If you know your way around "The Twilight Zone" somewhat, it's fairly easy and logical to see why this particular episode got selected - although uncredited - to serve as model for one of the four segments featuring in the 1983 movie remake/tribute. It's a prototype tale, exactly like the great late Rod Serling liked to serve them. A headstrong and obnoxious protagonist, in this case a fanatic army lieutenant, is literally forced to alter his ideologies and prejudices because he's inexplicably transferred into the shoes of an opponent. Young Lieutenant Katell insists on making a few more Japanese causalities on the very last day of WWII, when the surrendering of Japan is practically certain, despite the protest of his new platoon. Something banal, like dropping a pair of binoculars, causes for Katell to suddenly have become a Japanese Lieutenant, in pretty much the same albeit reversed situation, in 1942. Naturally he now wants to spare the lives of the American soldiers trapped in a cave, but he clashes with the same type of stubborn superior that he is. Redemption, the foolishness of warfare, shapeshifting, time travelling... These are all hobbyhorses of Serling and frequently featured in "The Twilight Zone". Competent director Buzz Kulik "A Quality for Mercy" brings them all neatly together in a compelling story, with a sublime double role for Dean Stockwell. Recommended.
Note: the segment in the aforementioned 1983 film, which is based on this episode, became notorious due to the tragic helicopter accident resulting in the death of actor Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese children.
Note: the segment in the aforementioned 1983 film, which is based on this episode, became notorious due to the tragic helicopter accident resulting in the death of actor Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese children.