So ends our journey down the dark
alleys and side streets of The Twilight
Zone. We hope you enjoyed the trip and made it through with your sanity intact.
For more Film Noir I recommend Eddie Muller’s Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998), as well as the Muller-hosted TCM series Noir Alley.
-JP
Appendix: Selected Noir Filmography:
This
filmography is intended as a generous selection of Film Noir which featured
performers, writers, or directors who later worked on The Twilight Zone. Appearances
on The Twilight Zone are noted.
They
Drive by Night (Warner Bros., 1940)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”).
High
Sierra (Warner Bros., 1941)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”).
Street
of Chance (Paramount, 1942)
-Features Burgess Meredith (“Time Enough
at Last,” “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” “The Obsolete Man,” “Printer’s Devil”).
The
Leopard Man (RKO, 1943)
-Directed by Jacques Tourneur, director
of “Night Call.”
The
Woman in the Window (MGM, 1944)
-Features Dan Duryea (“Mr. Denton on
Doomsday”).
Ministry
of Fear (Paramount, 1944)
-Features Dan Duryea (Mr. Denton on
Doomsday”), Alan Napier (“Passage on the Lady Anne”), and Cyril Delevanti (“A
Penny for Your Thoughts,” “The Silence,” “A Piano in the House,” “Passage on
the Lady Anne”).
Phantom
Lady (Universal, 1944)
-Features Franchot Tone (“The Silence”),
and Thomas Gomez (“Escape Clause,” “Dust”).
Laura
(20th Century Fox, 1944)
-Features Dana Andrews (“No Time Like
the Past”), as well as Vincent Price, who appeared on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery in “Class of ‘99” and “The
Return of the Sorcerer.”
Fallen
Angel (20th Century Fox,
1945)
-Features Dana Andrews (“No Time Like
the Past”), and John Carradine (“The Howling Man”).
Scarlet
Street (Universal, 1945)
-Features Dan Duryea (“Mr. Denton on
Doomsday”), and Vladimir Sokoloff (“Dust,” “The Mirror,” “The Gift”).
Detour
(PRC, 1945)
-Written by and based on the novel by
Martin Goldsmith, writer of the fifth season episodes “What’s in the Box” and
“The Encounter.”
The
Blue Dahlia (Paramount, 1946)
-Features William Bendix (“The Time
Element”).
The
Chase (United Artists, 1946)
-Features Robert Cummings (“King Nine
Will Not Return”), and Steve Cochran (“What You Need”).
Out
of the Past (RKO, 1947)
-Directed by Jacques Tourneur, director
of “Night Call.”
Brute
Force (Universal, 1947)
-Features John Hoyt (“The Lateness of
the Hour,” “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”) and Howard Duff (“A World
of Difference”).
Sorry,
Wrong Number (Paramount, 1948)
-Written by and based on the radio play
by Lucille Fletcher, author of the radio play “The Hitch-Hiker,” adapted by Rod
Serling for The Twilight Zone.
Road
House (20th Century Fox,
1948)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”).
Moonrise
(Republic, 1948)
-Features Dane Clark (“The Prime
Mover”), and Clem Bevans (“Hocus-Pocus and Frisby).
He
Walked by Night (Eagle-Lion, 1948)
-Features Richard Basehart (“Probe 7,
Over and Out”), and John Dehner (“The Lonely,” “The Jungle,” “Mr. Garrity and
the Graves”) in an uncredited role.
Force
of Evil (MGM, 1948)
-Features Thomas Gomez (“Escape Clause,”
“Dust”).
Thieves’
Highway (20th Century Fox,
1949)
-Features Richard Conte (“Perchance to
Dream”).
The
Crooked Way (United Artists, 1949)
-Directed by Robert Florey (“Perchance
to Dream,” “The Fever,” “The Long Morrow”).
Criss
Cross (Universal, 1949)
-Features Dan Duryea (“Mr. Denton on
Doomsday”), Alan Napier (“Passage on the Lady Anne”), and Richard Long (“Person
or Persons Unknown,” “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”).
The
Accused (Paramount, 1949)
-Features Robert Cummings (“King Nine
Will Not Return”), and Sam Jaffe (Night Gallery
pilot film segment “The Escape Route”).
D.O.A.
(United Artists, 1949)
-Features Beverly Garland (“The Four of
Us Are Dying”), and Neville Brand (“The Encounter”).
Too
Late for Tears (United Artists, 1949)
-Features Dan Duryea (“Mr. Denton on Doomsday”).
Woman
in Hiding (Universal, 1950)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”), and Howard Duff (“A World
of Difference”). Lupino and Duff were married the following year. They divorced
in 1984.
The
Damned Don’t Cry (Warner Bros., 1950)
-Features Steve Cochran (“What You
Need”), and Hugh Sanders (“Judgment Night,” “The Jungle,” “Of Late I Think of
Cliffordville”).
Where
the Sidewalk Ends (20th
Century Fox, 1950)
-Features Dana Andrews (“No Time Like
the Past”), Gary Merrill (“The Valley was Still”), and Neville Brand (“The
Encounter”) in an uncredited role.
No
Man of Her Own (Paramount, 1950)
-Directed by Michell Leisen (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” “Escape Clause,” “People Are Alike All Over”),
features Phyllis Thaxter (“Young Man’s Fancy”).
Quicksand
(United Artists, 1950)
-Features Mickey Rooney (“The Last Night
of a Jockey”), and Jack Elam (“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”) in an
uncredited role.
The
Strip (MGM, 1951)
-Features Mickey Rooney (“The Last Night
of a Jockey”).
On
Dangerous Ground (RKO, 1951)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”).
Fourteen
Hours (20th Century Fox,
1951)
-Features Richard Basehart (“Probe 7, Over
and Out”), Agnes Moorehead (“The Invaders”), Joyce Van Patten (“Passage on the
Lady Anne”) in an uncredited role, and Paul Douglas, who originally appeared in
“The Mighty Casey” before his death resulted in reshoots which eliminated him
from the play.
Under
the Gun (Universal, 1951)
-Richard Conte (“Perchance to Dream”),
Sam Jaffe (Night Gallery pilot film
segment “The Escape Route”), and Phillip Pine (“The Four of Us Are Dying”).
Beware,
My Lovely (RKO, 1952)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”).
Kansas
City Confidential (United Artists,
1952)
-Features Neville Brand (“The
Encounter”), and Jack Elam (“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”).
The
Hitch-Hiker (RKO, 1953)
-Directed and co-written by Ida Lupino,
star of “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine” and director of “The Masks.”
The
Big Heat (Columbia, 1953)
-Features Lee Marvin (“The Grave,”
“Steel”), Jeanette Nolan (“The Hunt,” “Jess-Belle”), and Adam Williams (“The
Hitch-Hiker,” “A Most Unusual Camera”).
Crime
Wave (Warner Bros., 1954)
-Features Phyllis Kirk (“A World of His
Own”), and Charles Bronson (“Two”).
Private
Hell 36 (Filmmakers Releasing
Organization, 1954)
-Features Ida Lupino (“The
Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” director of “The Masks”), who also co-wrote the
film, Steve Cochran (“What You Need”), Howard Duff (“A World of Difference”), and
Dean Jagger (“Static”).
The
Big Combo (Allied Artists, 1955)
-Features Richard Conte (“Perchance to
Dream”), Lee Van Cleef (“The Grave”), Earl Holliman (“Where Is Everybody?”), and
John Hoyt (“The Lateness of the Hour,” “Will the Real Martian Please Stand
Up?”).
Kiss
Me Deadly (United Artists, 1955)
-Features Strother Martin (“The Grave”),
Jack Elam (“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”), and Cloris Leachman
(“It’s a Good Life”).
The
Wrong Man (Warner Bros., 1956)
-Features Vera Miles (“Mirror Image”),
Nehemiah Persoff (“Judgment Night”), and Charles Aidman (“And When the Sky Was
Opened,” “Little Girl Lost”) in an uncredited role. Aidman also narrated the
first two seasons of The Twilight Zone revival
series.
Touch
of Evil (Universal, 1958)
-Features Dennis Weaver (“Shadow Play”),
and Kennan Wynn (“A World of His Own”) in an uncredited role.
What a cool idea for a post! I must admit I like the first season's noir shows best of this group. I also LOVE Noir Alley and record and watch it weekly. Thanks for reminding me of some of these great episodes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jack! The first season was definitely the most Noir influenced of the series. The show only occasionally came back to that style afterwards. There were also many episodes which looked Noir but were more science fiction in nature so I left them off the list. Thanks for reading!
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