Twilight Zone ( TV Series (1959–1964)) - The Noir Episodes (Part 3)

Many episodes of The Twilight Zone had Classic Noir directors, John Brahm twelve Twilight Zone episodes directed The Locket, Hangover Square, and The Lodger, Joseph M. Newman four episodes directed 711 Ocean Drive, The Human Jungle, Dangerous Crossing, Robert Florey three episodes directed The Face Behind the Mask, Danger Signal, and The Crooked Way, Mitchell Leisen three episodes directed No Man of Her Own, Robert Parrish three episodes directed The Mob, and Cry Danger), Stuart Rosenberg three episodes directed (Murder, Inc.), Robert Stevens two episodes directed (The Big Caper), Christian Nyby two episodes, directed SciFi Noir The Thing from Another World), Don Siegel two episodes directed The Verdict, The Big Steal, Private Hell 36, Riot in Cell Block 11, The Lineup, other Noir directors Ralph Nelson (Transitional Noir Once a Thief), Ida Lupino (The Hitch-Hiker) and Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, The Leopard Man, I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People) each directed one episode.

Many episodes of The Twilight Zone starred Noir vet actors, who nicely provide a cinematic memory links to not only Noir, but also to Transitional Noir, and future Neo Noir. Vaugh Taylor appeared in five episodes, Burgess Meredith appeared in four episodes, Richard Conte, Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Dana Andrews, Richard Basehart, Dan Duryea, Ann Blyth, Lee Marvin, Robert Cummings, Howard Duff, Ted de Corsia, Franchot Tone, Dane Clark, Neville Brand, Jack Elam, Richard Erdman, Jay Adler, Percy Helton, Earl Holliman, Inger Stevens, James Gregory, Anne Francis, Joe Mantell, John Hoyt, Simon Oakland, John McGiver, Martin Landau, Martin Balsam, Thomas Gomez, Jack Warden, Cecil Kellaway, Claude Akins, Ross Martin, Jack Weston, Ivan Dixon, Jesse White, Arlene Martel, Warren Oates, Rod Taylor, Luther Adler, John Carradine, Fred Clark, John McIntire, Keenan Wynn, Jack Carson, Peter Falk, Dean Jagger, Gary Merrill, Agnes Moorehead, Barbara Nichols, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Weaver, Theodore Bikel, Arthur Hunnicutt, Joseph Wiseman, Barbara Baxley, Dennis Hopper, Mickey Rooney, Telly Savalas, James Whitmore, Robert Keith, Nehemiah Persoff, Gig Young, Vera Miles, Everett Sloane, Charles Bronson, Cloris Leachman, Frank Silvera, Murray Hamilton, Martin Milner, Maxine Cooper, R.G. Armstrong, Lee Van Cleef,  Dub Taylor, Beverly Garland, and Seymore Cassel, there are probably a few more that I've missed.

Bernard Herrmann composed season one's moody title theme. Other music contributors for the original television show are Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, Nathan Scott, Fred Steiner, Nathan Van Cleave, and Franz Waxman. Avant Guard composer Marius Constant wrote the well-known theme introduced in the second season.

The last Noir episode of season one was number 32...

Season 1, Episode 32 air date 20 May 1960 

A Passage for Trumpet

A Beat Noir

Directed by Don Medford and written by Rod Serling. Music was by Lyn Murray and Cinematography by George T. Clemens.

The Episode stars Jack Klugman as Joey Crown, John Anderson as Gabriel, Frank Wolff as Baron, Mary Webster as Nan, James Flavin as the Truck Driver and Ned Glass as the Pawnbroker.

Jack Klugman as Joey Crown

Frank Wolff as Baron

 Pawnbroker Ned Glass with Joey Crown

John Anderson as Gabriel

Joe Crown, an alcoholic has been horn player. A stage door Johnny to a dream. He's on a back alley vigil. At a dead end wall piled high with a night clubs effluvium a half open door becomes a de facto niche. A niche of Shadows and Sound. The silhouette of a musician and the music emanating there from representing, maybe the temple of the Holy Cult of Jazz.  

Joey is intense, determined. He has his "baby," his horn out. He wants impossible things. He thinks he can con Baron. The set ends. The band heads out for ten. They see Joey and Joey sees on their faces derision, dismay, disgust. 

Baron slips out for a smoke. Joey asks if he needs a horn player. Joey begs for another shot, tells Baron he's off the sauce. Tells him he doesn't even know what "it" is. Joey is despondent. He tells Baron that he has nice music in his horn. He can blow jewels and fresh flowers. He can make an audience cry.

Baron believes. Believes until a pint bottle that Joey kept in his horn case slips out and smashes on the pave. Joey is despondent.

Sure Joey, sure. Baron now highly pessimistic sticks some cash in Joey's pocket, "for old times" tells him he had it once but he traded it off for hooch. Baron asks him why? Joey tells him. 

Joey: Because I'm sad. Because I'm nothing. Because I'll live and die in a crummy one roomer with dirty walls and cracked pipes. I don't even have a girl. I'll never be anybody, half of me is in this horn. I can't even talk to people Baron, because this horn is half my language. But when I'm drunk Baron, oh when I'm drunk boy, I don't see the dirty walls or the cracked pipes, I don't know the clocks going or the hours going by, because then I'm Gabriel. I'm Gabriel with a golden horn. And when I put it to my lips it comes out jewels, comes out a symphony, comes out the smell of fresh flowers in summer, comes out beauty, beauty. When I'm drunk Baron. Only when I'm drunk.

Joey walks away, he's tired of "hanging around." 

Joey sells his horn to Ned at the pawnshop for $8.50 and goes on a bender at the nearest bar, The Bandwagon. Stumbling out a few hours later he sees Ned putting his "baby" in the window with a sign for $25.00. 

He knocks on the glass. Ned tells him not to worry he won't get that price so fast, and besides he's got overhead. What do you got, guys like you got nothing?

Joey: Yea I got nothing.

Joey weaves over to a police call box near the curb, spots a fast moving delivery truck and steps in front of it. He gets knocked into the Twilight Zone from Noirsille. 

Noirsville 

Joey wakes up, appropriately, at night, a wet night, the streets are mirroring. A Noir night. He gets up off the sidewalk, there is a cop at the call box. Joey goes up to him trying to convince the cop that he is not drunk. The cop (who looks like a young Warren Oates) doesn't even see Joey.  A few more encounters. He tries to bum a smoke and gets a, "not even there," brush off. Joey then chats with a ticket window acquaintance who acts oblivious. Joey is stunned when he does not see is reflection in the theaters lobby mirror.

Joey: I'm dead. That's it? I'm just plain ol' deceased. [walks over to some patrons leaving the theater exclaing ecstatically] Hey, I'm a ghost, the truck made it after all! [to a woman buying a ticket] I'm going to haunt you, boo..... 

Joey: For the first time in the life of Joey Crown, he was successful at something.

Finally after revisiting his other "haunts" Joey goes back to the nightclub alley and finds out about himself and about life. 7/10

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Season Two

"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!" (Season Two opening narration)

Season 2, Episode 3 air date Oct. 14, 1960

Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room 

A Psychological Noir

Director was Douglas Heyes. Written by Rod Serling. Cinematography by George T. Clemens, Music by Jerry Goldsmith 

Joe Mantell as Jackie Rhoades

William D. Gordon as George

Starring Joe Mantell ((Port of New York (1949), Marty (1955), Mister Buddwing (1966), Chinatown (1974), The Two Jakes (1990)), as Jackie and William D. Gordon as George. 

Hot night. Residence hotel. One room flop. Jackie Baby. Jackie Rhodes. 

A nickel and dime crook. A two time loser. Sweating his ass off.  Biting his fingernails. Waiting. Waiting for a call. A call from George. Jackie is George's number one boy.  

The call comes, Jackie, ecstatic, he's a slobbering tail wagging' puppy, hearing his master's voice. He starts apologizing for imagined shortcomings. and babbling on about the long wait and the heat. George hangs up. Jackie nervously goes back to biting his nails. 

Rod Serling - Narrator

Narrator: [Opening Narration] This is Mr. Jackie Rhoades, age thirty-four, and where some men leave a mark of their lives as a record of their fragmentary existence on Earth, this man leaves a blot, a dirty, discolored blemish to document a cheap and undistinguished sojourn amongst his betters. What you're about to watch in this room is a strange and mortal combat between a man and himself, for in just a moment, Mr. Jackie Rhoades, whose life has been given over to fighting adversaries, will find his most formidable opponent in a cheap hotel room that is in reality the outskirts of The Twilight Zone.

George arrives. A two bit sleazeball with a pencil thin mustache above a shit eating grin. He's wearing the latest sporty cheap hood attire, light sports jacket, and bright patterned tie against a black shirt. 

Jackie, is still in puppy dog mode. George must physically push Jakie out of his space, lest he start humping his leg. 

Jackie wants to know the score on the job George has got for him. George asks him if it makes any difference? 

Jackie says no, but you can tell he doesn't mean it. He just wants to know what George has in mind. Jackie says he'd like decent odds for a change, he doesn't mind a little shake down or a little bunco, he just doesn't want all the hard stuff. He almost got picked up the last two times. "If they pick me up one more time it's three time strikes." 

George tells him he gonna let him be a man, gonna let you sow some muscle this go round and throws a revolver on his bed. Tells him that there is an old man who runs a bar on 38th street between Lexington and Park who doesn't want to pay off for the jukeboxes, doesn't want to pay protection, so tomorrow he's gonna be found sprawled over his bar. 

Jackie tells George that he doesn't have the guts, that he could be sent up for just carrying the piece. Jackie tells George to send his torpedos. George throws back that if he does that, he'll be picked up for sure, and that is exactly why you are going to do it because the cops will never suspect Jackie Rhoades.

 

George tells Jackie he's in hock over his ears to him and if he welshes on this he'll be dead.

As soon as George leaves Jackie has a serious conversation with himself in Noirsille.

Noirsville 

A good claustrophobic episode. 9/10

Narrator: [Closing Narration] Exit Mr. John Rhoades, formerly a reflection in a mirror, a fragment of someone else's conscience, a wishful thinker made out of glass, but now made out of flesh and on his way to join the company of men. Mr. John Rhoades, with one foot through the door and one foot out - of The Twilight Zone.

Season 2, Episode 6 air date Nov. 11, 1960 

Eye of the Beholder 

SciFi Noir

Directed by Douglas Heyes. Written by Rod Serling, Music by Bernard Herrmann, Cinematography by George T. Clemens.

Starring Maxine Stuart as Janet Tyler, William D. Gordon as Doctor, Jennifer Howard as Janet's Nurse George Keymas as The Leader

Janet Tyler is in hospital having undergone treatment to make her look normal. It's her 11th trip to the hospital for treatment and she is desperate to look like everyone else. Some of her earliest childhood memories are of people looking away, horrified by her appearance. Her bandages will soon come off and she can only hope that this, her last treatment, will have done the trick. If not, her doctor has told she will be segregated with a colony of similar looking people. All that to say that truth is truly in the eye of the beholder. (garykmcd from IMDb )

Most of this simple tale is propelled along through the use of quite noir stylish cinematography. Using dark shadows. Extreme closeups. Silhouettes. Concealing overhead camera angles. Other shots through gauze. Creative framing. All which builds up the anticipation for the final reveal.

Noirsville 

Nice Noir Cinematography one of the Classic Twilight Zone episodes. 7/10

Season 2, Episode 17 air date 10 Feb. 1961 

Twenty Two

A Supernatural/Psychological Noir 

Directed by Jack Smight, written by Rod Serling and based on an anecdote from "Famous Ghost Stories" by Bennett Cerf. Camera and Electrical Department - Tom Schamp. 

Barbara Nichols as Liz Powell

Fredd Wayne as Barney Kamener

Arlene Martel

Jonathan Harris, as The Doctor

Starring Barbara Nichols (Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), The Wild Party (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957)) as Liz Powell, Jonathan Harris (TV series Lost In Space) as The Doctor, Fredd Wayne as Barney Kamener, and Arlene Martel (The Glass Cage (1964) as Nurse in Morgue/stewardess.

Room 305. Liz Powell. A bump and grind striptease artist. On a bed. Bars of light stab through a blind. A dark hospital room. Liz lutching a raggedy Anne doll. Nightmare. Whimpering. She awakens startled. 

We then hear the quick ticking clock. We see a night table with the alarm clock, a water picture, a glass, and a stuffed leopard. Breathing heavily she reaches out for the water glass. A grasp, a shake, and the glass shatters on the floor. Liz is terrified. She hears footsteps leather squeaking out in the hall. 

Liz gets out of bed. Barefoot. Wearing a nightgown, clutching the doll, she approaches the door. She opens it and steps out just as an elevator door closes on a nurse.

She nervously walks down a shadowy hall on a checkered linoleum floor to the elevator. The illuminated half dial above indicates the car went to the basement. Liz pushes the button. It ascends. She rides the car back down to a dimly lit basement corridor strewn with ducts, pipes, and conduit. 

A few empty gurneys are parked along the walls. Liz shivering walks determinedly, like she knows where she is going. She makes a right at the first corner just as two swinging doors below a room number 22, marked morgue, swing back and forth. 

Immediately a nurse pops out at Liz and declares "Room for one more honey." Liz screams and runs back towards the elevator.

The next day Barney, Liz's manager shows up. Barney Kamener. Suave, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and and a light tie. He carrying a package.

Barney: Hiya kitten.

Liz: You lose your way Barney?

Barney: Heeeey. You're looking great kitten. you're looking just great. 

Liz: It's been a long time between talks.

Barney: Look what I brought you honey. [unwraps picture in frame] I had it blown up. We'll get it blown up real big and we'll put it in front of the Tiki when you open there.

Liz: Where you been Barney

Barney:Wellllll, hospitals sort of depress me.

Liz: You ought to try it in here lying on your back for a couple of weeks Barney, pretty soon you feel like you're laying on a glass slide and all the creeps are looking at you through a microscope. And the only tie the sun shines is when its visiting hours.

Barney: Hey kitten what a mind you got, what a mind.

Liz:That's what bugs you isn't it Barney, my mind. You think I left it in a bus station someplace, don't cha?

Barney: If you keep on talking nutsy like this I gotta think something's wrong kitten.

Liz: Barney you gotta believe me. You're the only one. Your really the only one who I thought would believe me. When you didn't show up, when you didn't even call, I got this wild idea that you've given me up, that you figured I was some kind of kook who left the world behind.

Barney: O'no

Liz: But Barney you gotta believe me you're the only one. They are not dreams they happen.

They are interrupted by the creepy old Doc who with a shit eating grin tells Liz that she makes an old doctor fell like a new intern. Do you have a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see Liz?

Jonathan Harris is a hoot playing the lecherous Doctor. After snickering about Liz's excellent stripping abilities he gets serious and recounts the dream.

Doc:  You say it all happens in prefect chronology. You wake up. You feel thirsty. You reach for the glass. You hear the clock ticking loudly. 

Liz: Very loudly.

Doc: It unnerves you. The glass slips out of your hand. Breaks on the floor. 

Liz: Then I hear the footsteps outside.

Barney: Footsteps whose footsteps?

Doc: Miss Powell thinks she hears the footsteps of a nurse.

Liz: They are the footsteps of a nurse I hear them. 

Then Liz recounts the rest to the Doc and Barney. At the end of Liz's tale the Doc produces the Morgue nurse and asks Liz if this is the nurse she sees. When Liz says no the Doc insists that it must be a dream then. He also gives her instructions to break the chronology of the dream the next time she has it by not reaching for the glass of water.

So of course she has the dream again. She alters the sequence by reaching for a cigarette instead of the glass. She lights up. Drops the lighter. And in reaching for it, knock's over the glass. Then she hears the footsteps. The Dream is back on track. The tracks lead to the Twilight Zone

Noirsville

This episode was one of the six episodes that was videotaped rather than filmed. It noticeably has a different, less polished slightly grainy look, however it's also one of the Classic Twilight Zone episodes. 10/10

Season 2, Episode 26 air date May 5, 1961 

Shadow Play

Existentialist Noir 

Directed by John Brahm. Written by Charles Beaumont. Cinematography by George T. Clemens. 

The episode stars Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant, Harry Townes as Henry Ritchie, Wright King as Paul Carson, and William Edmonson as Jiggs.

Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant

Harry Townes standing, as Henry Ritchie

A face lit like a crescent moon. A man in contemplation. Adam Grant. A dark courtroom. A door opens. A light goes on. A jury returns.

Adam Grant is found guilty of murder in the first degree. The jury in unison swings their heads towards Adam. 

The camera cuts to Adam biting on a fingernail. No reaction. The Judge demands that the defendant rise. Adam's lawyer as to verbally prod him up. Adam like he's partially bored by the proceedings reluctantly stands. 

Judge: Adam Grant, you have been tried by a jury of your peers and found guilty. Do you have anything that you wish to say before sentence is passed? [pause] Very well, it is the sentence of this court that for the brutal and despicable crime of murder in the first degree, you shall be put to death by means of electrocution.

Adam breaks out in wild laughter. Which quickly turns to anger. He slams his fist on the table.

Adam: No! Not again! I won't die again. You can't make me die again. 

Adam rushes the bench the bailiffs run to stop him before he an reach the judge. They both grab him and drag him towards the door.

Adam: Oh God, please, please, please. Mr. District Attorney this isn't real, make them understand that this is only a dream I'm having.

Narrator: Adam Grant, a nondescript kind of man, found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair. Like every other criminal caught in the wheels of justice, he's scared, right down to the marrow of his bones. But it isn't prison that scares him, the long, silent nights of waiting, the slow walk to the little room, or even death itself. It's something else that holds Adam Grant in the hot, sweaty grip of fear, something worse than any punishment this world has to offer, something found only in - The Twilight Zone.

Cut to Death Row. A cliche Death Row. The harmonica playing inmate, the jail room philosopher, the nut case.

Adam: It's like everything I saw in a bad movie once, like everything else in this corny dream.

Cut to the District Attorney's home where the DA and the newspaper editor discuss whether there is a small possibility that Adam Grant is right and they are all living in a dream. The DA agrees to go visit Grant. Grant tells him that when he dies you die. A dream builds it's own world. 

Noirsville

An episode that plays with what we think is reality. Great acting by Dennis Weaver and Harry Townes. 9/10