Reviews & Ratings for
"Rod Serling's Night Gallery" The Miracle at Camafeo/The Ghost of Sorworth Place (1972)"Night Gallery" The Miracle at Camafeo/The Ghost of Sorworth Place (original title)

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
The Miracle at Camafeo, 16 March 2009
Author: paulbehrer22173 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

In this segment, adapted from the C.B. Gilford short story by Serling, insurance investigator Charlie Rogan (Harry Guardino) trails insurance swindler Joe Melcor (Ray Danton) and Melcor's wife Gay (Julie Adams, Danton's wife) to the Mexican shrine city of Camafeo. Melcor, after faking paralysis to win a half-million dollar claim against the insurer of a city transit company, has come to Camafeo to get "healed" in order to get Rogan off his back, and Rogan tells the bartender that when Melcor swindled the company that Rogan worked for, it's stealing, but when Melcor is conning God, it's sacrilege. In their hotel room, when Gay tells Joe her concerns about the morality of the scheme, he warns her, "If you start acting like a fallen woman on the way to confession, then my first act as a whole man will be to play handball with you against the wall. And you'll be up at that shrine asking to have the blue marks removed. You dig?" The next day, Rogan comes across a blind boy and his mother, saying a quiet prayer asking God to restore the boy's sight. On his stretcher, Joe Melcor goads Rogan by saying that he's on the way to "pick up a little miracle", which disgusts Rogan. Gay tells Rogan that she's leaving Joe, but refuses to testify against him, adding that while she won't hurt Joe, she's not going to help him either. The blind boy has his sight restored, which amazes the crowd of worshipers at the shrine, and Melcor's "miracle" happens at the same time. He presents the priest with a tip, cracking, "Don't look so surprised, you'll give the place a bad name." He exits the shrine, shading his eyes from the sun, and utters a pained cry. Rogan and Gay turn to Melcor's direction, to witness him walking carefully down the steps of the shrine and moaning, "Help me, someone. Someone please help me" as he does so. He removes his sunglasses to reveal his eyes, now milky white and sightless-a judgment from a less merciful God. I enjoyed viewing this segment because I was intrigued by how the con man, Joe Melcor, ended up being punished by God simply by exchanging his fake paralysis for the real blindness that the boy was cured of.

Add another review

Related Links