Rod Serling by Nicholas Parisi

Author:Nicholas Parisi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2018-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON 4

See Videography 7 for an explanation of the rating system for Serling’s Twilight Zone episodes.

“The Thirty-Fathom Grave”

*

Air Date: January 10, 1963

Directed by Perry Lafferty

Cast: Mike Kellin: Chief Bell; Simon Oakland: Captain Beecham; David Sheiner: Doc Mathews; John Considine: McClure; Bill Bixby: Officer on Deck; Tony Call: Lee, Helmsman; Derrick Lewis: Helmsman; Conlan Carter: Ensign Marmer

The One Where: In the South Pacific, a US Navy destroyer discovers an American submarine on the ocean floor. Though it had been sunk twenty years earlier, a persistent noise emanates from the sub, as if a survivor were still alive inside, tapping on the hull with a hammer. Aboard the destroyer, Chief Boatswain Bell is in the midst of a breakdown and has begun hallucinating. Ghosts of dead seamen appear to him, beckoning him to join them below.

It Turns Out: Bell served aboard the sunken sub during World War II. While on patrol, he failed to filter the sub’s lights with infrared, enabling Japanese destroyers to spot and sink the sub. Bell, the only survivor, holds himself responsible for the incident. With the identity of the sub confirmed, a delirious Bell jumps overboard to be with his dead former shipmates. His body is never found. A rescue team finally reaches the sunken submarine and finds the remains of its crew, one of whom is holding a hammer.

“He’s Alive”

**

Air Date: January 24, 1963

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Cast: Dennis Hopper: Peter Vollmer; Ludwig Donath: Ernst Ganz; Paul Mazursky: Frank; Howard Caine: Nick; Barnaby Hale: Stanley; Jay Adler: Gibbons; Curt Conway: Adolf Hitler

The One Where: A neo-Nazi’s rabble-rousing grows more effective after he starts taking advice from a shadowy apparition.

It Turns Out: The apparition is the ghost of Adolf Hitler.

Notes: Serling’s script (and the initial footage filmed) suggested that “He’s Alive” might go over length and need significant cuts. Serling particularly liked this script, so he suggested making two versions of the film—one for broadcast, and a longer version to be released as a feature film. This idea was not pursued, however, likely for monetary reasons. After Serling viewed the finished product, he was probably relieved that his idea had not come to fruition. Years later, he reflected, “I thought it was one of the best-written scripts, completely pissed away by the performance of Dennis Hopper. It was the most uncontrolled, undisciplined performance; [the role] took considerably more thespic talent than the young man had at the time. It needed a very restrained performance and Dennis started to cry in reel one, and there was simply emotionally no place to go” from there.1

“No Time Like the Past”

*

Air Date: March 7, 1963

Directed by Justus Addiss

Cast: Dana Andrews: Paul Driscoll; Robert F. Simon: Harvey; Malcolm Atterbury: Professor Eliot; Patricia Breslin: Abigail Sloan; Marjorie Bennett: Mrs. Chamberlain; Robert Cornthwaite: Hanford

The One Where: In the late twentieth century, a misanthropic man, disgusted with the state of humanity, makes three trips back in time in the hopes of altering key historical events that might lead to a better future. He first visits Hiroshima in 1945, hoping to warn the inhabitants in time to evacuate the city.

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