“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

 

Anne Cornaly and Roger Jacquet as Abby and Peyton Farquhar

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Season Five, Episode 142
Original Air Date: February 28, 1964

Cast:

Peyton Farquhar: Roger Jacquet
Abby Farquhar: Anne Cornaly
Union Officer: Anker Larsen
Union Captain: Stéphane Fey
Union Sergeant: Jean-François Zeller
Union Soldier: Pierre Danny
Union Soldier: Louis Adelin

Crew:

Writer: Robert Enrico (based on the story by Ambrose Bierce)
Director: Robert Enrico
Producers: Marcel Ichac and Paul de Roubaix
Director of Photography: Jean Boffety
Production Managers: Pierre Lobreau and Gerard Berger
Film Editors: Denise de Casablanca and Robert Enrico
Assistant Director: Nat Lilenstein
Music: Henri Lanoe
Sound: Jean Neny

 

And Now, Mr. Serling: 

“Next time on The Twilight Zone, a departure from the norm: a program shot entirely in France. A film so special and so unique that for the first time in the five years we’ve been presenting The Twilight Zone, we’re offering a film shot by others. Adapted and directed by Robert Enrico, winner of the Cannes Film Festival 1962, as well as other major international awards, Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.’”

 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

“Tonight a presentation so special and unique that for the first time in the five years we’ve been presenting The Twilight Zone, we’re offering a film shot in France by others. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival of 1962, as well as other international awards, here is a haunting study of the incredible from the past master of the incredible, Ambrose Bierce. Here is the French production of ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.’”

 

Summary: 

            It is the time of the American Civil War. Posted within Union-occupied territory is a sign stating that anyone caught tampering with Owl Creek Bridge is subject to hanging. We move to that bridge along the bank of the river that runs below it to witness the maneuvers of the Union Army. A plank of wood is laid past the edge of the bridge and a noose is fashioned at the end of a rope. We are present at a hanging.

            The man to be hanged is Peyton Farquhar, a local landowner and Confederate sympathizer who attempted to destroy the bridge. He waits silently and afraid as the Union soldiers prepare for his execution. The soldiers remove Farquhar’s watch, tie his hands and feet, tighten the noose around his neck, and walk him to the edge of the plank. When the soldier standing on the other end of the plank steps off, Farquhar will plunge to his death at the end of the rope. Farquhar closes his eyes and envisions his tranquil plantation home.

            The Union soldier steps off the plank and Farquhar drops. Incredibly, the rope breaks, sparing Farquhar's life and plunging him into the cold waters of the river. Through torturous effort, he frees his hands and feet and swims to the surface. The soldiers shoot at him, narrowly missing their target.

            Farquhar catches a current that swiftly carries him away from the soldiers chasing him along the riverbank. He washes up on a rocky shore, reveling in his miraculous escape. Farquhar runs through the forest as cannon fire signals his relentless pursuers. He finally arrives home, exhausted, his arms outstretched to embrace his beautiful wife.

            The Union soldier steps off the plank, sending Farquhar to his death at the end of the rope. His escape was only a wish and a dream.

 

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge in two forms—as it was dreamed and as it was lived . . . and died. This is the stuff of fantasy, the thread of imagination, the ingredients of . . . The Twilight Zone.”

 

Commentary: 

            The most unusual episode of The Twilight Zone is the American television broadcast of La Rivière du hibou, an award-winning 1961 French short film adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890). Adapted by director Robert Enrico (1931–2001), who read Bierce’s Civil War stories while serving in the French military, the film won the Palme d’Or for short subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, as well as both the 1963 Academy Award and the 1963 BAFTA in the same category.

Rod Serling viewed the film at a New York City screening and brought it to the attention of series producer William Froug. The Twilight Zone was running over its considerable production budget on the fifth season. Froug faced the dilemma of needing an additional episode while also bringing the series in under budget. Enrico’s film offered an opportunity to do both, as it filled the final production slot while also costing the series far less to broadcast than the production of another episode. The production team on the series was tasked with editing the 29-minute film for time, preparing the image and sound elements for televised broadcast, and filming Rod Serling’s narrations. Those interested in the financial particulars of the film’s television broadcast are encouraged to consult the episode’s entry in Martin Grams, Jr.’s The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic (2008).

The agreed-upon terms allowed the series to broadcast the film twice, and it was shown again on September 11, 1964. The film was not included in syndication packages of the series, however. It was largely unavailable to view until its inclusion on home video in Treasures of the Twilight Zone (1998), which also included the series pilot, “Where Is Everybody,” and “The Encounter,” a controversial episode also held from syndication. Enrico’s film is now included in home video and streaming collections of The Twilight Zone, though it is still not included in syndication packages of the series. 

"The Mockingbird" (via Gaumont)

The film is both a faithful adaptation of Bierce’s story and a memorable sensory experience, with minimal dialogue, subjective camera angles, immersive sound design, and a dreamlike atmosphere. Such was the success of the film on the international festival circuit that Enrico was approached by producer Robert Hossein (Franco-London Films) to adapt additional Bierce stories and create a feature-length film. The result was the anthology film Au cœur de la vie (1963), with adaptations of two additional Civil War tales from Bierce’s Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The stories were “Chickamauga,” a grim fable about a boy who, believing it to be a game, climbs onto wounded and dying soldiers as they crawl from the battlefield, and “The Mockingbird,” an equally grim tale in which a Union soldier unwittingly kills his estranged twin brother, a Confederate soldier. The film received two awards at the 1963 San Sebastián Film Festival but struggled to find distribution beyond a brief theatrical release in Paris in 1968.

The additional short films were offered to Rod Serling for The Twilight Zone, but the opportunity passed when the series was not renewed for a sixth season. Serling previously considered an adaptation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” but was likely put off the idea due to an adaptation of the story on the fifth season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Airing on December 20, 1959, the episode was scripted by Harold Swanton, directed by Robert Stevenson, and featured Ronald Howard as Peyton Farquhar and James Coburn as a Union spy. The story was performed in the slickly dramatic manner for which the series is known. An excellent review and production history of the episode can be found here. Enrico’s film allowed Serling to include an adaptation of Bierce’s story on The Twilight Zone without appearing to emulate a competing anthology series. For those interested, see my previous post, “Stories that Would Have Made Great Episodes of The Twilight Zone,” for a look at another Bierce story, “A Watcher by the Dead” (1889).

Ambrose Bierce (1892) (via Wikipedia)

Three aspects of the life and works of Ambrose Bierce (1842–c. 1914) continue to fascinate. The first is his turbulent and tragic life, which ended with his mysterious disappearance in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The second is his biting and caustic wit, which earned him the sobriquet “Bitter Bierce” and culminated in The Devil’s Dictionary (1911), a collection of cynical definitions that Bierce developed over his long writing career. The third is Bierce’s position as an American short story writer. His tales of the Civil War are considered the finest written by a participant in the conflict, and his ghost, horror, and science fiction stories position him as the most important American writer of such tales in the time between Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.

Bierce was born in rural Ohio as the tenth of thirteen children, all of whose names began with the letter A—an eccentricity of Bierce’s fanatically Calvinist father, Marcus Aurelius. Bierce’s family lived in deep poverty due to his father’s financial ineptitude. Bierce’s mother, Laura Sherwood Bierce, traced her family line back to the Mayflower. Bierce later characterized her as cold and unloving. Bierce deeply resented both of his parents but was thankful to his mother for teaching him to read, and to his father for access to his father’s enormous personal library. Bierce’s family moved to Indiana when he was a child, and it was here that Bierce received his lower education and obtained his first job as an apprentice at a local abolitionist newspaper. Bierce briefly attended the Kentucky Military Institute, but his higher education was sporadic, and he was largely self-educated.

Bierce enlisted in the Union Army’s Ninth Indiana Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He saw action in some of the bloodiest battles, including Shiloh and Chickamauga. Bierce served as a topographical engineer, mapping terrain for Union military operations. He suffered a serious head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864 and left the service in January 1865. Bierce’s experiences in the war left him with a profound sense of the absurdity of human conflict. His Civil War stories strip the romance and glory from battle to portray it as series of brutal encounters with chance and death.

After the war, Bierce settled in San Francisco and began a long career as a journalist, poet, essayist, and fiction writer. He married Mary Ellen (“Mollie”) Day in 1871, worked as a journalist in England, returned to San Francisco in 1875, pursued a mining venture in Dakota Territory in 1879, and returned again to San Francisco in 1881. In 1887, Bierce was hired to write for William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner. Bierce’s “Prattle” column of cultural commentary mercilessly skewered politicians, literary rivals, businessmen, and religious leaders. Bierce’s journalism became an instrument for exposing hypocrisy, vanity, and corruption in society. At the same time, Bierce produced the fiction upon which his enduring reputation rests. Bierce’s stories are saturated with the author’s cynical worldview, characterized by psychological unease, grim irony, and unsettling conclusions. Bierce’s tales suggest that reality and human experience are far more irrational and cruel than our explanations suggest. The black humor and misanthropy that characterize Bierce’s work also distinguish him in American letters.

Bierce’s family life was marked by devastating losses. His marriage deteriorated and he separated from his wife, eventually divorcing in 1904. In 1889, Bierce’s elder son committed suicide after shooting a romantic rival. His younger son died of pneumonia aggravated by alcoholism in 1901. Bierce’s daughter, Helen, survived him and was among the last to receive correspondence from Bierce before he disappeared.

In late 1913, at age 71, Bierce traveled south to Mexico in order to witness the Mexican Revolution. He crossed the border into a country embroiled in armed conflict. Bierce’s correspondence from Mexico indicated his association with members of Pancho Villa’s revolutionary forces. His last known letter was sent from Chihuahua in December 1913 and ended with the statement: “As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination.” Bierce was never heard from again.

Bierce’s daughter appealed to the U.S. State Department to help locate her father. Despite inquiries, no conclusive evidence turned up to suggest where, when, or how Bierce died. An illustration of the bitter irony that characterized Bierce’s life and work is the series of supernatural stories he wrote under the umbrella title “Mysterious Disappearances.” These tales were collected together in Can Such Things Be? (1893).

Bierce’s disappearance led to widespread conjecture on his fate and inspired writers to imagine what happened to him in Mexico. Notable works of this type include Jack Finney’s “Of Missing Persons” (1955), Gerald Kersh’s Edgar Award-winning story, “The Secret of the Bottle” (1957), and the novel The Old Gringo (1985) by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes.

 Bierce remains a somewhat marginal, but important, figure in American letters. His Civil War stories are significant contributions to understanding the psychological aspects of the war, and his ghost, horror, and science fiction stories remain anthology favorites. Every generation seems to produce one or more champions of Bierce and his works. Vincent Starrett included an essay on Bierce in his collection Buried Caesars: Essays in Literary Appreciation (1923). Clifton Fadiman selected the contents and wrote an introduction to Bierce’s life for The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce (1946). Dover Books produced two volumes covering Bierce’s writings. The first, The Sardonic Humor of Ambrose Bierce, was selected by George Barkin and appeared in 1963. The other, Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce, appeared in 1964 with a selection and introduction by E. F. Bleiler. This remains the best introduction to Bierce’s uniquely strange stories. The most comprehensive volume of Bierce’s significant writing is The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs, edited by S. T. Joshi for the Library of America in 2011. Ambrose Bierce: A Biography (1929) by Carey McWilliams is an important early study that contains a substantial amount of contemporary material on Bierce, while the most significant modern biography is Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company (1995) by Roy Morris, Jr.

 

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” remains a unique and unsettling offering on The Twilight Zone. Anchored by exceptional direction, fine performances, and an intelligent adaptation, the film’s strange atmosphere and startling conclusion retain their impact many years later. It joins an outstanding selection of Civil War episodes on the series, including "Back There," "Still Valley," and "The Passersby." The film's award-winning pedigree stands as testament to the high literary standards that have made the series an all-time television classic.

Grade: A

Next Time in the Vortex: A look at the episode “Queen of the Nile,” ghost-scripted by Jerry Sohl in his final contribution to the series.

 

Acknowledgements:

--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
 
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3^rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James, 2018)
 
--Inside The Twilight Zone by Marc Scott Zicree (CBS DVD/Image Entertainment, 1998; for Treasures of The Twilight Zone)
 
--A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964 by Don Presnell and Marty McGee (McFarland & Co., 1998)
 
--Buried Caesars: Essays in Literary Appreciation by Vincent Starrett (Books for Libraries Press, 1968; originally published in 1923).
 
--Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce by Ambrose Bierce, selected and introduced by E.F. Bleiler (Dover Publications, 1964)
 
--The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs by Ambrose Bierce, edited by S.T. Joshi (Library of America, 2011)
 
--Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company by Roy Morris, Jr. (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1995)
 
--“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
 
--“Ambrose Bierce,” Wikipedia.

 

Notes: 

--“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was first published in the San Francisco Examiner for July 13, 1890. It was collected in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891) and In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1909), volume two of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce.
 
--“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Christian Stolte.

JP

"Spur of the Moment"

Anne Henderson (Diana Hyland)
gets a glimpse at her future.

“Spur of the Moment”
Season Five, Episode 141

Original Airdate: February 21, 1964

Cast:
Anne Henderson: Diana Hyland
David Mitchell: Roger Davis
Mrs. Henderson: Marsha Hunt
Mr. Henderson: Philip Ober
Robert Blake: Robert Hogan
Reynolds: Jack Raine
 
Crew:
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Producer: Burt Granet
Director of Photography: Robert W. Pittack
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Walter Holscher
Film Editor: Richard Heermance
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: Composed by Rene Garriguenc; Conducted by Lud Gluskin
Sound: Franklin Milton and Philip N. Mitchell
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next on The Twilight Zone, the stalwart typewriter of Richard Matheson brings us a most intriguing tale of riders, pale horses, and peeks into the future. It stars Diana Hyland and it concerns itself with some very unlooked for and some unpredicted events. It’s called ‘Spur of the Moment’ and it’s recommended for those of you who’d like to take a look at the next page of the calendar before it’s time. On Twilight Zone next, ‘Spur of the Moment.’”

 

Rod Serling Opening Narration:

“This is the face of terror. Anne Marie Henderson, eighteen years of age, her young existence suddenly marred by a savage and wholly unanticipated pursuit by a strange, nightmarish figure of a woman in black, who has appeared as if from nowhere and now, at driving gallop, chases the terrified girl across the countryside, as if she means to ride her down and kill her, and then suddenly and inexplicably stops to watch in malignant silence as her prey takes flight. Miss Henderson has no idea whatever as to the motive for this pursuit. Worse, not the vaguest notion regarding the identity of her pursuer. Soon enough, she will be given the solution to this twofold mystery, but in a manner far beyond her present capacity to understand, a manner enigmatically bizarre in terms of time and space - which is to say, an answer from... the Twilight Zone.”

 

Summary:

Anne Henderson, eighteen-years-old and the sole heir to a wealthy family, steps out into a bright summer day, dressed in white, ready for an afternoon outing on her white horse. After riding for several minutes she stops at the base of a hill where a woman, dressed in black, on a black horse, appears at the top of the hill. Her voice a deafening, primal sound, she screams Anne’s name and begins frantically down the hill. Terrified, Anne races toward the safety of her home, the woman in black close behind her. As Anne arrives at her family’s sprawling estate, the woman in black stops, takes a final look at her, and retreats.

Inside, Anne collapses into her fiancé’s arms. Her mother and father rush to her aid. She tells them about being chased by the mysterious woman. She thinks the woman wanted to kill her. Her father immediately gets on the phone to the authorities. 

 

The doorbell rings. Standing at the door is a young man named David who is demanding to speak with Anne. Mr. Henderson refuses and an argument ensues. After his repeated attempts to get the young man to leave, Anne’s father reluctantly lets him speak to Anne, if only to convince him that she wants nothing to do with him. It is revealed that he and Anne have known each other their entire lives and for their entire lives they have dreamed of getting married. Anne’s father clearly disapproves and prefers her fiancé, Bob. Anne appears flustered and unsure of her preference. When she resists David’s pleading that she give him another chance, her father finally forces him to leave at gunpoint.

In the courtyard in front of the Henderson estate, the woman in black rides in and dismounts her horse. She opens the front door and steps inside. It’s Anne. But she is not the same Anne that was crying and frightened moments earlier. She is older and looks more defeated than frightened. The house feels emptier. Twenty-five years have passed since Anne was chased by the woman in black. Anne is now forty-three. She pours herself a drink and collapses into a chair. Her mother appears, telling her that an attorney has been trying to reach her. We learn that her father passed years ago and that she is in danger of losing their estate. She tells her mother that she was out riding and saw the ghost of her former self, eighteen years old. She reminds her of the day she arrived home in tears after being chased by the woman in black. She now realizes that she is the woman in black. She says she has seen her younger self several times but can never reach her. She wants to warn young Anne not to make the mistake that will ruin her life.

An angry man stumbles into the room. It’s David, Anne’s husband, drink in hand. He is older, bearded, worn. We learn that he has squandered Anne’s inheritance. Anne’s mother attempts to chastise him and he screams at her to leave. He sits close to Anne, mocking her sorrow. Childless, they have grown into desolate, joyless alcoholics who hate each other. 

 

Flashback twenty-five years. The Henderson estate. It’s the same day as before, only now it is night. Anne is at her engagement party, her father’s doing. She stands outside, alone, staring at the night sky. She looks as if she is watching her life end right in front of her.  She sees David in the distance and runs to him, leaps into his arms. He asks her to run away with him. “I love you,” he says. “Make me happy,” she says. They fall into each other’s arms.

Back in the present David is still mocking her. “I love you, Anne,” he says, laughing. “Run away with me.” She throws her drink in his face and races out of the house. She gets back on her horse and rides off. At the top of a hill she sees her eighteen-year-old self, dressed in white, on a white horse. She calls her name and begins down the hill.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“This is the face of terror. Anne Marie Mitchell, forty-three years of age, her desolate existence once more afflicted by the hope of altering her past mistake - a hope which is unfortunately doomed to disappointment. For warnings from the future to the past must be taken in the past. Today may change tomorrow, but once today is gone, tomorrow can only look back in sorrow that the warning was ignored. Said warning as of now stamped 'Not Accepted' and stored away in the dead file, in the recording office... of the Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

“Spur of the Moment” marks Richard Matheson’s final episode of The Twilight Zone. Matheson wrote fourteen episodes of the show, with Rod Serling adapting two of his previously published short stories during the show’s first season. This makes him the third most credited writer on the show, after Serling and Charles Beaumont. It came as an abrupt exit from the show for Matheson, who did not intend for this to be his final script for the program. Matheson had already sold a fifth teleplay to producer Bert Granet earlier in the season. But the production of that teleplay, “The Doll,” was subsequently cancelled by Granet’s mid-season replacement, producer William Froug, who attempted to take the struggling series in a different direction. Frustrated, Matheson stopped submitting scripts to the show. Years later, he would sell “The Doll” to Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories where it would win an Emmy Award for its star, John Lithgow, and would earn Matheson a Writers Guild of America Award nomination. Matheson would continue to be involved with the franchise for the rest of his life, writing the 1983 Twilight Zone movie, having several of his works adapted for reboots of the show, appearing at conventions, writing introductions, and giving numerous interviews. His tenure on the original series, however, was over. And although he would go on to become one of the most revered writers of speculative fiction ever, The Twilight Zone would remain one of his most notable achievements.

Matheson came to The Twilight Zone a successful novelist and short story writer, having already published his novels I Am Legend (1954) and The Shrinking Man (1956), both landmark works in their respective genres. He had also already published many of the stories that would later be adapted for The Twilight Zone. While he had written a screenplay adaptation of The Shrinking Man, which won him a Hugo Award, and sold several teleplays to various series, Matheson was still relatively new to screenwriting. By the time the show ended in 1964, he was a seasoned screenwriter with numerous television and film credits, including scripting four films in director Roger Corman’s highly successful run of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. He would go on to enjoy a long career in Hollywood while still maintaining a career as a successful novelist.

The cancellation of “The Doll” was not the first time that Matheson had had a negative experience with producer William Froug. In the early years of their television careers, Matheson and Charles Beaumont would often collaborate on scripts, with the logic being that since it was a new medium to both of them, and producers in the field may not have known who they were, their combined celebrity as successful prose writers might help them with pitching scripts. As it happened, they pitched several to the ABC series Philip Marlowe, in which William Froug was a producer. While Beaumont received writing credit on a single episode (episode twelve, “The Hunger,” according to the Internet Movie Database, presumably an adaptation of his well-known short story), Matheson was unable to sell anything to the series. 

 

The main thematic element found in “Spur of the Moment” is one that is echoed in two of the other three of Matheson’s fifth season episodes, and one that is found throughout the Twilight Zone canon. Like Steel Kelly in “Steel” and Elva Keene in “Night Call,” Anne Henderson holds on to the fantasy that she can somehow change the past and that by doing so her present problems would simply disappear. She has clearly made the wrong decision in the person she chose to marry but that does not mean that marrying her first fiancé would have been the right choice either. A better choice maybe, but one that would have always felt like it was made for her. Her present day recollection of her father is, at best, a bitter one and it's presumable that she would have been resentful of him even if she had married Bob. Her tragedy is not in having made the wrong choice but in not having the option to choose her own life without having to project all of her hopes and dreams on David simply to defy her father's wishes.

The second act twist is brilliant and feels very much like a signature Matheson move. "Spur of the Moment" is a very talky script and Matheson's ability to hold the audience's attention with so much dialogue while successfully setting them up for a mid-episode reveal is an impressive balancing act. Placing the twist at such an unusual spot, instead of at the end of the episode, also gives it a shock value that it would not have had if the audience were expecting it. 

 

The flashback scene at the engagement party where Anne makes the choice to run away with David does not appear in Matheson's script. He told editor Stanley Wiater that he did not remember if it was he who wrote it or not. The rest of the episode follows Matheson's script almost exactly so this scene was likely added to fill time. Regardless of who wrote it, likely Matheson, it ends up being a very beneficial scene as it highlights Anne detachment from herself facing a life that she does not want. It also paints Anne and David with a youthful glow making them feel much more empathetic and making their fate all the more tragic. 

This is the fourth and final episode directed by Elliot Silverstein. He previously directed “The Obsolete Man” during the show’s second season and “The Passersby” and “The Trade-Ins” during its third season, all brilliantly made episodes. Silverstein worked regularly in television during the 1950s through the mid-1960s and then turned his attention mostly to feature films. His most recognized film is almost certainly the 1965 Western comedy, Cat Ballou, which earned Lee Marvin an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (two roles actually) along with another four nominations. His other films include A Man Called Horse (1970) and the 1977 vehicular possession movie, The Car. His television credits include episodes of Route 66, Naked City, Dr. Kildare, and Tales from the Crypt. 

Aside from his directorial work, Silverstein is remembered today for pushing for more editorial control for directors and was the initial person to urge the Directors Guild of America to form the Creative Rights Committee, which he was later Chairman of for almost three decades. The Committee instituted a set of regulations which assured directors input in the final cut of their work. It also guaranteed them other necessities such as a private office on set. Many of these regulations became industry standards which are still in practice today. It was Silverstein who coined the phrase “director’s cut.” He was initially inspired to take the issue to the Directors Guild after his first episode of The Twilight Zone, “The Obsolete Man,” was edited in a way that he was unhappy with. The disagreement, Silverstein later insisted, was purely a professional one and was not anything personal, which is why he agreed to return to the show the following season. 

 

All four of Silverstein’s episodes are highly atmospheric and showcase his fondness for German expressionism as well as Gothic imagery and minimalism. His episodes also have a whimsical, dreamlike quality that is immediately recognizable. This is evident from the very beginning of “Spur of the Moment” in which the young Anne Henderson sees the nightmarish image of a woman dressed in black emerge at the top of the ridge in broad daylight. The audience gets a closer look at the figure, however, via a rapid close in on the woman’s face. While Matheson liked this episode, he thought that the woman in black should be shot from far away to hide her face from the audience until it is revealed in the second act that it is, indeed, Anne. It would have been interesting to see how Silverstein would have shot this but his choice of showing a close up of younger Anne and then quickly zooming in on the woman in black, her face aged with makeup, and then immediately back to Anne is incredibly disorienting for the audience, especially so early in the episode. They register that the face is very similar but are not quite sure what they have seen or why. 

 

Diana Hyland initially found success on the Broadway stage, appearing in several high-profile productions including the original cast of Tennessee William’s Sweet Bird of Youth, directed by Elia Kazan, in 1959. She went on to become a regular presence on American television for most of her career starting in the mid-1950s until her death at the age of 41 in 1977. Today she is probably best remembered for her role in the series Peyton Place and her Emmy Award-winning role in the 1976 ABC made-for-television film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble with John Travolta.

 

Roger Davis has enjoyed a very long career as a screen actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in the series Dark Shadows and Alias Smith and Jones. He also appeared in a segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery called “You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan” during the show’s third season. His performance here as Anne Henderson’s doomed true love, David Mitchell, is believable if a bit loud.

 

The supporting cast in this episode all give great performances. Marsha Hunt had been acting in Hollywood since the mid-1930s, mostly in supporting roles, despite her talent. She first made a name for herself as one of the Bennett sisters in the 1940 screen version of Pride and Prejudice. She also appeared in the Anthony Mann film noir, Raw Deal (1948). Other notable performances include roles in The Human Comedy (1943), The Valley of Decision (1945), and Johnny Got His Gun (1970). She was married to Robert Presnell, Jr., writer of the first season episode, “The Chaser.” 

 

Philip Ober was also a Hollywood veteran by this point, appearing in supporting roles in a handful of A-list features including From Here to Eternity (1953), North by Northwest (1959), Elmer Gantry (1960), and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). 

 

Robert Hogan enjoyed a highly prolific career as a supporting player in television for over five decades. He appeared in a segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery called “Brenda,” written by Twilight Zone director Douglas Heyes, during the show’s second season. 

Jack Raine had a very long career as an actor, mostly as a bit player, but he did occasionally enjoy larger roles in high profile films like Julius Caesar (1953) and Not as a Stranger (1955).

"Spur of the Moment" is an appropriately somber episode to mark Matheson's exit from the show. It is a highly atmospheric story, full of gorgeous imagery and mannerisms of the southern Gothic, and a heroine who is doomed to keep chasing her past presumably for the rest of her life. Multiple viewings are recommended for this one.

With a solid run of four quality episodes during The Twilight Zone's final season, Richard Matheson would leave the show on a high note. His contribution to the series is immeasurable, having giving it some of its most memorable episodes, one of which, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," went on to become one of the most well known moments of television history. Even with his numerous other achievements in film and literature, his work on The Twilight Zone would remain the project he was most known for, and would leave a lasting imprint on popular culture.

Grade: B

Acknowledgements:

The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)

The Twilight Zone Companion (3^rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James Press, 2018)

Richard Matheson’s The Twilight Zone Scripts (Vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wiater (Gauntlet Press, 2002)

Richard Matheson on Screen: A History of the Filmed Works by Matthew R. Bradley (McFarland and Company, 2010)

“Meet the Man Who Created the Director’s Cut,” interview with Elliot Silverstein conducted by Charles Haine, March 07, 2018; nofilmschool.com

Internet Movie Database

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Notes: 

__Jack Raine also appeared in the season four episode “Passage on the Lady Anne.”

__Roger Davis appeared in a segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, “You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan,” during the show’s third season.

__Robert Hogan appeared in a segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, “Brenda,” in the show’s second season.

__Elliot Silverstein also directed the season two episode, “The Obsolete Man,” and the season three episodes, “The Passersby” and “The Trade-Ins.”

__This episode marks René Garriguenc's last original score for the show. He also composed scores for season one's "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," season four's "Passage on the Lady Anne," and season five's "In Praise of Pip." All four of these scores were conducted by Lud Gluskin.

__Richard Matheson is the third-most credited writer on The Twilight Zone, after Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont, receiving teleplay credit on a total of fourteen episodes, and story credit on two more. He also wrote two segments for the second season of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, “Big Surprise” and “The Funeral.” He also wrote three of the four segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). He wrote an adaptation of his short story, “Button, Button,” for the first season of the 1985 revival series of The Twilight Zone but was displeased with the segment and took his name off it, using his pseudonym Logan Swanson instead. In 1994, he adapted a story outline written by Serling called, “The Theatre,” for the CBS television special, The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling’s Lost Classics.

__Matheson’s screen credits for the original Twilight Zone series:

                      Season 1:

                           “And When the Sky Was Open” (story credit)
                           “Third from the Sun” (story credit)
                           “The Last Flight”
                           “A World of Difference”
                           “A World of His Own”

                      Season 2:

                           “Nick of Time”
                           “The Invaders”

                      Season 3:

                           “Once Upon a Time”
                           “Little Girl Lost”
                           “Young Man’s Fancy”

                      Season 4:

                           “Mute”
                           “Death Ship”

                      Season 5:

                           “Steel”
                           “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”
                           “Night Call”
                           “Spur of the Moment”

__Matheson's original title for this episode was "Pale Rider."

__This episode was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama by Denis Etchison starring Sarah Wayne Callies (Falcon Picture Group, 2007).

 

Richard Matheson
(1926 - 2013)

Brian

“From Agnes—With Love”

 

Agnes, a femme fatale

“From Agnes—With Love”
Season Five, Episode 140
Original Air Date: February 14, 1964

Cast:
James Elwood: Wally Cox
Walter Holmes: Ralph Taeger
Millie: Sue Randall
Supervisor: Raymond Bailey
Fred Danziger: Don Keefer
Secretary: Nan Peterson (uncredited)
Assistant: Byron Kane (uncredited)

Crew:
Writer: Bernard C. Schoenfeld
Director: Richard Donner
Producer: William Froug
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis & Malcolm Brown
Film Editor: Richard Heermance, A.C.E.
Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: Van Cleave
Sound: Franklin Milton & Joe Edmondson
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

“James Elwood, master programmer, in charge of Mark 502-741, commonly known as Agnes, the world’s most advanced electronic computer. Machines are made by men for man’s benefit and progress. But when man ceases to control the products of his ingenuity and imagination, he not only risks losing the benefit, but he takes a long and unpredictable step into . . . The Twilight Zone.”

Summary: 

            The employees at a research facility are panicked because their supercomputer, Agnes, is malfunctioning. James Elwood, a meek computer programmer, arrives in time to get Agnes functioning correctly. Fred Danziger, another programmer, is exhausted from trying to get Agnes under control. He warns Elwood to watch out for Agnes, a femme fatale. Agnes is a large computer with a mouth-like message center where “she” communicates with the programmer. 

            Agnes responds positively to Elwood and delivers the correct calculations. A pretty secretary named Millie arrives with documents for Elwood, who asks her out for lunch. Agnes is noticeably bothered by this exchange. Although Elwood is initially rejected by Millie, his persistence pays off and Millie agrees to have dinner with him. 

            Agnes advises Elwood to take Millie to his apartment after dinner for champagne. When Elwood expresses doubt, Agnes tells him to trust her. Back at Elwood’s apartment, Elwood tries reading to Millie from a science book. Millie wants to turn the lights down low, play some music, and dance. Elwood awkwardly dances with Millie and then spills champagne on her, causing her to angrily leave the apartment.

            When Agnes inquires about the date on the following day, Elwood says they had a great time. Agnes sees through the lie and advises Elwood to send roses to Millie. Elwood thinks this is a great idea. As he leaves, he tells Agnes that she’s just like a mother. This enrages Agnes. It turns out that Millie is allergic to roses.

            Elwood later tells Agnes that her advice has been detrimental to his wooing of Millie. Agnes tells Elwood that Millie is a square and that there is another woman who is perfect for him. Elwood asks who that woman is but Agnes doesn’t answer. After Elwood leaves, Agnes displays a communication card: ME. 

            Agnes later tells Elwood to introduce Millie to an “inferior” male to display his own superiority. The male Agnes has in mind is another programmer named Walter. Elwood has doubts, since Walter is handsome and drives a sports car, but he goes along with it. Elwood brings Millie to Walter’s apartment that evening where Millie and Walter hit it off, leaving Elwood forgotten and ignored.

            Elwood is called back to the office for an emergency session with Agnes, as important calculations are needed for a top-secret mission. Agnes, however, is more interested in Elwood’s love life than in the calculations. The Supervisor checks in and finds Agnes malfunctioning. Elwood promises to get her working again. He rushes back to Walter’s apartment for help but Walter and Millie, both drunk, send Elwood away, promising to help him in the morning.

            In despair, Elwood accuses Agnes of ruining his life. Agnes admits that she loves Elwood. Appalled, Elwood tells her that she’s only a machine, and a machine can’t love. Agnes displays a communication card: CAN’T I? 

            Elwood is discovered the following morning in a fugue state entangled in paper readouts from the computer. Elwood is removed and Walter put in his place. Elwood warns Walter that he doesn’t stand a chance against Agnes, and to watch out for that femme fatale.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“Advice to all future male scientists: be sure you understand the opposite sex, especially if you intend being a computer expert. Otherwise, you may find yourself like poor Elwood, defeated by a jealous machine, a most dangerous sort of female, whose victims are forever banished to . . . The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary: 

            By the time this tepid Valentine’s Day offering appeared on the series, the computer had established a place in the public consciousness it would never again relinquish. The average citizen now understood that computers could perform tasks once achieved by armies of human workers. The defense, health, economics, and education of the nation were forever more entwined with these machines. As a result, science fiction writers were quick to harness the dramatic possibilities of the effects of computers upon the lives of individuals.

            The Twilight Zone—which previously centered its tales of technology on slot machines, household appliances, automobiles, and robots—also became interested in computers as a dramatic device, producing three computer-related episodes during the final season. “The Old Man in the Cave,” adapted by Rod Serling from a story by Henry Slesar, played like a religious allegory dressed as a post-apocalyptic thriller. Despite some flaws in the treatment, the episode remains an effective examination of the human relationship to computers, as we’ve become increasingly reliant on computers to handle issues like personal health. Serling returned to the theme later in the fifth season for “The Brain Center at Whipple’s,” an episode played very broadly but again approaching an issue—automation replacing human workers—that remains relevant today.

            “From Agnes—With Love” possesses none of this relevance despite its relationship to a persistent social issue. It is a broadly comedic episode—which never worked on the series—that is also the worst thing a Twilight Zone episode can be: predictable. Despite an obvious self-awareness on the part of those involved, the episode plays like a joke stretched to its limit. As always on the series, there are talented performers and fine production values, but the writing is glib and insulting to the type of science fiction and fantasy the series spent years elevating into literature for television.

            From a writing perspective, there is significant risk in crafting a narrative around a character making one bad decision after another, particularly if those decisions are not made from desperation or calculated risk but from foolishness. As author Marc Scott Zicree writes in The Twilight Zone Companion: “James Elwood is enormously inept and unforgivably dense.” Zicree concludes his pithy review of the episode by writing: “Elwood doesn’t need a computer to ruin his life; clearly, he’s capable of doing it on his own.” It becomes increasingly difficult for an audience to care about such a character, or to take an interest in the events of the story. Add in a hefty dose of antiquated gender dynamics and you have a recipe for disaster. Although it is unreasonable to expect every episode to achieve the dramatic qualities of “The Trouble with Templeton,” or “Nick or Time,” or “In Praise of Pip,” “From Agnes—With Love” is devoid of even an approach to such qualities. 

            The decline of quality writing during the second half of the final season can be connected to the arrival of the show’s final producer, William Froug (1922-2013). Froug was a talented writer and producer who was simply a mismatch for the series. After the unexpected mid-season departure of producer Bert Granet, the series scrambled for a replacement and landed on Froug, who previously steered several successful series, including prestige anthologies Playhouse 90 and Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre, as well as notable CBS radio programs. Froug was inexperienced with the type of fantasy storytelling presented on the series and also confident in his approach to producing it. Froug viewed the show’s core writers as burned out and their work as repetitive, and he looked to bring fresh ideas and scripts to the series. Froug shelved several scripts previously purchased by Granet1 and tampered with George Clayton Johnson’s final script2, essentially destroying the system of storytelling on the series while alienating its best writers.  

            A further illustration concerns a later fifth season episode. Froug—while shelving scripts from the show’s principal writers—produced a script written by his assistant, Adele T. Strassfield, who had no prior television writing experience. The resulting episode, “Caesar and Me,” about a ventriloquist’s dummy, is widely considered among the worst produced on the series. Froug later admitted that he was unaware that the series had previously produced a similar story, Rod Serling’s “The Dummy,” and would not have produced “Caesar and Me” had he known.

 

            Bernard C. Schoenfeld (1907-1990) was born in Brooklyn and began his writing career on the New York stage, culminating in the Broadway productions Shooting Star (1933) and Hitch Your Wagon (1937). He moved to Hollywood in the 1940s and became a specialist in literary adaptations and crime films. Schoenfeld’s credits include the film noir classics Phantom Lady (1944), based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich and starring Franchot Tone (Twilight Zone’s “The Silence”), and The Dark Corner (1946), starring Lucille Ball. Schoenfeld was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the women’s prison drama Caged (1950), which featured Agnes Moorehead (Twilight Zone’s “The Invaders”). He scripted the film noir adventure Macao (1952) and co-wrote the neo-noir film 13 West Street (1962) with Robert Presnell, Jr. (Twilight Zone’s “The Chaser”), based on a novel by Leigh Brackett. Schoenfeld wrote the occasional science fiction and fantasy film, such as The Space Children (1958), featuring Raymond Bailey, and The Magic Sword (1962).

            Schoenfeld’s transition to television writing is highlighted by his work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Schoenfeld wrote more than a dozen episodes of the series across the first five seasons, adapting the works of notable crime fiction writers Evan Hunter, Fredric Brown, Henry Slesar, Robert Arthur, and Stanley Ellin. Schoenfeld spent his final years in Guadalajra, Mexico, where he died in 1990 at the age of 82. 

            Wally Cox (1924-1973) is remembered as the titular character from the live television sitcom Mr. Peepers (1952-1955), as the voice of the cartoon character Underdog, and as a regular on Hollywood Squares. Cox was born in Detroit and moved early with his family to Evanston, Illinois, where he befriended a young Marlon Brando. The two became roommates in New York where Brando interested Cox in acting. The two performers were close friends for the remainder of Cox’s life. Brando was devastated by Cox’s early passing at age 48 from a heart attack. He kept Cox’s ashes in his home for over thirty years. The ashes of both men were scattered together over Death Valley after Brando’s passing in 2004.

            Wally Cox was a staple of early television anthologies and a favorite guest performer on such series as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Beverly Hillbillies. With his short stature and high-pitched voice, Cox often portrayed a character like James Eldwood: mild, meek, and socially awkward. Although the episode was not written by Rod Serling, Elwood is firmly in the mold of such hapless Serling characters as Mr. Dingle, Mr. Bevis, Archibald Beechcroft, and Agnes Grep. Cox showed his range beyond this character type in the dramatic films Fate is the Hunter (1964) and The Bedford Incident (1965), as well as on television in Mission: Impossible, where Cox played a safecracker in the pilot episode.

            Cox also appeared in a brief segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery titled “Junior,” from the second season. Cox portrayed a tired father called out of bed at night to check on his crying child—revealed to be a Frankenstein’s monster. The episode was written by Gene Kearney and directed by Theodore J. Flicker. Cox appeared alongside Flicker’s wife Barbara and Bill Svanoe as the monstrous “baby.” Cox was also an accomplished writer, adapting Mr. Peepers into a 1955 novel, and publishing a collection of essays, My Life as a Small Boy (1958). 

            Ralph Taeger (1936-2015) was an athletic performer—a former professional baseball player—often positioned as the next action star. He appeared in two adventure series, Klondike (1960-1961) and Acapulco (1961), alongside James Coburn (Twilight Zone’s “The Old Man in the Cave”). Taeger’s most notable television role was in Hondo (1967-1968), in a role originated by John Wayne for the 1953 film. Notable film roles include the semi-documentary X-15 (1961), co-starring Charles Bronson (Twilight Zone’s “Two”) and directed by Richard Donner, and The Carpetbaggers (1964). Taeger developed a reputation for being difficult to work with and struggled to regularly find roles as a result. He eventually grew dissatisfied with Hollywood, quit acting, and moved upstate where he started a successful wholesale firewood business.   

            Sue Randall (1935-1984) was a prolific television performer remembered as the kindly schoolteacher Miss Landers on Leave it to Beaver. She previously appeared on The Twilight Zone in “And When the Sky Was Opened.” Randall also appeared in “Man in the Middle,” a first season episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller. Randall died from cancer related to smoking at age 49. 

Raymond Bailey (1904-1980) made a career out of playing figures of authority and professional men, often doctors. He is remembered as the greedy banker Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies. Bailey worked as a banker and stockbroker in the years before his acting career. He previously appeared on The Twilight Zone in “Escape Clause” and “Back There.” Bailey’s prolific career occasionally took him into genre territory, and he appeared in episodes of Tales of Tomorrow, Science Fiction Theatre, and One Step Beyond. Bailey also appeared as doctors in the films of Richard Matheson’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Bailey was a regular on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, appearing in ten episodes, including Charles Beaumont’s adaptation of Dorothy Salisbury Davis’ story “Backward, Turn Backward.” Bailey also appeared in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. His career ended abruptly with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The production does an admirable job of establishing the character of Agnes, the supercomputer. Using lights and panels from the MGM props department, UNIVAC I tape drivers, and an impressive, custom-built “mouth” for communication cards, Agnes was given a believable range of responses that remains the highlight of an otherwise disappointing episode. 

Although none of the approaches to the dramatic possibilities of computers reaches the heights of the greatest episodes, “From Agnes—With Love” remains a low point in the uneven final season. Despite the presence of talented performers, and the show’s generally high production standards, the episode suffers from the thinness of its concept and the insincerity of its execution. 

Grade: D

1. Froug shelved Richard Matheson’s “The Doll” on the basis of its similarity to the earlier fifth season episode “Living Doll.” Matheson’s script was produced in 1986 for the first season of the Steven Spielberg-produced anthology series Amazing Stories. Froug also shelved Charles Beaumont’s adaptation of his 1960 story “Gentlemen, Be Seated,” about a future in which humor is outlawed. Jerry Sohl suffered the worst, as two of his scripts were nixed by Froug. “Who Am I” was set to be Sohl’s first credit on the series, as he had ghost-written scripts under Beaumont’s byline when Beaumont became ill with the disease that ultimately took his life. Another script, “Pattern for Doomsday,” a collaboration with Beaumont, was also scrapped.

2. See our review of “Ninety Years Without Slumbering.”

Next Time in the Vortex: A look at Richard Matheson’s final Twilight Zone episode, “Spur of the Moment.”

Acknowledgements:
 
--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
 
--A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964 by Don Presnell and Marty McGee (McFarland & Co., 1998)
 
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3^rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James, 2018)
 
--Inside The Twilight Zone by Marc Scott Zicree (CBS DVD/Image Entertainment, 2000)
 
--Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson (Syracuse University Press, 1999)
 
--The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)

Notes: 

 
--Richard Donner directed five additional episodes of the series, all for the fifth season: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “Sounds and Silences,” “The Jeopardy Room,” “The Brain Center at Whipple’s,” and “Come Wander with Me.”
 
--Wally Cox also appeared in the second season segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, “Junior.”
 
--Sue Randall also appeared in the first season episode, “And When the Sky Was Opened.”
 
--Raymond Bailey appeared in two additional episodes of the series, “Escape Clause,” from the first season, and “Back There,” from the second season.
 
--Don Keefer memorably appeared in the third season episode “It’s a Good Life,” as well as in the fourth season episode “Passage on the Lady Anne.” Keefer also appeared in the third season segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, “You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan.”
 
--Nan Peterson appeared in three additional episodes of the series, often in uncredited roles: “Walking Distance,” “The Night of the Meek,” and “The Whole Truth.”
 
--“From Agnes–With Love” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Ed Begley, Jr.

-JP