 |
| Agnes, a femme fatale |
Cast:
James
Elwood: Wally Cox
Crew:
Writer:
Bernard C. Schoenfeld
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 (3rd
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