Night Gallery (8 Nov. 1969)
"Night Gallery" Night Gallery (original title)

In the pilot of the television series _"Night Gallery" (1970)_ , Rod Serling introduces three separate paintings, each with its own story of uncanny vengeance against evil to tell. The ... See full summary »

Directors:

Boris Sagal, Barry Shear,

Writer:

Rod Serling

Stars:

Joan Crawford, Ossie Davis, Richard Kiley

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Crawford	...	Miss Menlo
Ossie Davis	...	Osmund Portifoy
Richard Kiley	...	Strobe
Roddy McDowall	...	Jeremy Evans
Barry Sullivan	...	Dr. Frank Heatherton
Tom Bosley	...	Sidney Resnick
George Macready	...	Hendricks
Sam Jaffe	...	Bleum
Norma Crane	...	Gretchen
Barry Atwater	...	Carson
George Murdock	...	1st Agent
Tom Basham	...	Gibbons
Byron Morrow	...	Packer
Garry Goodrow	...	Louis
Shannon Farnon	...	1st Nurse

Storyline

In the pilot of the television series _"Night Gallery" (1970)_ , Rod Serling introduces three separate paintings, each with its own story of uncanny vengeance against evil to tell. The first, "The Cemetery", involves a black sheep nephew (Roddy McDowall) who murders his rich uncle to inherit his fortune - both much to the detriment of the uncle's butler (Ossie Davis) - only to find that vengeance extends beyond the grave. In the second story, "Eyes", a rich, heartless woman ('Joan Crawford' ) who has been blind from birth blackmails an aspiring surgeon and a man who desperately needs money to give her a pair of eyes which will allow her to see for the first time - even though for only half a day's time - only to have the plan backfire on her in ways she never imagined. In the third story, "The Escape Route", a Nazi war criminal (Richard Kiley) is hiding from the authorities in South America, where he is confronted with his past demons and a curious Holocaust survivor (Sam Jaffe) and ...

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Plot Keywords:

painting | nazi | museum | war criminal | butler | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 1969 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The segments "Eyes" and "The Escape Route" are based upon novellas Rod Serling wrote for the book "The Season to Be Wary" in 1967. Serling conceived of this series as a way to revive the anthology concept of Twilight Zone with a fresh spin. Initially the series was to be called "Rod Serling's Wax Museum."

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Goofs

During the "Escape Route" segment, Israeli agents hold a photo of wanted war criminal SS-Gruppenfuhrer (Major General) Helmuth Arndt. However, the photograph shows Kiley wearing the one-of-a-kind uniform worn by Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler.

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Connections

Followed by Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1969)

User Reviews

Even better than the Twilight Zone

I was there when Night Gallery first appeared, in my early teens. And I was into Theatre at the time and knew a few things about production. Nihgt Gallery was instantly a classic. Rod Serling would introduce the segments with paintings which led into the plot. One had Roddy McDowell playing his usual malevolent character to the max, in an ordinary tale made better by acting and production. Another segment dealt with the rich buying happiness in a very unique and creative way. It wasn't a mind blower, but the most reminiscent of the Twilight Zone series. The third was the true classic, with Richard Kiley giving a masterfully performance of a vicious horrible creature, a Nazi war criminal who thinks he merits leniency after years on the run. He feels he can escape into a picture at a gallery in which men are fishing at a serene lake. This episode alone is better than any Twilight Zone series, and that is not easy to do. This was easily the creme de la creme, the Mona Lisa of Rod Serling's career, undeniably. If you haven't seen it, you must watch it! You will be enthralled! There were later episodes that also had great suspense, and terror that modern gore films can only fantasize about producing. The famous "Earwick" episode, the super scary "Robert the Bruce" episode. It's easy to see why studios won't release these again, for the same reason they don't release the other great classics of the past (Bronco, Sugarfoot, Laredo, The Untouchables-it's even hard to find some everyone knows about-Gilligan, the Hillbillies, Big Valley), because they want to make audiences think the old classics were the ho hum shows they air today so they won't lose audiences from new show. You will be pleasantly surprised by NIGHT GALLERY