworked and shot well and written well and performed well and here we go.

And it was also smart to switch the main character as opposed to like the secondary character, because in that one, wasn't it his wife is the one that's right, And this gives it, like, yeah, this gives it like a lot more steaks and also like, it just gives it a lot more weight that he's the one and he's doing it, but the story is being presented effectively by

The last one does look like Bixby, though, Oh yeah, yeah, And I love that when he becomes the monk that he then gets like the little fake beard.

Oh my god, it's so wonderful. Yeah, seeing fixed beied any attempt at sinister is welcome, very welcome.

Oh yeah, and when his eyes change, I'm just like, oh, don't make him angry?

Here we go, Yeah. Check the end credits leaf forragno in here.

Yeah.

Painting number two in the Night Gallery addressing itself to the strains and stresses of the married, having to do with the fact that there is more than one way to kill a cat and more than one way to dispose of a wife.

Our painting is called Stop Killing Me.

Stop Killing Me was written by Jack Laird from a short story by Hal Dresner Kuhan Luke's Hal Dresner Zorro the Gay Blades Hal Dresner. Kind of a slide whistle situation there. This one was also directed by Jenno Zwark, starring Geraldine Page first of three appearances in the Night Gallery, and James Gregory only. This is about a wife enlisting the aid of a police officer because she believes her husband is slowly ordering her through worry. What'd you think of this one, Chris.

Yeah, this is a lot of fun. I mean it does go on a little long too, but the length of this one is to sell. What's the length is selling what they're going for? And like it works here, so she is so haired with him that he is just fuck Yeah. I see why this is the way that it is like that works here, and I enjoyed this episode. But I'm gonna be biased because I love James Gregory now again when we started the Barney Miller Show, not so much the case, but his characterization has grown

I wish that the well Jane's wark does something interesting in this episode where Gerald and Page will basically imitate her husband and repeat the lines that he keeps saying to her, and when she does that, we get these interesting cuts to almost like from the side. All of a sudden and she will turn to the side and start doing her husband's voice, not like literally saying what he's saying, and then cut back and she'll move back. And they did that a few times, but then they

This one is a flip side not of Satan but of the late mister Pettington from two episodes ago, except here, instead of a woman talking herself into murder. She convinces another of the ease of which he can dispatch his own spouse starts with a great b roll of the New York City skyline, dingy kind of nineteen seventies. Look at the show, which I always love. I think, I think Geraldine Page is so electric here in that scene that those moments killer Michael. She's pantomiming her husband, and

When I really thought I knew what way this episode was going to go with that title, I thought that she was going to come in and it was going to be a d OA situation. I want to report a murder who's mind. But then I actually thought that she was dead and was coming in. When she said, my husband's killing me right now, I was like, oh, okay,

I thought that too. I thought that too when she said that. It was like, oh, like, cause again, like that's what it seems like, there's some angle here and it's just no, he's just he's almost like Pusher from the X Files, where it's.

Like that's.

Yeah, it's this weird, like just suggesting over and over again that it's putting her on edge constantly. I can't even imagine what that would be like.

But good lord, I don't think we needed the sound effect of her getting run over in traffic. That wasn't necessary. Like the plot, the plan of it was obviously working. She left that police station feeling really no better than when she came in. There's certainly no less safe, So just having the police officer talking to his wife would would have been sufficient. I do think we hold a little too long at the end, a little too long on the picture of his wife, Like a minute feels.

Like I was I mean, to your point with the sound effect, it almost seems like it was added after the fact, and I know it obviously was, but more like they didn't ask James Gregory to react to anything, because I watched it a couple times and he doesn't react at all, but we hear it as the audience. It's like he would have heard it. He should have reacted. There should have been like a sly little smirk or

I think it's twice as long as it probably should have been. But I'm not in any way angry at it, because I would watch Geraldine Pages do just about anything. I think she's great here anything else about this one, though, I think it's just really solid and I'm glad we're getting them. Yeah, peaks and valleys with this show, gentlemen, Peaks and funtin all right.

I like the idea that James Gregory is at one point, he's like she asked him, is your wife still as beautiful as the day you married her and he just like stares at that photo just a moment too long, just a no, you're right, it's just again like James Gregory was the perfect person for this role.

You know, it's funny perfect. While watching it, I was like, I know this guy from somewhere. He's so good. I'm like, I'm gonna look him up so we can discuss him on the show. And then I saw the credits of Barney Miller and I'm not gonna just close my notebook, Like these guys can supply all the information we need to know about James Gregory.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, this is almost a prequel. But I don't think Luger took this career path. Plus I don't think he would be married according to Chris's theory.

I am my theory hashtag Luger big gay.

Well maybe that's why he's got to kill the wife. He's come out, you know.

Yeah, bottom alone. Just two highlights off of mister Gregory's career. Won the role that he played in Manchurion Candidate. He was the husband what's her name, Angela Lanceberry? Really good role, yes, And then the other one is General Ursus. I believe is his name from Planet of the Apes, Planet of the Apes.

Yes, yeah, that voice, man, he's so good. He's great in this As a two person segment, yeah, bottle thing. We got here for fourteen straight minutes. These two could have taken another fourteen. Honestly, if they could have had some machinations added to this would have been perfectly satisfied.

Now this one here, unabashed and unashamed, I submit to you as a dandy. It does into an ancient funeral

The Sins of the father written by Halsted Wells from a short story by Christiana Brand and directed by Jenno Zwark or Jean Zwark. He's Jean Zuark Now. It stars Geraldine Page, Richard Thomas, Michael Dunn, Alexander the Star Trek. People will recognize him from Plato's step children. He was also in eure A Big Boy Now, the Copolas first film, but I will always know him as doctor Migolito Loveless. For so many seasons, he was Jamee West, central antagonist

Now.

I heard about this tradition long before I saw this, and it's always fascinated me. And recently I was talking to a friend of mine named Janisman, who is Welsh and lives in Wales. I asked her about this tradition and she had no fucking idea what I was talking about. Anyway, this is the tale of the sin Eater, or the

You forgot to mention the most important sin eating piece of media, the two thousand and three classic The Order starring Heath Ledger, as a sin eat in there. I think investigating sin eating in the Vatican.

Wow, actually not bad, not.

A bad movie, But I digress. I'm with you. I like the whole sin Eating angle, which is why I mentioned the order if anyone else is interested in seeing something not this old world like. That's the thing I appreciate about this is that it is an old world tale that feels proper disgusting and griming and weird. I think again, I go back to the well of the things that I've said before, the well of brevity. Here they just don't want to tell three stories anymore. They

How about you, Mike?

I prefer the sin Eater enemy of I believe he was the enemy of both ghost Rider and Spider Man, but I mostly remember him from Spider Man comics, so that was my familiarity with Sin Eating. I love Michael Dunn, he was great in this. Richard Thomas, Wow, what a performance. Rereally screamy throughout this whole thing. I was so confused at parts because they were talking about eating the food out of the guy's chest.

Right.

They said that like two or three times, right, Yes, yeah, there's no food on the chest, it's just around. It's a bunch of plates around. I didn't get that.

Well, yeah, and even further the way they kept saying it, I thought he was they had hollowed out his chest, right, put the food inside it, and then when it wasn't that, I thought that if it's on his chest and he has to take it all off of it, that would be something. But you're right, it's just ringed around body.

Very nice plates. I mean, the presentation could have been better. I don't know about the taste myself, but yeah, definitely the plating needed some work.

I tried to find out what else was filming on the Universal lot around this time, because in this episode, in the previous episode as well, they're clearly using an amazing set, this old the Old World set that's an interior set, interior for ext year. It looks fantastic. It looks better here than it looked in the previous episode where that it was directed very clumsily, but you know, Sark makes this one look great. I love Barbara Steele,

Though? I don't know.

Also, I don't need to see his saliva, does anyone Richard Thomas's saliva A.

Lot of saliva.

Yeah, the tongue just lolling around in that mouth of God Almighty.

It did portray hunger very well.

But well, I believed he was hungry, but he made me completely disgusted.

Yeah.

Well, I don't think that he needed to ride that horse sall twelve miles and have poor little Michael Dunn who looks like every step he takes hurts him. I mean, it was painful to watch Michael Dunn walk because you know, he's got the dwarf legs and it's just not very easy for him to do that. And I was like, now, let this guy ride on the horse with you. He doesn't need to walk twelve miles with you over hill and dale and through this mountainous, treacherous pass. Just give the guy a lift.

Man conboy doesn't share no horse.

No, that's true. That negotiation occurred when we were talking about her an a husband. It made sense that he was probably going to be sprawled out on the horse, so I agree. I kept wondering why you wouldn't just reach down and go, come on, let's go, just so he can get there quicker, like what slowly can't beside this dwarf? Like it's a bit cruel.

It is.

It is.

The makeup on both the corpses. Oh, spoilers looked pretty good. But yeah, I saw that twist coming a mile away. So I was just like, okay, yeah, why aren't you eating the food? Why are you saying I won't eat a morsel? Why are you saying that your son will eat all of this food? Because there's another sin eater. And now you have to eat the sins of the sin eater.

I like that tis honestly, it's a good twist, but it.

Is a good question.

It was just a little telegraphed, Yeah, but it posed an interesting solution to the sin eating lifestyle. You just have to have a relative that'll eat yours and then you got to keep that thing going.

Right, and someday you'll have a son I love, and she says.

Horrible, horrible. I did wonder a little bit how long has he been living there with them, this Richard Thomas's character, and have no interest in the family business, Like he doesn't know the words, he doesn't know anything about it, Like, how can you not?

It's all they do.

Should be the first thing they taught you was that prayer you're supposed to scream out when you're about to eat the sin. You would think, right, you just pick it up just by osmosis, right right, Yeah, I agree with you.

That Geraldine Page was very fun in this. She with that head thing around her head. I was just like, she looked very much like a tale from Canterbury Tales or something like from the story from the artwork. I should say. Yeah, I thought she gave a great performance.

I just loved it. I thought it was so good that she did it to him.

And you know what, Yes, it is twenty nine minutes, but I think even if it went a little long, as weird as Richard Thomas's performance is, I think it's an interesting performance, even if it is just get overde he's overacting. I feel like he's slabbering, yeah, and a lot of just like big decisions. But I like it in this because it feels a little different than all these other episode segments we've seen in the Old World, where there's not like one kind of big performance. He's

Hour, and a thankless role for us having to watch it.

There are horror stories and horror stories elements terror that take myriad forms, but this item has a built in terror which can refrigerate even the most dispassionate amongst us. It has to do with a little beastie known as an earwig, a small bug that crawls into the human ear and while inside it doesn't whisper sweet nothings, it performs quite another function.

Over do you now?

On Night Gallery a brand new nightmare which we call the Caterpillar.

The Caterpillar was written by Rod Serling from a short story called Boomerang by Oscar Cook, which is a better title, and it was directed by Jean Zwarc who I think this might be his best direction of the entire series, maybe his career. This one stars Lawrence Harvey, Joanna Pettitt. This is her third of four appearances on Night Gallery, Tom Hellmore, John Williams this is his second appearance, and

Shouldn't it really be called the Earwig?

Can we?

That was really bothering me now all.

The problems in the episode, that's the dumbest one. Like like boomerang is a perfect title for it. It means just as much as a caterpillar, because neither feature in the episode at all.

Yeah, yeah, it would have been nice if something. But yeah, I I must have either seen this or seen one of the countless adaptations of this story or this feels like a It's like a campfire tale, right, this whole thing. We took out the thing, but the thing laid babies. And I think I heard spider when I first heard this story. Okay, cool, but that was well done. I

How about you, Chris, You know Father Malone.

You and I used to do a show about Tales from the Crypt, and I think that this is in that wheelhouse. There are a couple episodes of that show that I can remember back. I want to say one there's a woman with her hit and she's a zombie, and then there's a guy's head on a plate and they're in like Jamaica or something, and it's to be careful what you wish for type thing where he's a jilted lover or something. So I'm I love it. I love the bunch of these studgy British Dickens in Bonio,

I wrote in my notes, finally a love triangle story where there aren't two people who are wrong.

Right, And I absolutely loved that aspect of this because this, honestly, father Blah, feels like the crescendo moment of having spent all those years watching Tales from the Crypt and they just kept doing that shit over and over again. You have to have one of the people on the love triangle say no at some point, and it totally works here.

It was very fresh, It was fresh, and the title is terrible. Yes, both things we can agree on. Oscar Cook, the author of the short story, apparently was in the military in Borneo wrote a lot of stories that took place there, which is why it's set here. And and himself said that this is a parable for rich white entitlement, that Lawrence Harvey's character is just this wealthy guy who just wants what he wants and he's gonna take it no matter what I do. Like that. Lawrence Harvey is

Yeah right.

I mentioned that I think this is Juark's best segment, is best directed segment. I agree, Chris. This is a bottle episode. It is definitely a one location episode, but I don't think it's set bound at all. I think

I thought that for a little.

Bit, but I wondered that too.

But that scene where he's like, oh sorry, they put it in the wrong I paid some times, like fucking the most British guy around everybody. He had a fucking eel pie hanging out of his mouth for fos sake. I love that scene. You get that out?

Yeah you figured out am Britain.

I am him like but I but there's like in that scene Shirk's conventions too, because I'm expecting him to show up at the window and be like, you know, tough shit, asshole, but he's like, I'm sorry. So I

What's funny is I hadn't considered that it was intentionally put into Laurence Harvey's here until he comes up to apologize, and then I thought, he's really contrite about this. Did he do this? And now he feels bad because he's seeing the results of it. I don't know, maybe I was working overtime on this one, but at least this particular segment begs these kind of questions and are conversation's worth having.

Also, you mentioned the lighting in some of the scenes. The scene where they're in the bar and it's the first time that Lawrence Harvey and mister Britton meet with his hat and it's lit really darkly except for Lawrence Harvey's eyes.

Yeah, that's called the halo eyelight, which Jean Jean zik here like he uses on Lawrence Harvey at every opportunity. And why wouldn't you Lawrence Harvey's faces. Look, I know he's sick here, but what a face, man. He always had those cheekbones and that gaunt, stony kind of stare.

That's why he was perfect in the mentoring candidate because you didn't know is he this or is he bad? Everybody's fawning over him, but you know something's that right?

I love his eyebrow raises. It's the eyebrow raises. I mean it's his eyeline. Really, it's that tease zone area. But those eyebrows.

Man, he's like he can do like a John Philip Law eyebrow raise like he he would be the American diabolic.

That's exactly. I could not put my finger on who he was reminding me of. But yes, John Philip Law. Holy lord. Here's here's a fun fact that ruins the entire episode. There are no pain receptors in the brain. But other than that, I really really liked it, which

Yes, yeah, I can see, I would agree. Well, we haven't seen the rest of the season so or the series, so that doesn't boat will. But the Master of Horror. There's so many books at half price books with ks on them that are just even King and no other horror writer. So he must be right. I hope not. But at the same time, I mean, this is I guess this is scary. I don't know. I don't to sit and think about. The ending is the ending of

Oh is that all?

We watched him with one in his ear, writhing and not being able to vocalize at all from the horrendous amount of pain he was enduring. And now he's going to have at least a dozen or so more of them in there.

Yeah, and they'll kill him, right.

The only ending for him is a pistol, right, just take it off of the wall.

That'd be too good for you, mate. You'll have to say and endure the pain.

Here's what I really liked, go through this entire ordeal. It's a miracle. John Williams shows up to tell us that the ear came out to the other ear, and then Laurence Harvey immediately reverts to being a cocksucker in the face. Miracle. Yes, Oh, so this this come up and absolutely genuinely earned.

You're gonna have me arrested at the dock, aren't you? No, We're not.

Oh so good.

Yeah, Yeah, there were some good bits to this definitely, but like I said, it just felt a little long. I guess it was those writhing and pain scenes, Like it felt like it just went on for a long time.

If you've watched the recent one, this is probably the one off of the DVD that the episode is thirty three minutes, but that's technically like a director's cut because when it was originally aired, I think like six minutes were cut out of it, So we definitely got to see the full length version. Maybe had we seen the original and what ended up on syndication version, like a lot of a lot of our problems might have gone away with the episode.

In the area of the old cult, it's customary to preoccupy ourselves with witchets, and too infrequently we dabble on the male side of that time honored profession, the sorcerer. On display here is a painting showing the natural habitat of this species of black art practitioner Dark Alley, murky light, A few sundry skulls, and the gentleman himself on the right of the picture with the upraised hand and the

Rod wants us check this out. It's Return of the Sorcerer. This was season three, episode one, released on September the twenty fourth, nineteen seventy two. It was written by Holston Wells, based on a Clark in Smith's short story, and directed by Jenno Zwark or jenzwark I noticed that Yeah, he'll be known by the more sophisticated and way easier to say Jen Zwark for the rest of the season. This

What could go on?

What did you think of this one, Mike, I was very.

Confused, but the one I kept trying to figure out the power dynamics between Tisia Sterling and Vincent Price. And then there's this whole talk about Vincent Price is a twin and he cut off his twins head and the head is someplace, and I'm just like, this sounds far more interesting than a translation story. And then this goat keeps showing up, and I'm like, Bill Bixby's okay with this. I mean, seven hundred and fifty dollars a week as

I'd be okay with that. Now in nineteen seventy two, that was the equivalent of fifty five hundred dollars.

Holy cow wow. I mean, I guess he's not going to be around to spend it. Is The thing is because the person who translates the stuff is supposed to have all these horrible things done to him.

Or is he.

Yeah, nice hand off there at the end?

I mean, is it just me or is it very confusing?

Oh?

Yeah, it's all over the place.

It's okay.

It's Clark Ashton Smith who's just trying to emulate his idol HP Lovecraft, but not really understanding what HP Lovecraft was doing.

Right, That's what it felt like. It felt like Lovecraft light.

To me, Lovecraft light or Lovecraft two words love Craft, you know what I mean?

Oh, he went there?

He went there?

Can he say that?

Pull his license?

For me?

It ultimately comes down to, once again, we have a story of a man with a secret who brings someone else in to help him solve that secret. I feel like we've seen this story in the end of season two a lot, and now it's like their opening season three with it. And the biggest shame is that it's Vincent Price more than anything else. Let's just get Vincent Price to mug for thirty minutes. That's what this feels like.

I think there are quite a lot of problems with this episode, and yet I fucking loved it. I really had a good time with it. Wow. Yeah, just beginning to end. I know this is a setup we've seen one billion times, but I think I think as Jean Swarz is doing fucking great work here for the opening shot, not the opening shop, but the first time he steps into that house. It's all drenched in red and Bixby is framed in the jons of a crocodile that you know he would have used a split diyopter if they

Oh I like that.

Yeah.

I love a plot where there's an unseen force like slowly approaching, and they do that here with the sort of sliding the scraping sound that's slowly approaching, which my favorite thing is the Fern's character tries to explain it away by saying it's just rats, as if that's preferable to whatever else is there. Oh, it's just a wall full of rats. Bixby is hired to translate this book and he has to do so in this main like sacrificial chamber on the altar with seven candles burned. Could

Makes sense. Yeah, but logically follows. You're a rich guy. You can get away with it, right.

Oh yeah, you could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue. He'd get away with him.

Wouldn't lose any you wouldn't lose any demons involved.

Now there's magic involved here. But the thing is Bixby has written the translation down. I'm assuming the other translators did as well, unless they were keeping the entire quad train or whatever the fuck it is in their heads, So why don't they just why doesn't he just say, hand me that and I'll read it. I don't okay anyway.

But that, But there's not an invocation if he just hands them a telefax and goes read it, bub you know, like that, there's there's none of there's none of the horseshit of Bill Bicks feeling. You know, I'm I'm confused as to what's going on, and wait, what does it say? It's like, there's none of that. If he just goes here, you go like, yeah, it's so a lot of this requires one party to know what's going on and the other to have literally no idea. It just normally isn't

Shockingly, I like how specific the curse is, like it has a pre cursing the reader of it, and then it has a clause that seems to relate directly to Price the situation. It's like he thinks he's scott free until he reads the dismemberment conicil. You know, like, oh no, even if I cut him up.

God damn and laid up play alive across hot coals or something like that.

God, it goes hard.

Yeah, I mean at the end of the scene before the brother shows up, Vincent Price goes catatonic and he's just sitting there, and all I thought was, like, what a wonderful piece of furniture. I'd love to have a Vincent Price in like the corner of the corner.

I think.

My speaking of furniture, my favorite piece of furniture was the hands with the candle sticking out.

Of the walls.

That was a nice piece of set dressing. Though though again, if they were trying to go for the interchamber of Anton Levy, I don't know how well they managed, because I'm sure his room was very red. But yeah, I don't know. It looks I like the main chamber, but it is a little on the nose. I feel like that felt a little wonka e to me, right, Like it's over the top.

Here's the kids' version of Satanism maybe or as a top maybe or any number of names we're gonna We're gonna speer out during the during this episode that when Bixby and Fern first get together, now before we figure out what Fern's intentions are here, he says to her at the end of the scena, I depend on you as a friend. And I thought, like, are those words magic? Because it's the easiest pickup line I've ever seen. She

A friendship is magic.

I can't not love this and recommend this segment this episode because it has one of my favorite exchanges in the entire exchange and transition in the series, where Bixby says what makes you think I'll stay and Vincent Price's dinner and then it cuts to a closeup of a black goat eating from a plate, sitting in a carved wooding chair at a table that wouldn't be out of place at like Wayne manor Oh, by the way, Falling Tower, I called it a goat, forgive me his name is

That's the best part of the entire episode is the goat eating at the table, Like that alone is a visual, you will, that's worth seeing, especially that transition, but it never lives up to the lofty goals of a goat eating at the table, you know, the heights of a goat consuming whatever, like fucking Risotto is never reached again.

Evil Vincent Price shows up. Now they got to sacrifice good, Vincent Price, good being a relative term. And I noticed that they cut to an above shot of the altar, and there's a disco floor. The altar had a disco floor underneath it, lights and red and blue and yellow just flashing away like wow, some nights at a disco, Some nights sacrificial chamber. If Vincent Price knew Fern was the culprit, knew she was pulling the strings, what was

Oh really?

And the Vincent Price character and then the Vincent Price brother shows up and then that's it. You don't suppose there's anything in that preamble about the reader dismembered. You don't think there's anything to that, do you? No, Bill, You're going to be fine with her.

Hey, she knows that that actress knows how to hold a frog though, or toad. I guess walking around with that toad in her hand that whole scene.

Last season we had Richard Thomas, and I mentioned like I couldn't tell if he was giving a good performance or not. I feel the same way about her.

She reminded me a lot of Life Dianner for some reason, while she was talking.

Like facially and that sort of that yeah, that airy demeanor. But I couldn't Sometimes I thought she was really good, and then sometimes I was like, God, she's awful.

I mean, yeah, I can't imagine how much they spent on candles for this episode.

Where's any of this money coming from?

I got well, I was going to say they spent all the money on candles, that they didn't spend on the sound effects because no owls and hooting, no were wolves know nothing in this episode. Lack of fun sound effects even they weren't.

He did get Castle Thunder briefly at the beginning.

Oh right, once.

That's just because that's a Union thing. Castle Thunder has to appear at these once.

I was just waiting for like a hooting owl or something just in the background incessantly, because you know the show likes to do that too.

So we did get that scraping slurpity. I'm coming to get you. My feet and hand are coming to get you. That was a good effect. By the way, those the dismembered hands, and they.

Looked pretty good, like crawling and stuff.

It looked great. The foot looked fantastic.

And when he's there at the end and apparently the dismembered head is now back attached to the body and his face is all like corpse like, I thought that looked really good. I thought it's a Vincent Price. He knows how to hold his head and all that to really up the creep factor.

To me, this is a redemption for Vincent Price, because the last time we saw him was in that Class of ninety nine episode where he was just a moderator for the robots.

Yeah, it was a waste of Vincent Price. I liked that story. Like, thinking back about it. But yeah, yeah, why him, of all the people to have in that episode, why Vincent Price.

I think that was a studio thing where they were really pushing the guest stars for that the only thing they could think to help the show that they did never understood to begin with.

Toe out of the three here are pretty big stars. I mean, Bill Becksy and Vincent Price. So yeah, starting out the third season at least in terms of like visibility of who it is pretty strong.

So our artists and artisans take a rather pardonable pride in their work that you see hanging here.

An example is this item here.

It's called Rare Objects and represents that potpourri of collector's items that some men are prone to acquire. But there are collectors' items and collector's.

Items, aliver, do you know? An excursion into the very strange Tonight's offering in the Night Gallery.

Rare Objects is from season three, episode three. It aired on October the twenty second, nineteen seventy two. This was written by Ron Serling and directed by Jean Zoik, starring Mickey Rooney, Raymond Massey, Fay Spain, David Fresco, Victor Senjung. He was hop Sing on Bonanza, but they've reduced him to a virtually non speaking servant role here. Also Regis Kordick. He was doctor Peel in Primal Scream Night Stalker season two, guys,

It is so goofy and the reveal is so oh my god. You know when they start going down the list of people and the first one that they start with is, hey, look they come out swinging. They don't have Hitler immediately, but they have anastasias, so you know where this is going. And then it's Judge Crater and stuff like this story is. It is a black out sketch once again played for a thirty minute episode, and

Who ever thought that Mickey Rooney could play a tough guy that? I just don't understand that at all.

Wait, wait a second. It's the same people who asked, could man play Japanese?

Oh Man, oh Man. I just the whole time. I was just like, he's a gangster. He's supposed to be a gangster.

That's what he always wanted to be my whole life.

I wrote in my notes, I love tough guy Rooney. He's four foot nothing with a marble bar between him and a six foot guy who looks like he could tear him apart. Later on, where with him and his gangster mall and I thought she could tear him apart.

Yeah, yeah, Dwayne Grey, Oh okay, write that post off your face first.

It was a rough This was a rough one. I mean, I love Raymond Massey, but I think I was better off with Raymond Massey the last time he was on the show.

He was more appropriate in that one. Speaking of the last one, it's the same set. He's in the same house.

Wow.

I was about to ask because it looked like and I was like, man, it's too bad they didn't show the top of the mantle and his head was there, Like that'd be a little weird. What's the continuity of that one?

That would have been great, Actually, that would have been fantastic. Yeah, nobody needs to see Mickey Rooney's mouth close up with sloppy Feticini. Oh my god. Also Fetuccini in a red sauce chick his papers.

Wait a second, you're saying the si of thing.

It shouldn't be no joke by the way. Okay, his name's Collodney and he's played by a tiny irishman, but he's clearly Italian. He's eating pasta in an Italian restaurant. His right hand man is named Tony He's clearly supposed to be Capone or somebody like Capone, But why wouldn't they just lean into the irishness of him, Like there aren't any Irish gangsters. I'll name some Dean O'Banion, bugs, Moran Onny Madden, come on man, Buddy McClean, Mickey Mean

I was disappointed that at the end it wasn't like d D begin and then there's an alien. There's just an alien. So that's what That's what I wanted. I wanted to fully just embrace the dumb because this is like the reveal in this episode is a really like just again at some dumb sounds derrogatory, but it is very not well thought out. It makes very little sense, like it is a gag. It is a visual gag that once you start thinking about logistically, it makes no sense.

I think I could have enjoyed this one if it were a blackout skit, but it just takes so long to get there, and Raymond Massey just chewing it up everybody. Rooney and Massy are both chewing up the scenery, but it takes Massy a long time to get where he's going with his soliloquy. And I can only think that that's thanks to Rod where it's just like, oh cool, I get to write for this guy, and I'm just gonna write overwrite it.

So much, overwrites something I know. Evan for fenned Ron for some reason, designs that we need to know how he's keeping these people here, that there's a wonder drug involved that makes them docile and also gives them longevity.

The question that I have is what does one do with a Hitler? Yeah, what does one do with an Amelia Earhart or a Judge creator?

What?

You just have them in a cell and they just sit there like it's again like the stakes of the episode. All of a sudden, Yeah, like you mentioned, they go from feeling realistic too, and then there's a door that opens and Hitler's there.

And It's very similar to that Star Trek episode, well many Star Trek episodes, but especially that one with Saul Rubinstein where he is kidnapps data and hashim there he wants these unique items.

Oh, he's the collector from Marvel.

Yeah, exactly, so rold Emondson, Sure, yeah, why not? I love Norwegian Polar Explorers.

Let's get this guy in here, Judge greater of great they are just a couple of years away from Haffa. That's the one that we don't have here. But yeah, again, like the logistics and everything aside, like the twist is just okay, and his explanation is just very strange. And for all the posturing that he does essentially before we find out what the reveal is, for that to be the reveal, it's like and that's what all the posturing was for Hitler in a cage like okay.

Also, it's Amelia Earhart and Anastasia and blah blah blah blah blah and Kalodney and Hitler.

Colodney and Hitler are of this. It's the way that they ate Pasta.

Just make it about al Capone. This is what an al capone.

Everybody, thank you for Haffa again like or Haffa, Like, that's what I equated this too, but they hadn't gotten there yet. And again, this dude was just some schmuck criminal. He wasn't anything like right, Oh, but.

I think you under sell yourself well, sir, I think you are much more than just that.

Yeah, I would say Bobby Darren was worth more of a rare object worth keeping because he killed kids and that it said it was okay. Most gangsters aren't okay with that. He was a real scumbag gangster. This guy's just you know, this.

Guy's a loser obviously, like guys want.

To kill him, like his own people want to kill him. I don't understand you're not good at the job, sir. You're going into hiding because you're a bad gangster. It's a just the conceit of the episode is bizarre. And then yeah, it feels like it's a joke because it's Mickey Rooney.

Oh you know, when he paints the waiter, he pulls out this huge wad of cash. I am one hundred percent convinced that that's actually was just Mickey Roney's wad of cash. He's renowned first walking with a wad big enough to choke a horse.

Wow, I forgot that Rooney played a gangster once before. At least he was a blue Chips packer and Scud Do the classic Auto premature.

Film, a movie I have never gotten through.

Oh boy, Yeah it's tough, and yeah I think he does acid with Jackie Gleason and Jail.

See that makes me want to watch it. And I'm gonna get fucking twenty minutes into it again and I'm just gonna go, what am I doing? Don't do it.

It's not worth it. It's not worth it.

Maybe there's a clip on YouTube.

At least Mickey Rooney wasn't doing yellow face. At least there's that.

Thank Heavens for small favors. Aha, make a very tiny.

This item here a commentative on what aj Leebling referred to as the sweet science, obviously having something to do with the manly art of self defense boxing. But if the Marcus of Queensburry Mayhem doesn't particularly turn you on, don't turn this off.

This painting tells the story infinitely more intriguing than a couple of fast boys mixing it up.

It's called the Ring with the Red Velvet ropes, and it tells you the tale of precisely who is the real.

Heavyweight boxing champion of the world. And I think you'll be surprised.

Surprised it happens to be our stocking trade because this is the night Gallery.

All right, ring with the red velvet ropes. It is season three, episode ten, originally aired on January the seventh, nineteen seventy three. This one was written by Robert Malcolm Young from a short story by Edward D. Hawk and directed by Jean Zwark. This one stars Gary Lockwood, Chuck Conners, Joan van Ark, and Ralph Manza playing Gary Lockwood's manager. In the opening scene for once, he's not playing a

You're not watching enough, Barney Miller, Baby, he plays a blind guy most of the time, or someone who doesn't understand a lick of English, or my favorite Ralph mans Roll nineteen ninety nine Fishermen running Away from Godzilla on the Pier, which is my favorite Ralph Manze.

Now I'm gonna have to look that up.

Geez.

That's from the trailer where like Godzilla's coming through the wall. The person who's fishing is Ralph Mannish. Yeah, there's like an older guy fishing at the end of the year. That's Ralph Manze. Wow, you're welcome world and Ralph Manze, who I think passed long past time.

This one is about a boxing champ who learns hees not the champ. Maybe supernatural could be. I don't know, what do you think, Chris.

I like this idea, but we've seen it better when we did Dreams for Sale, we did in that pool episode or was this no? Was this show? Oh, we've done it. Every time we've done an anthology show, there's one of these kinds of things where it's you're fighting the opportunity, and most of the time the setup makes more sense. The setup here doesn't make any fucking sense

I think you're thinking of Game of Pool over on the Twilight Zone, the same setup. I'm the champ, all the spectral champ to come play me in a game of Pool anyway, Mike.

Good makeup effects. I really like the effects on these guys's faces when they get the shit kicked out of them. That's pretty good, especially the African American gentleman who visits him as a I guess a specter after he beats them at boxing.

But they too. Kombuka.

Yes, and I did watch an interview with him earlier today which was very interesting. Yeah, he has been in a bunch of stuff that I really like, and it was great seeing him show up, but he was in here for so short and then Gary Lockwood, I'm pretty unfamiliar with him other than I want to say he was in a Jacques de Mei film of course, two thousand and one, a Space Odyssey. He looks so shaggy here, it's kind of wild. He almost was unrecognizable because I

I actually expected Frank Driven to walk in at the beginning of the episode because it looked like that same boxing sete from one of those police squad no before the fight. Yeah, it was that was universal too as well, So there's a distinct possibility that could be the case. But you know, we kind of mentioned it on the last episode. I want to mention it here. The set design we can commented every now and then, but not often.

Oh I disagree. I fucking loved this one.

I feel that it would have been really good if it was a lot shorter. I think half an hour was way too much for this. I like the idea of I guess it's the very first. It feels like the very first champ is still kind of boxing. It feels like after Garia Lockwood, after somebody else becomes the Champ, Gary Lockwood's going to have to face him and then he'll die in the ring or something. I'm not exactly

Okay, it is exactly that it's now he's no longer he's some supernatural being at this point who has to be the champ, and he will be the champ until he loses, and then he will die because he will have aged however, you know, however long So it's not necessarily that he was beaten and Chuck Hunters was beaten to death. It was that he was beaten. They could have been a little bit more clear, certainly about what was actually happening here at the end. Nevertheless, there was

He's in for say?

Is what it looks like?

It's a very It's strange and unexplained.

Literally, never thought he was going to visit Dave Bowman in the two thousand.

And one, you know, Lockwood. I agree. I don't think I've seen him this shaggy, but I liked it, and I liked him here. I thought he was really great. I thought he was so good because when he finds himself suddenly trapped in this mansion and he knows he can't get out, he gets rather amused by the whole thing, Whereas I think any one of us would have started punching everybody out and trying to knock down doors. And

Yeah? When that ring of fire started, I was like, ooh, this is the boxing ring. Oh cool, that'll be awesome.

No, I don't want no. Unfortunately sad where they box is pretty good though that it is true. I do like that.

And there's a great shot of like Chuck Connors staring down and he just looks proper fucking menacing. I mean, having spent a fair amount of time watching that Werewolf TV show that featured Chuck Connors where he has to be menacing for like the two episodes he's in, but then his body doubles in the rest. He's great. I loved him here. I don't not sure if I believe Gary Lockwood could actually beat a big dude got Chuck

You see him standing next to Joan van Ark when he walks into the scene, he's like twice her size. She's like at his past.

I was like, Gary Luckwood is dead.

I don't know, but I do like how his makeup starts out really good and then he starts looking more and more Neanderthal. As the match goes on, he gets a little Neanderthaly right at a little too much on the upper brow. I like the idea of the story, and just I wish I understood the steaks.

Yeah. The thing is, I love a setup where he sees a ghost and it's because that person has just died in another location and they're appearing to them. That's such a great setup. And when Kombuka appears and it's really accusatory. It seems like the champ has been up to no good or something and like, I know from beyond the grave what you've done.

In fact, it was a warning, which is what I don't get. And did he have a fucking aneurysm in the shower? And dug why And that's what's going on here. I need. I would like just a little clarification as to why this is happening, other than the fact that does everybody who becomes the champion have to go fight this guy?

So then there's this moral conundrum. You are the champ, right, nobody can beat you. The only way you can continue to live is to throw a fight and then go on living a lie that you're the champ. Meanwhile, the guy you're fighting probably can't beat you. It's actually a really great setup.

I'd be curious to read the short story for this one.

Yeah I did not, but yeah, it bears investigating red velvet ropes, red velvet ring, red velvet everything there in the last scene. My god, even Chuck Connors is red velvet draped. It's the good stuff. I like the warped bell for the round changes, the sort of slightly off

I get. I understand that. I genuinely just it wasn't explanation as much as I think the episode needed a clearer direction of where it was going because at the end, yes, I understand the conundrum that he's in, but does her.

Yeah, there needs to be that conversation maybe.

Right like do you understand what's about to happen here?

Dude?

Like, well, no, because he's such a bulldog. He's just like, I'm not throwing I've never thrown a fight. I don't care. I'm just going to go in and box that guy. And then he does, and he wins, and he doesn't seem that upset about it, honestly.

No, and I don't. Are we supposed to root against his characters? That's what I didn't understand, Like we're.

Rooting for him to win, and he does, but it comes with a price.

Yelling at the guys like why didn't you stop the fight? When did you stop the fight? I'm like, you could have stopped beating up on the guy too.

Yeah. Here the wait staff as audience but central casting. Here's the chef, here's the chauffeur, here's the maid. They're all just watching the match. What like, what's their story? How are they so condemned to eternity that they have to wait on the fake chat?

Yeah?

Again, I'd love to know more of this stuff.

Yeah, it's interesting, Like, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here that just is not Again, it's not that it's not explained, it's it's not even hinted at. What's going on? This could this Once he transitions from the shower to the villa or whatever it is, it's like he just goes from a real place to a set is what it feels like. He's removed from everything and it feels like on reality and they never explain what it is. So I have no fucking clue where

The episode, he has a lot of conversations with Joan van Ark and one of them might have been what is this place? Right?

Right? That would be a first fucking question, like why can't I use the phone? Why can't I leave? Are people looking for me? Did? I just dislike? That's the other question. If all these champions are going and fighting, this guy or this champions just must be disappearing, like just it's yeah, it's a strange setup. I do like the guy that they got to play dead Old Chuck Connors, though, slam that fucker with some pancake makeer. He's a white.

That was another man, right, That was not Chuck Connors himself.

That was no.

I would assume it was someone else entirely.

I think he would have been gone back to Jack Johnson Days or something, the Marquis of Queens Bear, Queensberry or whatever that is.

And you can tell it's not written by Rod because it doesn't have some sort of like tongue clucking morality horseshit that he likes to do. He would have had that scene where he's like, oh, you know, you should know better. You don't do it, you know better. There's none of that, so it's not.

Written by Rod. That's the price you get with the over explanation. Rod also would have told you exactly what that place was, right, everyone's motivations were, but it comes with everything else.

Whisper strips of ethereal night clouds are seen from the

And at a point, as you can well imagine, this gets crowded. And if this one doesn't ice up.

The old spine, we'll send you one of our official apologies along with the body.

That's the kind of guarantee you get in the night Gallery.

This is season three, episode thirteen. It aired on May thirteenth, nineteen seventy three. The previous episode aired in March. They skipped the entire month of April. I wonder why that is, because they couldn't handle the awesomeness of April of nineteen seventy three Anyway by David Orrayfield from a short story by Martin Waddell, directed by Jean Zuark. It stars Tony Hey, Tony no Phony, Baloney, Tony the Tiger, LaRusso, Dean Stockwell, Ladies and Gentlemen, also Sally Field. It is about it.

You couldn't hear me? Whisper that vague that I could. I didn't really like this one all, especially the way that it ended. I had no freaking idea what was going on for so much of this one and then it just ended?

What the fuck?

So what did I miss? What did I miss with it? That seems to be my thing for the shows, And somebody please explain this to me?

Okay, very simple young couple Stockwell and Sally Field. Sally Field is touched. She and communicate with the dead or she's like a conduit for the dead. They can take her over and they can solve their problems, their unfinished business on earth through her. And Stockwell has always known this and known it's true, and is attracted to that aspect of it, even though it's frightening, and he's a little worried she which one time she won't be able

Wow.

So Dean Stockwell plays the part of the husband and he buries the baby, the proxy for the baby. But it's been happening for so long that what Sally feel, what Dean Stockwell was worried about, and what the doctor warned about comes to pass and she can't get back to her body.

Yeah.

Wow, So I was so confused because Sally Field through this whole episode is talking I guess with the ghosts. She but yes, but she is the ghost at times, but she's talking with the ghost and then Dean Stockwell, I guess he's talking to us the audience. Yes, okay. See that's the most confusing thing. You can't have one character talking to nobody and then have another character talking to nobody. But one character's talking to another character and

Man.

I'm sorry, but I just like, I'm with you. It's fucking bizarre. Look hy like, are you like it's my thing on this show? It's not yet? Things like fucking win?

Are you that?

That's what I feel like?

I mean, how many times have I asked that on this show? I'm not high while I'm.

Watching these episodes, I swear I'm straight, but to be fair, I was gonna say I did get what was going on, and I can tell you with absolute certainty, this is just a god.

This is just a spinning of wheels and a treading of water for twenty minutes, just and you know what, Dean Stock's fine, Sally Field's fine. Sally Field doesn't play crazy very well. She's just too goddamn and daring as an actress. And yeah, the ending is just.

Oh, you need to see Sybil, she's as.

Yeah, I haven't seen that, so barring not having not seen that, this is not a very good representation of that is probably a better way of putting it. And the ending is laughably bad. I mean it's it's it's yeah, it's it's Asaines. Oh my god. But what so the question then becomes, if you can't get back to your body, what does that mean? What the what does that mean? Does that mean she's just a catatonic shell, eyes rolled back into her head, can't do anything, or is the

You just wait, Father Malone's gonna love this episode. I fucking loved this episode.

It boy, that is the theme here. It's too hot, too cold, just right right.

It's the magic of Jehan's work. No, I'm not that's not the case. I'm not liking it to the John's.

The magic OF's Wark should be the name of your next podcast, because I think at this point you have been You have defended no director more ever in the history of anything we've worked on than Jean's Wark.

He's really good and he does fucking really good work here, Man, what can I tell you?

He's no John Batham.

I'll tell you that he's at least Batham's equal. Love sir. Okay, here's what I liked about it. I liked the confusion at the beginning where okay, first of all, it starts in it It's typical of Night Gallery the entire run of the series, where I think we've all been baffled for a good portion of every segment as to what time period this is. But this episode actually embraces that. It makes us think that we're in some sort of like little little house on the prairie time. And then

Here we go.

Oh that stormy wind from the Hannah bar Era library so good.

I'm glad I had to hear it again.

I'm gonna play it again because it comes up again later.

Oh. I know.

It really to the point where when I was watching it with my wife, she goes, can you turn it down? It's really obnoxious? And then I go of all the times to be watching this in the even as opposed to early in the more.

So, here's something cool. When William, Hannah and Joseph Barbera left MGM to start Hannah Barbera animation, they took their sound editor from MGM, who in turn took with him a massive amount of sounds from the MGM library, which had made available to all the studios in nineteen sixty five when Hannah Barbara released it as their own soundtrack library that includes Stormy Wind. Here it plays a prominent role. Here,

Yeah, I am shocked that you like this, But to Mike's point, it is kind of on brand. But that's not a bad thing. Like I think my issue is more in tune with where Mike is coming from, which is I really had a hard time understanding what the fuck who the buck was being talked to and that I mean again understand I ended up understanding what was

Can I say about the ending? I actually found it horrified that the concept, Like I know they don't explain to us what it means. But in my mind, she's just floating in the ether now and her body is a vegetable, like.

Right, so it's like get out there, like okay.

Yeah, and now not even that. But Dean Stockwell now is stuck with the notion that everyone has said to him, you shouldn't be encouraging this in her, and like the docu even says to him, she's got all these things.

What do you have?

I've got her. So the horror here is that now he's caused this thing and this crisis of supernatural conscience.

This I don't know.

It bothered me. It worked on me. This ending what can I tell you?

I get it you and passionately describing it I think made me appreciate it a little bit more just now because it did a very poor job in expressing.

It's Dean Stockwell man. He's just so goddamned expressive.

The best part of this episode.

Oh my god, he's amazing. I enjoy any chance to see him, and he elevates everything and I don't think I don't think the script does him in the service. Too often on this show, we've had really like Powerhouse guest stars who have been ill served by the script. I don't think the script will served anybody here.

I know.

I understand the problems you guys had with it, and I understand them. I don't know it just this one just vibrated on a different frequency with me for some reason.

It's okay. I feel like while we might disagree about

And something gonna be a high five at the end. We don't need to say a word.

Yeah, it'll be a freeze frame. Yeah, it'll be good.

Anything else about the whispering? All right? Then?

Dally Field is cute in this She's very adorable.

I know it's been adorable, I know.

But it's like extra adorable, like extra adorable, Like they shoot her in such a way and she's just sent her free in the whole time, talking into the distance, like just something about it, Like they just went adorable twenty five.

And they were lucky to get its

Sis sist