"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."
THE NOIR EPISODES (Part 3)
S1.E11 ∙ episode aired Dec 9, 1963
It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
Directed by Gerd Oswald. Written by Joseph Stefano. Cinematography by Conrad L. Hall. Music composed by Dominic Frontiere.
The episode stars Scott Marlowe as Jory Peters, Michael Forest as Stuart Peters, Barbara Luna as Gaby Christian, Kent Smith (Classic Noir vet Nora Prentis, Cat People, The Damned Don't Cry, ) as Dr. Block, Edward Asner as Sgt. Siroleo, Joan Camden as Dr. Stephanie Linden, Tom Palmer as Coroner, Ted de Corsia (Classic Noir vet) as New Sentry, Gene Darfler as Warren Edgar Morley.
Another good teaser. Its a dark and stormy night at NORCO. A cleaning woman is working in an afterhours laboratory. She's methodically vacuuming and spots a large dust bunny in a corner and gets perplexed when even after taking off the nozzle its still not sucked into the cannister.
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So she reaches down and pulls at it until it finally pulls loose enough to get it sucked into the vacuum. We hear a higher pitched squeal as it passes down the tube.
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Which then begins to bulge ominously, and finally exploding into an energy ball.
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We get the standard series opening, and then the episode V.O.
V.O. [opening narration]: His name is Warren Edgar Morley. For the past six months, he has guarded this gate from eight in the morning until six at night, at which time he is replaced by another just like himself. These are the last few moments of his life.
Story
Stuart and Jory Peters, drive up in a 1963 Mercury Monterey to the gate of NORCO. A guard who looks like he's wearing a pacemaker, a meets them and asks their business. Stuart explains that he is a professor who is to starts work there tomorrow
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| Michael Forest as Stuart Peters |
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Stuart explains to the guard, that he is a professor who is to starts work there tomorrow.
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| Scott Marlowe as Jory Peters with brother Stuart rt. |
The guard accepts their explanation. The guard turns his back and just before lighting up a cigarette, he gets a brainstorm, and we watch as he writes a message on his matchbook cover.
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Stuart puts the Monterey into reverse and begins to leave. However the guard runs over to the car and asks if they have a cigarette. Jory passes him his pack. The guard takes one out of the pack, and returns the pack with his own book of matches slipped into the cellophane of the cigarette pack. Stuart drives off.
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As soon as the guard comes back to the gate he is surprised by a rush of wing that blows off his cap. When we cut to another angle we see a cloudlike energy entity attacking the guard who sis screaming over and over that he didn't tell them anything, but he is soon vaporized.
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Later that night Stuart asks Jory for a cig. Jory passes the pack and Stuart light up. He sees the message on the cover and asks Jory where he got the book of matches. Jory thinks and replies the guard at the NORCO gate. The message reads "Don't come back, NORCO doomed."
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The next say Stuart is explaining to Dr. Block the strange incident with the guard. When Dr. Block asks the intercom for the front gate guard. Stuart tells him it wasn't the same guard.
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| Kent Smith as Dr. Block |
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Dr. Block suggests that he take Stuart to the lab. We cut to the lab were we see Dr. Stephanie Linden.
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| Joan Camden as Dr. Stephanie Linden |
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Before Dr. Block and Stuart arrive, we notice that Linden is also wearing a pacemaker. Dr. Block and Stuart enter the lab and Dr. Block makes introductions to Dr. Linden.
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When Dr. Block leaves, Stuart asks Stephanie what is the nature of their work. She pushes a button and a door to a corridor opens, she instructs Stuart to go see.
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Once Stuart enters to corridor Linden pushes a second button which closes the corridor door. When Stuart starts banging on the door, Linden opens the door at the far end of the corridor releasing the same energy entity that vaporized the guard.
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Stuart starts banging on the door but Linden has her back to it when the entity is upon him it all goes dark.
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Back at the hotel Jory get lucky and hit it off with a chick named Gaby that he digs. He's waiting with Gabby for Stuart to arrive to tell him the news.
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As Jory is describing Stuart to Gaby, we get quick jump cut to a grim rictus grin on Stuarts dead body while Dr. Block is supervising what to go with it.
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We know Stuart isn't ever going to arrive, in fact Jory driving out to NORCO that night, finds out from the new guard at the gate, that Stuart went off on "field work" for the week.
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A couple of days later Jory is running water in a bathtub, and we are surprised by a much alive looking Stuart show up at the hotel room.
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When Jory asks why he didn't contact him Stuart contradicts the guards story and tells Jory that he slept at the lad and was involved in an experiment.
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Jory gets agitated when Stuart tells him that he's got to go back to Kingston. He explains that one of the jobs requirements at NORCO requires that he have no relatives to worry about. Jory tells him that he feels lie punching him and Stuart looses his balance and falls into the tub.
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It immediately goes Noirsville when Stuart is electrocuted in the tub and we see he's wearing that same looking pacemaker device we have seen before.
Noirsville
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| Edward Asner as Sgt. Siroleo |
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| Ted de Corsia as New Sentry |
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V.O. [closing narration]: The Conservation of Energy Law — a principle which states that energy can be changed in form but that it cannot be either created or destroyed. And this is true of all energy — the energy of genius, of madness, of the heart, of the atom. And so it must be lived with. It must be controlled, channeled for good, held isolated from evil… and somehow lived with, peaceably.
Some very good Noir Stylistics in this one.
S1.E16 Episode aired Jan 13, 1963
Controlled Experiment
Written and Directed by Leslie Stevens. Cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr., Music by Dominic Frontiere
This Episode stars Barry Morse as Phobos, Carroll O'Connor as Deimos, Grace Lee Whitney as Carla Duveen, Robert Fortier as Bert Hamill, Bob Kelljan as Frank Brant, and Linda Hutchins as Arlene Schnabel.
Story
We get the usual teaser before the opening credits then we get the episodes narration.
V.O.: Who hasn't seen the dark corners of great cities, where small and shabby creatures wander without purpose in the secret corners of the night? Without purpose? There are those whose purpose reaches far beyond our wildest dreams.
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We get a shot of a small spade probe. Looks almost like a catamaran floating through a star field. Then we cut to a a cityscape at night. Skyscrapers with random windows lit by late night business sessions or cleaning crews.
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This segues to a street level view in a more rundown neighborhood of cheap hotels, bars, and pawnshops.
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In one of the pawnshops we see the pawnbroker writing in his ledger. He is not what he seems. He is Deimos a sort of watchman posted on Earth as an observer from the planet Mars.
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| Carroll O'Connor as Deimos |
The shop door opens and a man wearing a Homberg hat and heavy overcoat. He's carrying a battered suitcase. He approaches the pawnbroker's window, and complains that his trip took an unusual number of astral seconds of some sort and announces that he is Phobos.
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Deimos replies that he's lucky, and that his trip to Earth took almost a minute.
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| Barry Morse as Phobos |
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Phobos produces his ID card and asks to see Deimos' in return. After they exchange cards Phobos explains that he was sent to Earth to study a phenomena only extant on Earth, i.e., the penchant for earthlings killing each other.
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While explaining this to Deimos, Phobos is holding a large hard rubber toy English soldier a "Tommy" who is lobbing a grenade.
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They are interrupted by another patron opening the door. One of "them." Phobos borrows Deimos' communicator and slips behind a coat rack in the shop to observe his first Earthling.
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While the "Earthling" is trying to negotiate on the price for a radio. Phobos is describing the details into the communicator. It becomes a humorous exchange when, as the negotiations between Deimos and the customer are on going, Phobos indicates to Deimos that he should accept the higher price. The customer is surprised, takes his money and splits.
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Once the customer leaves Deimos treats Phobos to some Earthling addictions i.e., the nicotine / caffeine habit.
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Phobos and Deimos hurry to the location.
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We cut to the hotel lobby and watch as Phobos and Deimos pass through the revolving door and into the hotel lobby. No one pays attention to them and they set up their equipment behind some potted palms that decorate the lobby.
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| Grace Lee Whitney as Carla Duveen |
Deimos has another devise that can read her thoughts. She is raging about her lover. Phobos instructs Deimos to break into her thought patterns and ask her her name. They scan the others in the lobby to see if any of them are the victims, negative.
The blonde keeps opening and closing her purse and glancing back over her shoulder at the elevator
Next Phobos confirms that the victim will arrive to the lobby via the elevator.
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Next they determine that the victim will arrive to the lobby via the elevator.
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When the elevator indicator arrow above the door begins to move downwards towards the lobby Carla stands, and opens her purse....
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Carla turns towards the elevator and pulls out a revolver.
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When her boyfriend Burt emerges she blasts him. He falls to the lobby rug near a smoke stand at the end of one of the couches.
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Phobos, uses his device to manipulate the flow of time backwards and forwards over and over again at various speeds finally slowing things down to where the participants in the murder are barely moving.
Noirsville
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V.O. [closing narration]: Who knows? Perhaps the alteration of one small event may someday bring about the end of the world. But that someday is a long way off, and until then there is a good life to be lived in the here and now.
A nice combo of fin de siècle radio tube Sci-fi and Seedy Film Noir..
S1.E16 Episode aired Jan 20, 1964
Don't Open Till Doomsday
Directed by Gerd Oswald. Cinematography by Conrad L. Hall. Music composed by Dominic Frontiere and Robert Van Eps.
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The episode stars, Miriam Hopkins (The Outcasts Of Poker Flat, The Children's Hour) as Mary Kry, Noir Vet John Hoyt as Emmett Balfour, Russell Collins (Shockproof, The Sleeping City, Niagara) as Justice of the Peace, Buck Taylor (Hell or High Water) as Gard Hayden, Nellie Burt as Justice of the Peace's wife, Melinda Casey (Chicago Calling) as Vivia Balfour Hayden, David Frankham as Harvey Kry Jr., Anthony Jochim (He Walked By Night, Murder is My Beat) as Dr. Mordecai Spazman, Bob Johnson as Box Creature.
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| John Hoyt as Emmett Balfour |
After the opening teaser (above and below) and the standard intro we get the episodes opening narration.
V.O. [opening narration]: The greatness of evil lies in its awful accuracy. Without that deadly talent for being in the right place at the right time, evil must suffer defeat. For unlike its opposite, good, evil is allowed no human failings, no miscalculations. Evil must be perfect, or depend upon the imperfections of others.
This one has a griping teaser. Emmett Balfour is in a "Great Expectations / Miss Havisham" moment. He in a wedding suite with a gift table that's all covered with cobwebs and garnished with dust bunnies. Emmett is starring at a metal cube about 18 inches on a side. We see that it has a round glass porthole in the center of one of its flanks. Emmitt's transfixed. Staring into the hole. He hears his daughter tell him to run, her voice seems to be emanating from the cube. He runs towards the exit, the cube turns as if watching him. When Emmitt is just about clear of the door an energy pulse shoots out and Emmitt vanishes.
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Story
We get the standard series opening then the episode opening narration, which is a starting our tale, with a flashback.
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Night. The Jazz Age. A Charleston can be heard coming from large estate with windows all lit up. A party. As the Narration starts we follow a man Dr. Mordecai Spazman wearing a Homberg and carrying a large present approaching the entrance. He rings a bell.
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At the door he is met by the butler who accepts the wedding present, and he walks away from the mansion.
The butler brings the wedding present to the suite we saw in the teaser.
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| Anthony Jochim as Dr. Mordecai Spazman |
However the suite is now spotless and the wedding decorated table is clean and piled with presents.
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The butler comes into the room and places the present on the table. In the process he meets the bridegroom Harvey Kry Jr. who is changing out of his tux. Harvey excitedly explains to him that he and Mary his wife are sneaking away from the party to kickstart the honeymoon.
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| David Frankham as Harvey Kry Jr. |
The butler smiles a knowing smile and exits. Harvey however gets distracted by a strange sound coming from the table with the wedding gifts. He drifts over and finds that its emanating from the very box that was just added to the pile.
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Mesmerized, Harvey looks at the envelope labeled To The Newlyweds that is attached to the ribbon. He opens it and pulls out a card that instructs "Don't Open Till Doomsday."
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Of course, it immediately goes Noirsville when Harvey opens the box and finds the same cube we saw in the teaser. Only this time, Harvey puts his eyeball to the cubes porthole and we get sequence where the editing combined with Harvey's screams creates the illusion of Harvey getting sucked into the cube by his eyeball.
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Inside the Cube is a misshaped blob being from another dimension....with one eye, one hand and a rudimentary mouth.
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The flashback ends and we cut back to the outside of the mansion. It's now dilapidated, the once new 1920s car parked there is now a rusting derelict.
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Cut to another part of town. A 1964 Thunderbird parked on a darkened street. We see a frame house with a porch.
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A shingle announcing "Justice of the Peace" hangs near the door. Inside we see the justice examining a marriage license, while his wife is inexplicable-ly grinning deviously and sitting in wheel chair as she examines Gard Hayden and his soon to be wife Vivia.
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| Russell Collins as Justice of the Peace |
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| Nellie Burt as the Justice of the Peace's wife |
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| Melinda Casey as Vivia Balfour and Buck Taylor as Gard Hayden |
The justice remarks to them that they look really young. His wife excuses herself for a moment telling her husband and the almost newlyweds that she must make a call to her doctor. She wheels her chair backwards, picks up the phone and makes a call to Mary Kry.
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She tells Mrs Kry when she finally picks up that she'll send her a newly wed couple to "use" her wedding suite on the top floor of her mansion.
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| Miriam Hopkins as Mrs. Kry |
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The wife is a real piece of work once you now what is going on, and after she hangs up, she tells the kids that there are no hotels in town and the motels on the highway are dismal dives, and she duplicitously talks them into going to old Mrs. Kry's mansion.
JP's Wife: Heaven and Hell couldn't find you there.
The kids are married off screen while we are introduced to Mrs. Kry and watch her begin to straighten up for her company.
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BTW, Mrs. Kry has pretty much gone insane since her wedding night after her husband disappeared into "the cube" from another dimension. She still dresses like a flapper, has bobbed hair, lip sticked lips, and she has weirdly penciled-in eyebrows, drawn above her real ones, which are not quite all plucked out. She wears rolled stockings exposing her knees. She also still has her wedding gown ready to throw on the minute the Cube releases her husband.
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Mrs. Kry shows the newly weds to the suite and leaves them alone, going down to her room where she plays her phonograph and awaits for the cube to exchange Gard for Harvey Jr.
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However, Gard immediately leaves the suite to go back down stairs to the car to get their suitcases, and Vivia is drawn to the Cube by the strange noise emanating from it.
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When Vivia looks into the flashing porthole the Cube creature grabs her and doesn't release Harvey....
Noirsville
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| Dr. Caligari reference |
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V.O. [closing narration]:Without that deadly talent for being in the right place at the right time, evil must suffer defeat; and with each defeat, doomsday is postponed for at least one more day.
This episode has some very nice editing with stylistic Noir lighting, and it even a reference to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Nellie Burt and Miriam Hopkins watch over it all like two grotesque symbolic Thalia and Melpomene gargoyles
So far 7 of the 9 Noir episodes discussed up to this point, were lensed by Conrad L. Hall.
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