"Valley of the Shadow"

Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson) and his dog Rolly
during their trip through Peaceful Valley

“Valley of the Shadow”

Season Four, Episode 105

Original Air Date: January 17, 1963

Cast:

Dorn: David Opatoshu

Philip Redfield: Ed Nelson

Ellen Marshall: Natalie Trundy

Connolly: Jacques Aubuchon

Evans: Dabbs Greer

Father: James Doohan

Girl: Morgan Brittany (as Suzanne Cupito)

Attendant: Sandy Kenyon

Townspeople: Henry Beckman

                       Bart Burns

                       King Calder

                       Pat O’Hara

Crew:

Writer: Charles Beaumont (original teleplay)

Director: Perry Lafferty

Producer: Herbert Hirschman

Director of Photography: Robert Pittack

Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Associate Producer: Murray Golden

Assistant to the Producer: John Conwell

Art Direction: George W. Davis, John J. Thompson

Film Editor: Everett Dodd, A.C.E.

Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Don Greenwood, Jr.

Assistant Director: Ray de Camp

Music: stock

Sound: Franklin Milton, Joe Edmondson

Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes

Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next on Twilight Zone, a marvelously exciting excursion into a very strange place called ‘Valley of the Shadow.’ It comes from the probing mind of Mr. Charles Beaumont, and whether you’re a science fiction buff, a fantasy lover, or just needful of some escape, this one should fill most of your requirements.”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“You’ve seen them, little towns tucked away from the main roads. You’ve seen them but have you thought about them? What do the people in these places do? Why do they stay? Philip Redfield never thought about them. If his dog hadn’t gone after that cat he would have driven through Peaceful Valley and put it out of his mind forever. But he can’t do that now because, whether he knows it or not, his friend’s shortcut has led him right into the capital of The Twilight Zone.”

Summary:

            Philip Redfield, a reporter, is traveling by car with his dog through New Mexico. He attempts a shortcut and becomes lost. Soon, he spots a sign for a small town named Peaceful Valley. When he arrives he is immediately put off by the local gas station attendant who not only struggles to find the gas tank on Redfield’s car but also states that Redfield will have to travel eighty miles to get back to a main highway. Redfield is further annoyed when the attendant informs him that the only restaurant in town is closed.

            Redfield’s dog leaps from the car to chase a cat from the arms of a little girl. Redfield quickly follows and arrives in time to see the little girl use a small device to make Redfield’s dog disappear. Redfield demands to know what happened to his dog. The girl’s father attempts to mollify Redfield by suggesting that the dog ran around the back of the house. After the men split up to search for the dog, the girl’s father uses a device to bring the dog back. Redfield is happy to get his dog back but realizes there is something very strange about this town.

            Meanwhile, the few townspeople Redfield encounters seem desperate to be rid of him. Ellen Marshall, who works at the local hotel, claims there are no rooms available despite the rather obvious fact that there are no guests in the hotel. Perturbed but nonetheless ready to be out of Peaceful Valley, Redfield climbs into his car and drives away. At the edge of town his car suddenly crashes into an invisible barrier, stunning Redfield and throwing his dog from the car.

            Four men appear and insist on escorting Redfield back into town to see a doctor. Redfield checks on his dog and finds the animal dead. Redfield initially puts up a fight but eventually allows himself to be taken back to town. One of the men stays behind and uses a small device to bring Redfield’s dog back to life.

            Instead of being brought to a doctor, Redfield is led to the mayor’s office. The mayor, Dorn, arrives along with two associates named Connolly and Evans. They question Redfield about what he has seen in the town. After consulting one another, they inform Redfield that he will not be allowed to leave Peaceful Valley. Dorn proceeds to relate an incredible story. Many years ago a man arrived in Peaceful Valley. He may not have been from Earth. He introduced Peaceful Valley to scientific wonders far beyond the ability of mankind. They have used these wonders to build lives of peace and comfort for themselves. Their greatest fear is that their secrets will become known to the world-at-large, which will use the technology to bring devastation upon the planet. For this reason, Redfield cannot leave town.

            Dorn displays many amazing instruments for Redfield, including a machine which can heal grievous injury and another which can produce objects (from ham sandwiches to handguns) using coded cards. Redfield is given two options: death or assimilation. Redfield chooses assimilation. Though he is given a comfortable house and finds himself strongly attracted to Ellen Marshall, Redfield plans his escape from town. The idea that this technology, which could be used to cure disease and alleviate hunger, is being kept a secret in this small town drives him mad. When Ellen appears to reciprocate his feelings, Redfield springs into action.

            He returns to Dorn’s office and uses a machine to produce a handgun. He steals the book of secret formulas from a wall safe, setting off an alarm system. When Dorn and his men arrive and try to stop him, Redfield shoots them. On the edge of town Ellen suggests that Redfield look inside the book of secret formulas. The pages are blank. The entire escape was a setup to gauge Redfield’s adjustment to his permanent life in Peaceful Valley. The only option left is execution. Or is it?

            Using their technology, Dorn turns back time to the moment Redfield was preparing to leave the gas station. Although Redfield is mildly bewildered, especially when he sees Ellen, he leaves town ignorant of his extraordinary adventure.            

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“You’ve seen them, little towns tucked away far from the main roads. You’ve seen them but have you thought about them? Have you wondered what the people do in such places, why they stay? Philip Redfield thinks about them now and he wonders, but only very late at night, when he’s between wakefulness and sleep, in The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

            With “Valley of the Shadow,” writer Charles Beaumont is far more interested in the ideas presented by the narrative than in the narrative itself. His principal interest is to challenge the viewer on the ethical implications which accompany great advancements in technology. This goes some way in excusing the logical missteps in the narrative, which include the fact that a town which wishes to remain unnoticed by outsiders would place a directional sign at a crossroads. Also the fact that such a town would be caught completely unaware and unprepared when an outsider found their way to town. In this regard, Redfield is immediately presented with a surly gas station attendant who cannot find the gas tank on a car as well as a hotel manager who doggedly repeats an easily contested lie. It is also difficult to believe that the townspeople would be so progressive as to allow a child to possess a device which can destroy and recreate matter.

The viewer also wonders how a generation of townspeople, even those who live a technologically enhanced life of comfort, could all be content to remain isolated their entire lives. Surely someone would desire to leave town if only out of curiosity. Lastly, the solution to the problem of Redfield, to use advanced technology to turn back time, is one which should have been arrived at nearer the beginning of the ordeal. For Beaumont it is an uncharacteristically, though necessarily, convenient solution akin to the “it’s only a dream” ending. As noted in Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion, at least one contemporary reviewer did not fully understand that time had been reversed, instead believing that Redfield daydreamed the events.

            Upon repeat viewings it becomes clear that these inconsistencies are merely the straw ladder which Beaumont climbs to get where he really wants to go, that being an (ultimately unresolved) exploration of the dilemma presented by Redfield’s presence in Peaceful Valley. Similar to Beaumont’s previous episode, “In His Image,” another tale of technology, violence, and the ethics of progress, the narrative arc serves as an examination of what it means to wield enormous technological power and whether that power should be used if it can conversely cause great harm.  

Further evidence that Beaumont is unconcerned with narrative logic is the expedient, fable-like story of how Peaceful Valley came into possession of such advanced technology. To quickly recap: a strange man, possibly extraterrestrial, arrived suddenly in Peaceful Valley, bringing great technological wonders with him. He gifted the technology to the town with the admonition that the townspeople must never share the technology with the world at large. Why? Because it would certainly get into the hands of people who would use it to make weapons of mass destruction. Albert Einstein and the Manhattan Project are alluded to at this point.

Another interesting observation is that Peaceful Valley, despite the presence of advanced technology, is frozen in time. Redfield spots a decade old newspaper in the hotel lobby and the overall feel of the town is one of rural isolation. One hardly expects Peaceful Valley to resemble the 1960s version of the City of the Future but one also does not expect it to be a New Mexico Mayberry. Although, according to the directional sign, nearly a thousand people live in Peaceful Valley, we are only shown a scant dozen or so townspeople, giving the impression of a ghost town, or one in which progress has long since passed by. It is not until Redfield is shown behind the curtain, so to speak, that the production is given over to some semblance of futuristic display with a minimalistic design typical of the series.

It can be difficult for the viewer to determine the significance of these divergent qualities. The obvious answer appears to be that the rural nature of the town is a façade to fool unwanted outsiders. If this is the case, however, why is the town so unprepared for Redfield’s appearance? Is it rather that Beaumont suggests that technological innovation is not the path to societal progress, or that technology brings such comforts as to create a community of a slothful citizens? Both of these thematic angles are old pathways in the SF genre. Whatever the case, the insular lifestyle adopted by Peaceful Valley seems also to have intellectually and emotionally affected the townspeople. They appear to be ignorant of basic human interactive behavior and their impulsive responses to Redfield’s natural curiosity is largely the catalyst for the chaos which follows. Only the mayor, Dorn, is able to remain reasonable amid the events which unfold after Redfield’s intrusion.

The final sequence of the episode only adds to the confusion. Redfield commits a calculated act of violence which likely alienates the viewer but also serves to reinforce the townspeople’s suspicion of Redfield’s ultimate goal, to abscond with the town’s technological secrets. We can be reassured by the idea that Redfield knew the townspeople could be healed with their technology but it still illustrates that the desire for advanced technology can drive people to violence. This is a similar structure to that previously used by Beaumont in “In His Image,” although that episode used a final sequence of violence as an act of purgation. Here it serves only to bring us back to where we began. The experiment is over and it has failed.

Typical of the series, the special effects in “Valley of the Shadow” were achieved through a combination of economy and ingenuity. The effect of people, animals, or objects appearing and disappearing was achieved through editing and film reversal, as was the effect of Evans (Dabbs Greer) miraculously healing after being stabbed by Dorn in a bizarre and unsettling display of the town’s abilities in medical science. The most impressive effect in the episode occurs when Philip Redfield’s car crashes into the invisible barrier which surrounds the town. Author Marc Scott Zicree, in The Twilight Zone Companion, learned the secret of this effect from director Perry Lafferty. Two 1959 Chevrolet Impala convertibles were used for the scene. One of the cars was front-end wrecked and the other was not. Ed Nelson was filmed driving the un-wrecked car toward the mark. Then, with a stunt performer inside, the chassis of the un-wrecked car was tethered by chain, with a bit of slack, and then slowly driven to the mark where the car was to crash into the invisible wall. There, the chain pulled taut and abruptly jerked the car to a stop*. This was filmed from a close side angle to obscure the tethering. Ed Nelson was then filmed behind the wheel of the front-end wrecked car. A framing shot of the wrecked car completed the scene and the sequence was edited in a way to give the appearance of the car crashing against an invisible barrier.

The Twilight Zone is often casually summarized as a series in which ordinary people are placed into extraordinary circumstances. Perhaps no story type better epitomizes this quality than the tale of someone arriving upon a strange town. Among the variations of this theme explored on the series are Rod Serling’s first season episodes “Where Is Everybody?” and “Walking Distance,” Beaumont’s own first season episode “Elegy,” and Earl Hamner, Jr.’s fifth season episode “Stopover in a Quiet Town.” Other writers on the series found this story type useful as well. Stories such as Richard Matheson’s short story “The Children of Noah” and Ray Bradbury’s “Mars Is Heaven!” and “The Town Where No One Got Off” come immediately to mind. Unlike these related episodes and stories, there seems to be no satisfactory revelation in “Valley of the Shadow,” no shocking twist ending or profound change in character. Whatever lesson is to be learned from the proceedings, if there is a lesson to be learned at all, must come from the viewer.

Beaumont in this rare mode of social commentary reminds the viewer of the moral fables of series creator Rod Serling, who approached similar material in episodes such as “The Shelter,” “The Gift,” and “The Old Man in the Cave,” the latter an adaptation of a Henry Slesar story. An observation upon the series as a whole is that technology is rarely presented as something which brings about prosperity and happiness. This is obvious in such dystopian episodes as “Eye of the Beholder” or “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You” but is more effectively presented in episodes in which an adverse psychological change occurs in one or more characters, such as in “Where Is Everybody?”, “The Lonely,” or “The Trade-Ins,” all written by Serling. Richard Matheson’s “A World of His Own” may be the only episode in which technology brings about preferable change, though Gregory West’s magical Dictaphone can better be classified as magic.

David Opatoshu (1918-1996) is the surprising top-billed actor in the episode,

David Opatoshu

playing Dorn, the mayor of Pleasant Valley. Opatoshu’s credits date back to 1939 but he came into his own in the early years of dramatic television. Though he appeared in a handful of prestige films (The Brothers Karamazov (1958), Torn Curtain (1966)) Opatoshu is likely better known to television viewers, particularly genre television viewers. Opatoshu’s earliest genre credits include an episode of Inner Sanctum (“Nobody Laughs at Lou” (1954)) and the infamous dystopian episode of Playhouse 90, “A Sound of Different Drummers” (1957), which achieved infamy as an unauthorized adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451. Opatoshu also appeared in episodes of Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (“Earthquake”), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (“On the Nose,” “Strange Miracle”), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in a memorable adaptation of H.G. Wells’s “The Magic Shop,” adapted by writer John Collier and director Robert Stevens), The Outer Limits (“A Feasibility Study”), Star Trek (“A Taste of Armageddon”), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Time Tunnel. Opatoshu also appeared in an episode of Rod Serling’s The Loner (“Westward, the Shoemaker”) and Earl Hamner’s Falcon Crest (“Acid Tests”). His last credit was for the short-lived 1991 comedic medical series Stat.

Ed Nelson (1928-2014), playing reporter Philip Redfield, learned his craft in the

Ed Nelson

local theater and television venues of New Orleans, even serving as director of local station WDSU-TV, now a MeTV affiliate, before relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. There he began to appear in B-grade science fiction and horror films such as Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), and The Brain Eaters (1958) before landing numerous roles in television westerns and police dramas. Nelson still found time to appear in a number of memorable genre series, including a whopping four episodes of Boris Karloff’s Thriller (“The Fatal Impulse,” “Dialogues with Death,” “The Cheaters” and “A Good Imagination”), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (“Captive Audience,” “I’ll Be Judge – I’ll Be Jury”), The Outer Limits (“Nightmare”), Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (“Little Girl Lost,” no relation to the Twilight Zone episode of the same title), The Sixth Sense, and the Logan’s Run television series. His last credit was for the 2003 film Runaway Jury.

The striking actress Natalie Trundy (b. 1940), playing the naïve yet alluring

Natalie Trundy

Ellen Marshall, was born in Boston and raised in New York City where she worked her way on the Broadway stage by age 12. Television work arrived in 1953 and Trundy smoothly transitioned from child actor to young adult on such series as The Alcoa Hour, The Goodyear Playhouse, and Studio One. Genre credits include episodes of Climax! (“Along Came a Spider”) and, memorably, Boris Karloff’s Thriller, starring opposite Leslie Nielsen in the premier episode, “The Twisted Image.” Trundy also appeared in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, “The Long Silence,” which was adapted by writers Charles Beaumont and William D. Gordon from the Hilda Lawrence’s story “Composition for Four Hands.” Trundy suffered a career-halting back injury in a 1963 car accident but returned to acting in 1967. She married producer Arthur P. Jacobs in 1960 and appeared in four of Jacobs’s Apes films, including Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Trundy retired from acting in 1978, her last credit being for an episode of Quincy, M.E.

Other familiar faces in the cast include James Doohan (1920-2005) as the father

James Doohan

of the little girl who causes Redfield’s dog to vanish. Doohan, of course, is well-known as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on the original series of Star Trek and its accompanying films. Doohan also appeared in episodes of Suspense (“Go Home Dead Man”), Tales of Tomorrow (“Plague from Space”), The Outer Limits (“Expanding Human”), and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea before securing the role of Scotty.

Morgan Brittany (b. 1951), here billed under her birth name Suzanne Cupito,

Morgan Brittany (Suzanne Cupito)

plays the little girl who makes Redfield’s dog vanish. Best known for her role as the villainess Katherine Wentworth on Dallas, Brittany appeared in two additional episodes of The Twilight Zone, the first season episode “Nightmare as a Child” and, memorably, as the scheming little girl Susan in the fifth season episode “Caesar and Me.” Brittany also appeared as a child in episodes of Boris Karloff’s Thriller (“The Fingers of Fear”) and The Outer Limits (“The Inheritors: Part II”). Although she continues to occasionally appear in films and television series, Brittany is better known today as a conservative political commentator who is an occasional guest on news programs and talk shows.

Regular Twilight Zone viewers are sure to recognize the gas station attendant as

Sandy Kenyon

actor Sandy Kenyon (1922-2010), who appeared in two additional episodes of the series, “The Odyssey of Flight 33” and “The Shelter,” portraying the villainous Frank Henderson in the latter, a racist who incites violence among neighbors during a panic over a possible nuclear attack. Kenyon also appeared in episodes of Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (“Front Runner”), Thriller (“The Hollow Watcher”), and The Outer Limits (“Counterweight”).

Although “Valley of the Shadow” is an episode filled with ideas of varying interest and complexity, Beaumont hardly has the space to fully explore any of it and we are left with one of the few missteps from Beaumont on the series. The cast is a treat for genre fans and the pacing is not nearly as brutal as the worst of the fourth season but ultimately “Valley of the Shadow” is unable to satisfactorily drag itself out of the quagmire of its ambitions.

Grade: C

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Marc Scott Zicree for information found in The Twilight Zone Companion (2^nd edition, Silman-James, 1992), and to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com).

*Lafferty also relates to Zicree the fact that the stunt performer who drove the wrecked car, despite only driving the car at 12 mph, needed to be hospitalized after the stunt.

Notes:

--Perry Lafferty also directed the fourth season episodes “In His Image” and “The Thirty Fathom Grave.”

--Ed Nelson also appeared in the second season Night Gallery segment “Little Girl Lost.”

--Dabbs Greer also appeared in the third season episode “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby.”

--Morgan Brittany also appeared (as Suzanne Cupito) in the first season episode “Nightmare as a Child” and the fifth season episode “Caesar and Me.” Brittany also performed in the Twilight Zone Radio Dramas “The Passersby” and “Mirror Image.”  

--Sandy Kenyon also appeared in the second season episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33” and the third season episode “The Shelter.”

--Henry Beckman also appeared in the second season episode “A Thing About Machines,” as well as the first season Night Gallery segment “They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar.”

--King Calder also appeared in the second season episode “The Trouble with Templeton.”

--Pat O’Hara also appeared in the second season Night Gallery segment “A Feast of Blood.”

--“Valley of the Shadow” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Chelcie Ross.

--The title of the episode is taken from the fourth line of the 23^rd psalm from the Book of Psalms: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”

-JP

"The Thirty Fathom Grave"

Simon Oakland and Mike Kellin

“The Thirty Fathom Grave”

Season Four, Episode 104

Original Air Date: January 10, 1963

Cast:

Chief Bell: Mike Kellin

Captain Beecham: Simon Oakland

Doc: David Sheiner

McClure: John Considine

OOD: Bill Bixby

Ensign Marmer: Conlan Carter

ASW Officer: Forrest Compton

Jr. OOD: Henry Scott

Lee Helmsman: Tony Call

Sonar Operator: Charles Kuenstle

Helmsman: Derrik Lewis

Sailor #1: Vince Bagetta

Sailor #2: Louie Elias

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay)

Director: Perry Lafferty

Producer: Herbert Hirschman

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens

Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Associate Producer: Murray Golden

Assistant to the Producer: John Conwell

Art Direction: George W. Davis & John J. Thompson

Film Editor: Richard W. Farrell

Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Don Greenwood, Jr.

Assistant Director: John Bloss

Sound: Franklin Milton & Joe Edmondson

Music: stock

Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes

Filmed at MGM Studios

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“The ingredients: an American destroyer, the Pacific Ocean, and the ghostly sound of hammering from thirty fathoms below. They add up to a strange tale of the bizarre and nightmarish. Mike Kellin and Simon Oakland star in a very different kind of Twilight Zone which we call ‘The Thirty Fathom Grave.’”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“Incident one hundred miles off the coast of Guadalcanal. Time: the present. The United States naval destroyer on what has been a most uneventful cruise. In a moment they’re going to send a man down thirty fathoms to check on a noise maker – someone or something tapping on metal. You may or may not read the results in a naval report, because Captain Beecham and his crew have just set a course that will lead this ship and everyone on it into The Twilight Zone.”

Summary:

            A United States naval destroyer on a routine trip in the Pacific Ocean stops to investigate a blip on sonar and a strange noise emanating from below the ocean surface. The noise sounds like steady hammering upon metal. Captain Beecham sends a diver, McClure, down to investigate and the crew discovers a ruined submarine dating from the Second World War.

            These events come at the same time Beecham is dealing with the sudden strange behavior of Chief Bell, a veteran sailor whose unexplained behavior is as perplexing as the mystery of the submarine.

            McClure goes down twice more in an effort to determine the origin of the submarine and the cause of the hammering sound. It is determined that it is a U.S. submarine but there is no accounting for the hammering noise. McClure get no response when he hammers upon the outer hull. Out of options, Beecham decides to call in help to get the submarine open.

            Meanwhile, Chief Bell’s mental health deteriorates to the point where he is admitted to sick bay and placed under observation. Bell is convinced that someone inside the submarine is calling out to him. Soon he is visited by ghostly visions of drowned sailors beckoning to him.

            On his final trip below McClure discovers a pair of dog tags caught in an opening to the submarine. He wrenches them free and gives them to Captain Beecham. Beecham reads Chief Bell’s name on the tags. When confronted, Bell relates a tale of being the only man to make it out of a Japanese attack on a submarine during the Second World War, the same submarine they have been investigating. Bell feels guilty about the deaths of the other men since he inadvertently drew the attention of the Japanese destroyer and was the only man to make it out alive when he was cast over the side.

            Convinced he should have died with the other soldiers Bell jumps over the side of the ship. Despite hours of searching, the crew is unable to recover his body. Help arrives and the submarine is opened. The report back to the captain is that all were dead inside but, strangely, one soldier in the control room was holding a hammer.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“Small naval engagement, the month of April, 1963. Not to be found in any historical annals. Look for this one filed under ‘H’ for Haunting – in The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

            Despite Rod Serling’s preview narration characterizing “The Thirty Fathom Grave” as “bizarre and nightmarish” and “a very different kind of Twilight Zone,” the episode fails to deliver on either of those promising descriptions. What remains is a largely ineffective and predictable ghost story which, at its hour length, feels overly padded and familiar.

            “The Thirty Fathom Grave” is partially redeemed by its engaging cast, the novelty of its setting, and the technical aspects of its script and production. Rod Serling was determined to get the technical aspects of the script correct and engaged feedback from the U.S. Navy to ensure the terminology used in the episode was realistic. Production Manager Ralph W. Nelson secured the use of actual naval destroyers to further ensure verisimilitude in the production. The exterior shots are of the USS Mullinnix with interior shots filmed aboard the USS Edson. Other interior shots, such as the Captain’s quarters, were filmed at MGM. The underwater shots were filmed on a tight schedule at the studio facilities of Republic Pictures.* This close attention to detail brings a spark of interest to otherwise laborious proceedings and recalls the technical attention paid to episodes such as “King Nine Will Not Return” and, especially, “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” an episode in which Serling engaged his brother Robert, a prolific writer covering the aviation industry and author of the national bestseller The President’s Plane is Missing (1967), as Technical Advisor.
             "The Thirty Fathom Grave" also reflects Serling's experience in the Pacific Ocean theater of the Second World War where he served three years with the 11th Airborne Division of the U.S. Army as a paratrooper. This war experience had a profound impact on Serling and he utilized his harrowing experiences to produce some truly moving and exceptional Twilight Zone episodes such as "The Purple Testament" and "A Quality of Mercy." As in those episodes, "The Thirty Fathom Grave" approaches issues of responsibility in the face of adversity as well as the emotional and psychological toll inflicted by combat. 

            The ghost story in all of its variegated applications was frequently explored on the series, with every major writer attempting the form at least once, the result of which was some of the more interesting episodes of the series, “Long Distance Call,” “A Game of Pool,” “The Changing of the Guard,” as well as less-successful efforts such as “Young Man’s Fancy” and “He’s Alive.” Rod Serling was naturally drawn to the conceits of the ghost story as the form is intrinsically concerned with the past and the way in which the past continues to affect the present. An overriding concern of Serling’s writing can neatly be described by William Faulkner’s familiar quote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past” (Requiem for a Nun (1951)). The past intruding upon the present to disrupt a character or a place is at the core of many Serling-penned episodes, including those which do not feature ghosts.

            The difficulty in using the familiar form of the ghost story is that it demands an intriguing variation upon the theme while also working within the parameters of an established form. This variation is typically achieved through setting, characterization, or a more refined quality such as unreliable narration or a disparity in narrative structure.

In many ways, Serling hearkens back to his earlier, far more successful, nautical ghost story “Judgment Night” in constructing “The Thirty Fathom Grave.” The episodes find common ground in concerns with the Second World War and concerns of a past naval engagement which must be repaid in the present by a ghostly revenge. There are several reasons why “Judgement Night” is more successful than “The Thirty Fathom Grave." The primary reason is the difference between a half-hour and hour-long format. This will likely be a repeated observation as we cover the fourth season but the less successful fourth season episodes feel impossibly padded. The hour-long format required a narrative structure which called for the incremental unfolding of the mystery in order to engage the viewer. In this regard, “The Thirty Fathom Grave” tips its hand too early. The short prologue conveys nearly the entirety of the plot which is then laboriously laid out over the following forty minutes. As a result, the viewer is left with a less-than-engaging cycle of repetitive events which holds no revealing mystery, unless one is unobservant to the point of missing the telegraphed story of Chief Bell’s conundrum.

Another qualitative difference between the episodes is that of atmosphere. “Judgment Night” had the luxury of director John Brahm, one of the supreme masters of shade and shadow, but also wisely set the proceedings at night in a fog-engulfed sector of the ocean, an atmosphere which immediately sets a proper tone for the ghostly tale. “The Thirty Fathom Grave” takes the opposite approach. In its quest for unwavering verisimilitude the production sacrificed the atmosphere necessary to effectively present a ghost story. The episode is filmed entirely in the clear, bright daylight. The orderly atmosphere of a military procedural, while in some ways an interesting attempt at variation, does little more than dispel any real atmospheric tension. 
      The underwater scenes, perhaps an area to engage a suitable atmosphere, are pedestrian at best and plodding and dull at worst. These scenes were filmed on a very tight schedule at Republic Studios and it shows in the finished product as each underwater scene bears little difference from that which came before, despite the narrative progression of each underwater descent. This sort of filmmaking gives the episode a sense of static repetition. Furthermore, the appearance of the silent, unmoving ghosts in “Judgment Night” is more effective than that of the beckoning ghosts of “The Thirty Fathom Grave,” although there is an unnerving quality to their water-logged appearance and blank-faced gesticulations.

Serling produced a similar nautical ghost story with “Lone Survivor” (published in book form as “The Sole Survivor”), a first season Night Gallery episode which concerns a coward (John Colicos) who escapes the sinking of the RMS Titanic by dressing in female clothing to secure a place on a lifeboat. Serling manages a neat, if predictable, twist on the tale when it is revealed that the lone survivor was picked up by the RMS Lusitania a short time before it is torpedoed by a German U-boat. The cowardly survivor acts as a ghostly portent of doom, cursed to be repeatedly rescued only to bring destruction upon his rescuers. In each of these episodes Serling is broadly playing upon the legend of The Flying Dutchman, a ship which can never make land and serves as a portent of doom if seen by members of another vessel. Serling played upon this legend in other, non-nautical, episodes such as "King Nine Will Not Return" (based in part on the 1959 discovery of the previously lost B-24 bomber Lady Be Good) and "The Odyssey of Flight 33," in which a commercial airliner is substituted for the doomed ship. 

The cast of “The Thirty Fathom Grave” is a small saving grace to the production as it is filled with talented, familiar-faced character actors. Simon Oakland (1915-1983) gives a strong, authoritative performance, despite the often ludicrous nature of the lines he delivers. Oakland made a career out of playing gruff, if not outright villainous, characters and previously gave a memorable turn as the antagonist DeCruz in Rod Serling’s second season episode “The Rip Van Winkle Caper.” Oakland appeared in dozens of television series but is perhaps best remembered for portraying the psychologist who attempts to explain Norman Bates's condition in the closing minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Mike Kellin (1922-1983) plays the doomed Chief Bell, bringing a high degree of believable anxiety to the tortured character. Kellin is remembered for portraying tough guys and for his role as Billy Hayes's father in Midnight Express (1978). Kellin's relatively infrequent appearances on genre programs include turns on Suspense, Inner Sanctum, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Lost in Space. Also among the cast of sailors is Bill Bixby, who soon achieved recognition on the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian and later played Dr. David Banner in the CBS action drama The Incredible Hulk. Bixby also appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery. John Considine portrays the unfortunate sailor who must descend underwater repeatedly. Considine was also a prolific television actor who is likely familiar to genre fans for his appearance in the excellent The Outer Limits episode, "The Man Who Was Never Born." Anthony D. Call (here billed as Tony Call) also had a memorable genre television appearance in the first season Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver," written by Twilight Zone writer Jerry Sohl. 

Although there are interesting aspects to the production, “The Thirty Fathom Grave" is far too slowly paced and predictable to be objectively recommended. It is not the worst episode presented on the series but there is little of interest beyond the novelty of its production and, perhaps, the collective cast. It simply plays too long and offers no real variation on a well-worn theme. In many ways, "The Thirty Fathom Grave" is everything viewers find unsatisfactory about the fourth season. This one is for completists.

Grade: D

*Those who desire a more detailed examination of the production and the way in which input from the Navy reflected in Rod Serling’s final script are advised to seek out Martin Grams, Jr.’s book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic (OTR, 2008).

Notes:

-Perry Lafferty also directed the prior and subsequent episodes of the series, “In His Image” and “Valley of the Shadow.”

-Simon Oakland also appeared in the second season episode, “The Rip Van Winkle Caper.”

-Bill Bixby appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: “Last Rites for a Dead Druid” from the second season and “The Return of the Sorcerer” from the third season.

-Henry Scott also appeared in the first season episode “The Big Tall Wish.”

-“The Thirty Fathom Grave” was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Blair Underwood.
-An interesting aspect of the episode is that Rod Serling's closing narration reports that the events took place in April, 1963, roughly fourth months after the broadcast date of the episode. 

-JP

"In His Image"

“In His Image”

Season Four, Episode 103

Original Air Date: January 3, 1963

Cast:

Alan Talbot/Water Ryder, Jr.: George Grizzard

Jessica Connelly: Gail Kobe

Old Woman: Katharine Squire

Man: Wallace Rooney

Driver: George Petrie

Sheriff: James Seay

Hotel Clerk: Jamie Forster

Girl: Sherry Granato

Grizzard’s double: Joseph Sargent

Crew:

Writer: Charles Beaumont (based on his story “The Man Who Made Himself”)

Director: Perry Lafferty

Producer: Herbert Hirschman

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens

Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Art Direction: George W. Davis & William Ferrari

Editor: Edward Curtiss

Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Edward M. Parker

Assistant to the Producer: John Conwell

Assistant Director: John Bloss

Sound: Franklin Milton & Bill Edmondson

Music: stock

Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes

Filmed at MGM Studios

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“What you have just witnessed could be the end of a particularly terrifying nightmare. It isn’t. It’s the beginning. Although Alan Talbot doesn’t know it, he’s about to enter a strange new world, too incredible to be real, too real to be a dream. It’s called – The Twilight Zone.” 

Summary:

            Alan Talbot is accosted by a religious fanatic in the form of an old woman while waiting for a subway train in the early morning hours. They are alone on the platform. Alan has lately been plagued by discordant sounds inside his head which strike without provocation or warning. As the train enters the station Alan again hears the strange sounds and is irresistibly compelled to push the old woman down onto the tracks. He runs from the scene after committing this terrible act.
            Alan next arrives at his girlfriend's house. Her name is Jessica Connelly and together they are taking a trip to Alan's hometown, Coeurville, so that Alan can introduce Jess to his friends and family. Alan has been in New York City for only a few days and in that time has met and began courting Jess. Alan seems to retain no knowledge of pushing the old woman in front of the train. 

            Alan points out the familiar landmarks of his hometown as they drive by, except things do not always match his memory. The university he works for is not there, buildings have changed or been replaced, and his friends and family have either died or never existed at all. Worse still, there is no record of an Alan Talbot ever residing in Coeurville.

Jess becomes concerned about Alan’s mental state but truly loves him and so tries to help him get to the bottom of this mystery. Alan leads her to the cemetery to visit his parent’s graves. Instead, he finds headstones for a Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ryder, people he does not know.

Later that night, as Jess drives them down the highway, Alan suddenly become ill, strange sounds again whirling within his head. Jess pulls the car over and Alan runs off into the dense undergrowth. He leans against a tree and picks up a large rock. He calls out to Jess, compelled to kill her. At the last moment Alan manages to control his deadly urge and tells Jess to run away. She leaves him there.

Alan runs to the road and is nearly hit by a passing motorist. The motorist stops to help Alan and there, in the light from the headlamp, Alan examines a wound suffered while dodging the vehicle. It is a small slit in his forearm which he opens to expose wires and circuits beneath the skin.  

            Alan locates Walter Ryder, Jr. in the phonebook and goes to his home in the middle of the night. There he finds a man who looks exactly like himself. Walter Ryder, Jr. tells Alan an incredible story. Walter is an inventor and Alan is his invention, a synthetic man built in an attempt to create a perfect version of himself. There was a problem, however, a glitch in the framework which manifests itself as an unpredictable homicidal urge. Days before, Alan tried to kill Walter with a pair of scissors.

            Alan disbelieves. Walter takes him down into a basement laboratory to display the apparatus which was used to create Alan. Alan asks if he can be repaired. When Walter says he cannot, Alan tells him about Jess. Suddenly, the deadly urge again overcomes Alan and he attacks Walter.

            Later, there is a knock on Jess’s door. She opens to find Walter, whom she believes to be Alan. Walter has survived Alan’s attack and has come to continue where Alan left off. They begin their courtship anew, cleansed of the danger which previously lay between them.

            In a final shot we see Alan lying dead on the floor of the laboratory. Despite the violence of the scene around him, his face is set in an expression of peaceful parting.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“In a way it can be said that Walter Ryder succeeded in his life’s ambition, even though the man he created was, after all, himself. There may be easier ways to self-improvement but sometimes it happens that the shortest distance between two points is a crooked line through – The Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

“Pete Nolan knew everything about his past life up to the present, but the trouble was he couldn’t find anybody to verify his existence!”

            -original publication tagline for “The Man Who Made Himself”

Original magazine illustration
by W.E. Terry

            In one sense, “In His Image” provides a comparative view of Charles Beaumont’s principal concerns as a fiction writer: the pliable nature of reality, the disorder of perception, and our over-reliance upon memory as the basis for self-identity. Beaumont’s contributions to The Twilight Zone are filled with characters whose senses deceive them and whose memories prove faulty, from the unfortunate astronauts in “Elegy” to the unwary traveler who encounters “The Howling Man” to the man who wakes up as an non-entity in “Person or Persons Unknown.” In Beaumont’s fictional constructs, however, the world around us is confusing not only because we fail to properly perceive it but because it actively changes its nature to harass or destroy us. For Beaumont there is another, more malevolent, layer to individual existence.

The romantic poet, artist, and philosopher William Blake, in his influential work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), suggests that the five senses of human perception are inlets to the soul and a path to natural truth. It is the nature of perception which writers have relentlessly confronted in the decades since Blake printed his masterwork, but Blake’s metaphysical view of human perception has proven far too restrictive for subsequent generations, particularly in the years after psychology and related behavioral studies became a codified scientific field.

For Charles Beaumont, writing one hundred and sixty years after Blake, the only truth derived from our senses is that our senses alone cannot lead us to truth. These are unreliable, malformed tools we use to perceive something astonishingly complex and our senses are constantly under the degrading effect of outside forces. “In His Image” features a protagonist assaulted with a barrage of disturbances concerning sight and sound, those tools most essential for committing experience to memory. Alan’s homicidal episodes occur when he is disoriented or irritated, accompanied by bursts of jarring noise suggestive of phonophobia, an aversion to loud noise which can cause acute stress and panic in one who suffers from the condition. Walter Ryder, Jr. later characterizes this condition as Alan's lack of inhibition, though we can all sympathize with Alan's annoyance at being accosted by a cloying religious zealot even if very few of us would push the woman in front of an oncoming train.

Charles Beaumont faced many challenges in his short life, from an abusive, transient childhood to the devastating illness which robbed him first of his creative ability and then of his life. "In His Image" presents a form of tragic irony in its story concerning a man who finds the solid foundations of his memory suddenly contorted into ever-increasing unreliability. In 1963 Beaumont began his own tumultuous path down the slippery slope of forgetfulness, a real-life situation not entirely dissimilar to that experienced by Alan Talbot in “In His Image.”

Beaumont’s condition initially disguised itself as the effects of an ever-increasing workload. Beaumont rarely turned down a professional writing assignment and by 1963 he was drowning in deadlines for film and television scripts, essays, stories, and book publications. In the midst of this professional chaos was Beaumont’s increasingly full home life. 1963 saw the birth of Beaumont’s fourth child. Beaumont sought respite in alcohol and one of the few changes Beaumont made in transitioning the story “The Man Who Made Himself” into the television episode “In His Image” is the addition of the shadow of alcoholism. Jess asks to stop for a drink before meeting Alan’s Aunt Mildred. Walter Ryder, Jr. is a drunk, whose alcoholism has dulled his drive to capitalize on his natural intellectual gifts beyond the obsessive desire to create another self.

By the spring of 1963 the effect of the early-onset Alzheimer’s which eventually took Beaumont’s life began to manifest itself. Friends Jerry Sohl, John Tomerlin, OCee Ritch, and William F. Nolan stepped in to complete Beaumont’s writing assignments, including four Twilight Zone episodes, but rarely received credit for their efforts. This was largely by design. Beaumont’s friends wanted the money from the assignments to go completely to Beaumont’s family. By year’s end Beaumont’s writing career was effectively over. The summer of 1964 brought the terrible diagnosis which stated that in some strange, Twilight Zone manner, Beaumont, a youthful man in his thirties, was suffering from a fatal, degenerative mental disease which remains uncannily rare for someone so young. An even crueler twist is that the disease manifested itself at the height of Beaumont's creative powers. The fourth season of Twilight Zone may well be Beaumont’s strongest. Unlike Rod Serling and, to a lesser degree, Richard Matheson, the hour-long format seems to have magnified Beaumont’s strengths as a writer, evident in such episodes as “Miniature,” “Printer’s Devil,” and “Passage on the Lady Anne.”

In another sense, “In His Image” is highly derivative, the culmination of ideas and images previously presented on the series in “The After Hours,” “A World of Difference,” “The Lateness of the Hour,” “Five Characters in Search of an Exit,” and the aforementioned “Person or Persons Unknown.” What elevates “In His Image” above the derivative nature of its plot and theme is the convincing love story at its center and the excellent dual performance from George Grizzard, here portraying a very different character from his comedic turn in the first season episode “The Chaser.” Both of these elements are greatly assisted by the presence of Gail Kobe as Jessica Connelly. Kobe is a familiar face to regular viewers of the series, having previously appeared in the thematically similar episode “A World of Difference,” and soon to appear in the fifth season episode “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross.” Kobe (1932-2013) was born Gabriella Joyce Kieliszewski (her family later changed their surname) in Hamtramck, Michigan. She studied theater and dance at UCLA, earning a Fine Arts degree. Kobe began dancing as a child as a form of therapy for polio. A heart murmur acquired during her school years required her to stop dancing soon after high school. After UCLA, Kobe entered television, appearing in dozens of shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s, mostly westerns and detective dramas, but occasionally programs such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Outer Limits. Kobe embarked on a second career in the industry when she moved into a producer’s chair in the 1970s, overseeing production on an array of daytime dramas including Guiding Light and The Bold and the Beautiful. “In His Image” offers Kobe her strongest role on the series and she and Grizzard display the finest onscreen chemistry since William Shatner and Patricia Breslin in “Nick of Time.”

The episode is also graced with excellent photography from George T. Clemens, an effective use of stock music cues, and subtle visual effects, including the nearly invisible insertion of future film director Joseph Sargent as George Grizzard’s double. Perry Lafferty was behind the camera for “In His Image” and his work on the episode set a precedence for quality which unfortunately would not be sustained throughout the fourth season. Lafferty was born in 1918 in Davenport, Iowa and initially trained as a pianist at the Yale School of Music before moving into radio production and direction in the 1940s. Lafferty directed a handful of television episodes but is better known in the industry as a producer and network executive. In 1965 CBS promoted Lafferty to the head of their West Coast production unit. Lafferty directed two additional Twilight Zone episodes, “The Thirty Fathom Grave” and “Valley of the Shadow,” both of which immediately followed “In His Image” in broadcast order. He died in Los Angeles in 2005.

The tale of the artificial person (or the person created by artificial means) is a staple of science fiction older than the genre itself, stretching in time from the Golem of Jewish folklore to the increasingly self-aware beings which populate Westworld. The most interesting subset of this story type is that which uses the artificial person to explore questions of identity, existence, perception, memory, and the ways in which these fundamental, yet abstract, aspects of an individual can be changed or altered by near and outlying factors.

As science fiction in America dragged itself out of the pulps writers began to incorporate aspects of mainstream literature to explore themes of the genre. The 1950s, a decade gaining favor in critical circles as the true Golden Age of the genre, saw an uptick in the production of the artificial person story type as writers gradually turned the science fictional lens inward to the mind and self. By the time Beaumont came to write “The Man Who Made Himself” in 1957, he was preceded in his effort by such writers as Ray Bradbury, whose 1949 story “Marionettes, Inc.” allowed henpecked husbands to create duplicate versions of themselves at a fatal price, Clifford D. Simak, whose 1951 tale “Goodnight, Mr. James” (aka “The Duplicate Man”) described a future society in which wealthy citizens created duplicate versions of themselves to perform undesirable tasks, and Philip K. Dick, whose 1953 story “Impostor” featured a protagonist very much like Alan Talbot, an artificial man who does not know his true nature and, owing to Dick’s penchant for political thrillers, harbors within his artificial body a weapon of mass destruction. All of these stories have seen dramatic adaptation, Bradbury’s on radio’s Dimension X and on television’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Ray Bradbury Theater. Simak’s appeared as an episode of The Outer Limits and Dick’s as a 2001 feature film. Dick returned to the themes found in his story for his most famous work, the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?, filmed by Ridley Scott in 1982 as Blade Runner.

Other examples of this story type abound in and out of the science fiction genre. Beaumont’s own 1953 story “Last Rites” covers much of the same ground despite a fundamental inversion to the theme of the tale. “Last Rites” concerns an artificial man who has found religion and, on his deathbed, calls upon a priest to administer last rites. The story is primarily concerned with forms of the soul and the afterlife but clearly demonstrates that Beaumont was concerned at an earlier date with the themes of “In His Image.” Like the prior story, Beaumont imbues “In His Image” with overtones of spiritual faith. Unlike “Last Rites,” however, Beaumont here presents religion as antagonistic, the symbolism of which (a religious pamphlet) twice triggers Alan’s homicidal outbursts, including what is likely the most shocking opening sequence of the series. There is also the rather obvious choice of the title “In His Image,” taken from Genesis 1:27, the Christian tale of the creation of the human race. “The Howling Man” is another Beaumont episode with obvious religious overtones, though one dealing with the broader sociological question of good and evil.

 The tale of the artificial person is a story type intimately related to the tale of the doppelgänger, the uncanny other which can manifests itself equally as an internal or external being. The most famous treatment of the doppelgänger in English is Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), a work which has been endlessly adapted since its original publication and is directly alluded to in “In His Image.” Stevenson was preoccupied with the theme and his similar 1885 tale “Markheim” was in some ways a trial run for the more complex and satisfying Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Twilight Zone approached similar material with the underrated first season episode “Mirror Image” and to a lesser degree with episodes such as “Long Live Walter Jameson” and “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You,” the latter two episodes derived from Beaumont’s story material.  

Another essential tale to which “In His Image” alludes is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, in which a young medical student constructs a man from the parts of cadavers and imbues the creature with life through an ambiguous means generally interpreted to be electricity. Like the young Victor Frankenstein, Alan Talbot declares his early and ongoing obsession with the creation of artificial life. For Alan, however, it is not so much about playing God as it is about creating a perfect version of himself, someone with none of his insecurities, fears, or weaknesses. The fatal flaw in his design, and one with which Dr. Jekyll could certainly relate, is that his perfect self also possesses none of his inhibitions, those learned behaviors developed in our formative years which prevent us from acting upon our baser, more violent instincts. The relationship between “In His Image” and Frankenstein was duly noted by contemporary critics and, unfortunately, resulted in many of these critics writing the episode off as a weak derivation.

Beaumont typically remained very faithful to his own stories when adapting the material for The Twilight Zone and “In His Image” is no exception*. The entire course of events is mirrored almost exactly from the short story and Beaumont lifts large portions of dialogue as well. The changes imposed by Beaumont are those to be expected when adapting from a medium which is primarily interior to one which is primarily exterior. The most notable change is in the title, which Beaumont alludes back to in Rod Serling’s outgoing narration, and in the names of the principal characters. Alan Talbot is Peter Nolan in the story. Nolan, of course, is for William F. Nolan, one of Beaumont’s closest friends who also served as the inspiration for the protagonist Charley Parkes in Beaumont's later episode “Miniature.” Jessica Connelly is Jessica Lang in the story. Again, Beaumont chose the name of an acquaintance, this time the celebrated German expatriate film director Fritz Lang. Beaumont first met Lang when the teenage Beaumont traveled from his home in Everett, Washington to Los Angeles to interview Lang for Beaumont’s amateur fanzine Utopia. The two became friendly and Lang later helped to get Beaumont signed to an acting contract at Universal, though nothing resulted from Beaumont’s attempts at professional acting. Beaumont long intended to write a biography of Lang but the project never came to fruition. Finally, Walter Ryder, Jr. is Walter Cummings, Jr. in the story.

Another change is the way in which Alan/Peter discovers his true nature. In the episode he is nearly hit by a car and suffers an injury to his arm. In the story he angrily punches a tree until the skin breaks across his knuckles. Also altered is the way in which the reader realizes it is Walter and not Alan/Peter who arrives at Jess’s door to conclude the tale. When Walter is attacked in the story, it is his face which is scarred, not his chest. Thus, the reader realizes that the man who arrives at Jess’s door to end the tale is Walter when Jess calls attention to the scar on his face. The episode does provide a nice, if brief, bit of suspense when the audience is unsure whether Alan or Walter has survived the laboratory fight.

“In His Image” begins the fourth season with a very strong effort which operates at a high level in nearly every aspect of production. Though “In His Image” generally does not suffer the pacing issues which plagued the hour-long fourth season episodes, there are some minor pacing problems, particularly in transitioning from Alan’s discovery of his true nature to his encounter at Walter’s home. Some of the production design leaves more to be desired as well. Walter’s basement laboratory is highly stereotypical and William Tuttle’s makeup designs for the aborted attempts which lie upon the laboratory slabs have not aged well. These are small problems, however, and hardly detract from the overall artistry of “In His Image.” This one comes recommended, especially for viewers wary to engage in the hour-long episodes.

Grade: B

Grateful acknowledgement is made to William F. Nolan for information found in The Work of Charles Beaumont: An Annotated Bibliography (revised 2nd edition, Borgo Press, 1990), and to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org), the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), and the Internet Archive (archive.org). 

* “The Jungle” is a notable exception. See my review for a story to episode comparison. 

Notes:

---Charles Beaumont’s original story, “The Man Who Made Himself,” was published in the February, 1957 issue of Imagination magazine, edited by William L. Hamling. Beaumont included the story, as “In His Image,” in his 1958 collection Yonder: Stories of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Bantam Books). The story has seen subsequent inclusion in such volumes as The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories (editors: Martin Harry Greenberg, Richard Matheson, and Charles G. Waugh; Avon Books, 1985), Mass for Mixed Voices: The Selected Short Fiction of Charles Beaumont (editor: Roger Anker; Centipede Press, 2013), and Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories (Penguin Classics, 2015).

--Charles Beaumont wrote 17 additional episodes of the series, with another 4 written by other writers under his byline. Among the many exceptional episodes written by Beaumont are “Perchance to Dream,” “Long Live Walter Jameson,” “The Howling Man,” “Shadow Play,” and “Miniature.”

--Perry Lafferty also directed the season four episodes “The Thirty Fathom Grave” and “Valley of the Shadow.”

--George Grizzard also appeared in the first season episode “The Chaser.”

--Gail Kobe also appeared in the first season episode “A World of Difference” and the fifth season episode “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross.”

--Katharine Squire also appeared in the third season episode “One More Pallbearer.”

--Wallace Rooney also appeared in the second season episode “The Rip Van Winkle Caper” and the third season episode “Young Man’s Fancy.”

--George Petrie also appeared in the 1980s Twilight Zone episode “Shadow Play,” a remake of Charles Beaumont’s original series episode.

--Joseph Sargent appeared uncredited in the second season episode “Twenty Two.”

--“In His Image” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring John Heard.

-JP