Category: Z-View

Twilight Zone: “Nothing in the Dark” [Season 3, Episode 16]
Original Air Date: January 5, 1962

Director: Lamont Johnson

Writer: George Clayton Johnson

Starring: Gladys Cooper, Robert Redford and R.G. Armstrong.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

An old woman is afraid Death will take her if she leaves her apartment.  She has food delivered and never opens the door until no one is around.  Death has come calling before but she never lets him in.  When a police officer is shot and left to die outside her door she is faced with a dilemma…

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Twilight Zone: “A Quality of Mercy” [Season 3, Episode 15]
Original Air Date: December 29, 1961

Director: Buzz Kulik

Writer: Rod Serling from an idea by Sam Rolfe

Starring: Dean Stockwell, Albert Salmi, Rayford Barnes and Leonard Nimoy.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

World War II is days from ending.  A ragged group of battle-weary soldiers on the front line get a new Lieutanant [Stockwell] who hopes to make a name for himself no matter the cost to his men.

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Twilight Zone: “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” [Season 3, Episode 14]
Original Air Date: December 22, 1961

Director: Lamont Johnson

Writer: Rod Serling from a short story by Marvin Petal

Starring: Susan Harrison, William Windom and Murray Matheson.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

An army major, a ballerina, a clown, a hobo and a bagpiper wake up to find themselves in a strange round room.  The walls are sheer and high, but there is no roof so if they could some how make it up and over they could escape.  But escape to where?

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Twilight Zone: “The Jungle” [Season 3, Episode 12]
Original Air Date: December 1, 1961

Director: William Claxton

Writer: Charles Beaumont

Starring: John Dehner, Walter Brooke and Jay Adler.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Back home in New York City, after a year in Africa overseeing a major construction project, Alan Richards [Dehner] discovers his wife secretly placed a charm to ward off evil spells in his coat pocket.

His wife was afraid because a witch doctor had placed a curse on Richards and those working on the project which was destroying their land.  Richards leaves the charm on the bar as he heads home and it isn’t long before dangerous things begin to happen.

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Twilight Zone: “Still Valley” [Season 3, Episode 11]
Original Air Date: November 24, 1961

Director: James Sheldon

Writer: Rod Serling from a story by Manly Wade Wellman

Starring: Gary Merrill, Vaughn Taylor and Mark Tapscott

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Confederate Scout Joseph Paradine [Merrill] enters a town deserted except for an old man and a Union Army unit frozen in place in the middle of the street.  The old man is a warlock and since he is dying, willing to pass along his powers to Paradine.  With his new powers Paradine plans to change the course of the war.

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Twilight Zone: “The Mirror” [Season 3, Episode 6]
Original Air Date: October 20, 1961

Director: Don Medford

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Peter Falk, Will Kuluva and Antony Carbone.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Ramos Clemente [Falk] and his generals have led a successful revolution to overthrow their government.  Before his execution, the ousted dictator tells Clemente that the mirror in his office can predict who will betray him.  Clemente begins to see things in the mirror that are not happening in reality and that his closest generals plan to execute him!

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Twilight Zone: “A Game of Pool” [Season 3, Episode 5]
Original Air Date: October 6, 1961

Director: Buzz Kulik

Writer: George Clayton Johnson

Starring: Jack Klugman and Jonathon Winters.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Jesse Cardiff [Klugman] is the greatest pool player alive.  Sadly, no matter who or how many people Jesse beats, he always is told, that the late “Fats” Brown was better.  One night, alone in the pool hall, Jesse says he’d give anything to play “Fats.”

“Fats” appears and accepts the game if Jesse will wager his life.

Be careful what you ask for, because you just may get it all.

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Twilight Zone: “The Passerby” [Season 3, Episode 4]
Original Air Date: October 6, 1961

Director: Elliott Silverstein

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: James Gregory, Joanne Linville and Rex Holman.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

The Civil War has ended.  A young Confederate widow sits on her porch and watches a long procession of soldiers [Union and Confederate] slowly march by her house which is on a dark, remote road.  When a soldier asks for water and a chance to rest, she comes to discover that all is not what it seems.

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Twilight Zone: “The Shelter” [Season 3, Episode 3]
Original Air Date: September 29, 1961

Director: Lamont Johnson

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Larry Gates, Joseph Bernard and Jack Albertson.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers….

Several families from the neighborhood have come together to celebrate a birthday.  Just as toasts are made with everyone expressing their friendship, an emergency warning announcing an imminent nuclear attack is broadcast.

As each family prepares for the incoming bombs, they realize that one of the families has a bomb shelter.  Sadly it is not big enough to hold everyone.

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Twilight Zone: “Two” [Season 3, Episode 2]
Original Air Date: September 22, 1961

Director: Boris Sagal

Writer: Rod Serling

Starring: Harold J. Stone, Fredd Wayne and Noah Keen.

The Overview: Beware of Spoilers….

When a commercial plane lands at an airport and is found to be empty of passengers and crew, it is up to Federal Aviation Investigator Grant Sheckly to discover what happened.

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