The Twilight Zone (TV Series) A Thing About Machines (1960) User Reviews

"Supposing we stop this moronic small talk Shelby, and get down to some serious larceny".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 6 April 2010]

I'm wondering if Stephen King ever got a chance to see this episode of The Twilight Zone". The repeated refrain of "Get out of here Finchley" might have served as the model for the demonic typewriter in 1980's "The Shining", with it's 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Probably not, but that's what I thought about when I saw the show a while ago.

Hard to say whether Rod Serling was making a serious statement here or just doing it for grins. The line from Barbara Stuart about Finchley's (Richard Haydn) mortal combat with his appliances was classic, and that cobra inspired electric razor was a blast. You had a pretty good idea how this one was going to end for a curmudgeon like the Finch-man; you know, he didn't exhibit even the least bit of a redeeming quality.

Well, maybe not one of the better episodes, but what I'm for is having some of these lesser known stories show up on those Twilight Zone marathons they run on the cable channels every now and then. I'm sure many newer TZ fans haven't seen this one yet, and it's a great way to see how folks of an earlier generation had to put up with things like dial phones and writing machines that used real paper.

Treating People Like Machines

[Samuel-Shovel · 7/10 · 24 June 2017]

Bartlett's fear of the machines around him seems to be an analogy for our relationships with those around us. He's a bit of a jerk that treats his employees, neighbors, and random citizens terribly. He treats his secretary as if she were a machine herself. Similarly, he treats his machines roughly, throwing them, kicking them, breaking them.

I guess the lesson here is don't be rude to those around you. People are not machines, we have emotions and feelings. If we are ill-treated, we won't work in the ways expected of us. We have a tendency to fight back.

Get Out of the House

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 23 April 2018]

The lonely and snobbish forty-eight year-old food critic Bartlett Finchley has paranoia with his appliances and machines. He has problems with his television, radio, clock, electric razors, typewriter and car. When he receives the message "Get out of the house" from his appliances, he decides to stay home with tragic consequences. "A Thing About Machines" is a pointless and silly episode of "The Twilight Zone". It is not clear whether Finchley was delusional in his paranoia or whether he was attacked indeed by his car and appliances. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sobre Máquinas" ("About Machines")

Model

[fdbjr · 2 January 2010]

This truly not one of the better episodes, but what is of interest is that Bartlett Finchley is almost certainly modeled after the humorist and movie personality Robert Benchley.

Benchley, who died in 1945 or thereabouts, became topical in 1960 as the result of the publication of a collection of his best humor by his son Nathaniel Benchley. Benchley fought an unending war against the inanimate objects around him, which he chronicled in a number of delightful and very funny pieces. Serling, who was hard up for ideas by that point, must have been as impressed as I was.

Or so I do believe. In any case, I have always thought the similarity between the characters name 'Finchley' and 'Benchley' is no coincidence.

One of sci-fi's most overused themes...

[Anonymous_Maxine · 7/10 · 26 June 2008]

I should explain that when I say "overused," I don't quite mean that it has been done to death, because even though there have been countless examples of sci fi TV show and movies about machines coming to life, they are not necessarily all the same or rip-offs of each other. Besides, if any TV show ever had the right to do a show on the topic of machines coming to life, the Twilight Zone is it.

The main characters in the show are Richard Haydn as Bartlett Finchley and Barney Phillips as a TV repairman who, I have to say, must certainly act in a certain way that no TV repairman has ever acted toward a customer. Of course, I wasn't exactly spending much time hiring repairmen back in the 1960s, nearly 20 years before I was born, but I would think that, even if he was called repeatedly to Finchley's house to fix the most mysterious and suspicious damages, it's probably generally not such a good idea to openly criticize and insult one of your best repeat customers!

At any rate, it sets up the situation that we need to know about. Finchley has to call repeatedly to have his various machines and appliances fixed because, for example, he is provided with reason to put his foot through his TV set. I've heard about that being done in several movies and TV shows, and it always strikes me as something that would be exceedingly difficult to do. Have you ever imagined how much force would be needed to drive a foot through a TV set? This man's foot certainly had some momentum behind it!

And the question, of course, is what could possibly have led him to such a state as to cause him to make such a vicious kick? Babara Stuart shows up briefly to angrily quit her job as his secretary, once again hinting toward the reality of his state of mind. Once she threatens to quit because of his ill treatment, he panics at the thought of being left alone in his house, and we begin to understand what is really going on. Well, we already knew what was going on because we know the title of the episode, but you get the idea.

Sadly, the second half of the episode is where the show starts to falter. The main reason, I think, that the threat of the machines becomes a problem is because the threat is just never made realistic enough. At the time of this writing, there is only one other IMDb reviewer who has reviewed this episode, jcravens42, and he (or she) notes the hilarity that may ensue at things like the attack of the killer electric shaver.

And on this point Craven is exactly right. I didn't quite laugh out loud, but I did smirk a bit, and not just because it's so ludicrous that you have to laugh, but because such a thing could never be a real threat. What could it do? Give Finchley razor burn? Why not just grab it out of the air and toss it into the tub? Or out the window? But then again, imagining yourself in the situation of the characters in many Twilight Zone episodes is a great way to ruin the experience.

But it's the same thing with the climax of the show, the car chasing him around outside. It's not just placing yourself in his situation that could ruin the suspense, but I have never been able to feel any sympathy for people in movies being chased by cars (manned or otherwise) when all they do is run right up the middle of the road or, in this case, back and forth. Avoiding a car at close range would be FAR too easy for it to ever be able to generate any suspense.

But in the show's defense, it is also an illustration of Finchley's state of mind, which is not exactly allowing for rational thought. You could call this one of the Twilight Zone's weaker episodes and probably be right, but it's also an almost required theme for the show and is well made enough, I should think...

Dedicated to anyone who has ever yelled at their computer, phone or copy machine.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 19 April 2019]

The character of Finchley, played by veteran character actor Richard Hayden, certainly would have an impossible time dealing with modern technology. He is an autocrat who screams at his employees as if they were machinery, so it is no surprise when the Machinery takes its revenge. Typewriters keep typing demands for him to get out, a razor chases him down the stairs, his television keeps repeating the same message as his typewriter, and finally, he must deal with a vindictive automobile. Hayden runs around his neighborhood like a madman as the unattended vehicle follows him everywhere, leading to a conclusion that can only best be described as fitting end for a volatile man who couldn't fit in a community swimming pool without yelling at the kids to stay away from him. It's entertaining and fast-moving, and timely.

Haydn is best remembered as fussy, prissy and snooty but likeable in spite of their flaws. There is nothing likable about him here, and the way he treats his secretary/typist is beyond contempt. If you have ever had to fight with modern office equipment or your own personal devices, you can relate to him in a sense, and I found myself laughing at the memory of me in various circumstances frustrated with changes in technology. That is Margarita Cordova as the castanet clicking dancer on TV, best known for her role as the Mexican matriarch Rosa on the daytime soap opera "Santa Barbara". I recognized her voice and face immediately, even though it would be a quarter of a century before I first saw her on TV. This isn't necessarily a great episode, but it makes many points, especially the one of not being so frustrated by machinery that you drive yourself mad.

Finchley

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 26 October 2014]

Richard Haydn plays Bartlett Finchley, an acid-tongued but unhappy man who lives alone in his mansion, and constantly complains about evil machines that not only won't work for him, but are conspiring to kill him. Barney Philips is most amusing as his long-suffering TV repairman who has grown tired of constantly repairing perfectly good televisions that Finchley has kicked in. Turns out the machines are out to get him after all... Heavy-handed yet still entertaining episode has a singularly unpleasant lead character that it is difficult to build any sympathy for, but of course it's possible he doesn't warrant any; in any case, it is a memorable effort.

Scherzo.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 5 March 2013]

Richard Haydn is a writer for gourmet magazines. Pretty well off. But he's having trouble with the appliances in his house. They've begun to turn themselves on and off at odd hours, and the clock chimes over and over -- even after he destroys it.

He's driving his secretary bonkers so she decides to quit. Haydn suddenly becomes human and bets her to stay, but turns so angry that she tells him to see a doctor and then leaves.

Things go from bad to worse, ending with Haydn at the bottom of his swimming pool.

The story is only a trifle, a bagatelle, an amuse bouche, with nothing much of substance behind it, but it's rather fun to see Haydn being chased around his property by his own sporty little care. Like all persons in all movies in such situations, he runs down the center of the road with the vehicle in hot pursuit. Best of all: the electric razor hovering like a cobra in front of his bathroom mirror, then slinking its way down the stairs.

Review TOTALLY missed the humor in this episode

[jdroberto2005 · 8/10 · 3 July 2008]

OK, maybe this isn't the best TZ episode ever. But reviews (including one here) often completely miss the intended tone of this episode.

Take Barbara Stuart's line for example: "In this conspiracy, this mortal combat between you and the appliances... I hope you lose!" The first time I heard that line, I laughed so hard I spit water out my nose.

It wasn't supposed to be anything other than funny.

Of course the shaver is absurd. It's supposed to be. As is the dancing woman on TV, the typewriter etc. Serling doesn't give it away at the end, but clearly Finchley had a much deserved nervous breakdown and was delusional.

"A Thing About Machines" is weak Twilight Zone entry

[chuck-reilly · 6/10 · 22 October 2008]

In some episodes of the Twilight Zone, creator/writer Rod Serling would expound on the destructiveness of machines, modern science and progress because of their accumulative damage to human dignity. In "A Thing About Machines," he takes the complete opposite approach to the subject. Richard Haydn stars as Bartlett Finchley, a fellow who can't adjust to all the electronic gadgets at his disposal and turns them into objects of spite. The simple answer for him would be get rid of his television, radio etc. But then we wouldn't have much of a story. As it is, there isn't much here to begin with anyway. Naturally, the machines begin to have a life of their own and start to rebel against their abusive owner. Even his trusty secretary (played by Barbara Stuart) can't handle Finchley's psychotic behavior and decides to root for the machines. Soon, Finchley is on the run as his appliances gain the upper hand and send him scurrying into oblivion.

There's a moral to the story here somewhere, but it's mostly obscured by a wholesale lack of enthusiasm from the cast and a lackluster script. Haydn was a fine actor in his day and he does what he can playing the despicable Finchley, but his heart doesn't seem to be in it. Veteran Twilight Zone regular Barney Phillips has a few notable scenes as a TV repairman who isn't enamored with Finchley the Customer. Their interplay in the opening sequence is the only witty dialog to be found in the episode. I guess Serling wanted his viewers to believe that inanimate objects have feelings too. But only in the Twilight Zone.

One of the weaker episodes

[jcravens42 · 5/10 · 14 February 2008]

With the legendary Richard Haydn as the lead in this episode, I expected better things. But a weak script, poorly executed, pretty much sinks this episode entirely. It always takes some suspension of disbelief to watch the Twilight Zone now, given how slickly produced movies and TV shows are now, with incredible special effects, but with good episodes, I can see past the low-budget production values. Not with this one. I actually laughed out loud over the electric shaver attack, not only because of the visible string but also because it was so absurd. This is an episode that could have been made much more effectively, even with the budget restraints. Oh, well, given the brilliance of the other episodes, it's hard to criticize... just don't let this be the first Twilight Zone you ever watch (or it will be the only one).

Very entertaining.

[pvbklyn · 8/10 · 2 January 2012]

I'll give this an 8 plus. (The following might be a spoiler) Mr. Bartlett Finchley is a snob and a sort of a Luddite who has through isolation & a miserable attitude about people, driven himself insane. Of course you have to ask yourself, "Why if he so despises mechanical things does he have so many of them?" Even if it's fairly clear what's going to happen by the end, definitely watch it. This episode is amusing, bordering on the hilarious and spiced with wonderful language and believable acting. Richard Haydn as Mr. Finchley is extremely entertaining. There are so many amusing touches in this episode. For example when Rod Serling is setting up the story he is telling it from Mr. Finchley's TV set. They must have had ball with this one.

Man against Machines

[iaingking · 6/10 · 2 June 2020]

Not one of the better episodes this one, but it has a few amusing scenes. Bartlett Finchley is angry with his everyday appliances, from the electric razor - to the 1939 Aston Martin Lagonda Coupe he has parked outside. Why I'm not sure, it seems like anything mechanical is out to get him. There's a few funny moments like the electric razor is pulled down the stairs after him with a piece of line, and the car that comes after him is meant to be driving itself, but you can clearly see a driver inside. I'm not quite sure if this episode was meant to be a little scary, but most of it is pretty funny.

A Bad Episode Done on the Cheap

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 11 November 2008]

This is the story of a bitter man who hates technology. Of course, the technology of his day is a razor, a toaster, a television. Well it's the story of the Good Little Toaster that has had enough. The typewriter writes threatening notes. We've all imagined if our appliances or our toys came to life and began to try to do us in. In this, the plot is OK, but the effects and the resolution are so bad, it's laughable. There is a great deal of ranting and threat. And why is this man so angry? Has he been chosen for his fate, or has he brought it upon himself? Anyway, given the fact that he doesn't listen to the threats and stays put, he eventually must confront the situation in which he finds himself. The acting is hammy and over the top. Watch this only for its quirky amusement value.

Screw Tops Strike Back

[dougdoepke · 24 November 2016]

Okay, I have trouble with screw top lids and when the can opener balks, I call the wife. Last time I fixed anything was replacing batteries in my TV wand. So, all in all, I sympathize with Finchley, but I do try to take my ineptitude with some humor. Not Finchley. He's an intellectual snob, certainly dislikable, thanks to an excellent performance by actor Haydn. He not only treats mechanical things with contempt, but people too. So no wonder a reckoning is at hand. But this being the TZ, it's the mechanical world that rebels. Cars, razors, clocks, TV's, even typewriters-- all find a voice and rebel against the insufferable tyrant. The special effects are mostly good, and I really like the first eruption of the electric razor looking just like a coiled cobra. From now on, you can bet I'll keep mine well cleaned. And catch that driverless car-- I was rooting for it.

All in all, it's an unusual episode with what I think is a good moral—something about being kind to our cutting-edge creations and they'll be good to us. I expect that goes for our computerized world as well. Uh oh!— now what's the problem with my keyboard. Guess I'll have to call the wife.

Beep Beep

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 3 June 2021]

Kooky episode of the twilight zone that kind of worked, but centered around and an arrogant lead who made it hard to care about his plight. Decent acting and good effects.

A little dumb

[ericstevenson · 6/10 · 19 July 2018]

This episode features a guy named Mr. Finchley who is afraid of technology. This includes everything from his car to his electric razor. It's later shown that his fear is quite real. First, the machines just tell him to go away. They then start actually attacking him. A lot of it does get pretty silly.

A electric razor going down the stairs just seems too goofy to take seriously. The best part is probably the end. He dies, but the closing narration leaves open the possibility that the whole thing just took place in his imagination. It would be hard to explain how his car got near the pool. Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane can work well. This was just a little weak. **1/2

I might get mad sometimes. But why ruin your TV Set.

[grfrey · 7/10 · 30 October 2020]

1st time i have ever seen this episode. I was 6 when it came out. But now @ age 66 & retired, i count on my TV 4 my entertainment. I need my TV 2 enjoy stuff. Thank goodness telephones have Caller ID & show me the #BLEEPS that call me up. I call the FTC & now the FCC on these people. I just want people 2 call me like from my old workplace.

Mr Robot

[safenoe · 6/10 · 28 December 2023]

A Thing About Machines deals with machines run amok big time in the Twilight Zone, there are some parallels to modern day technology and the extent that social media influences us. This may not be the best Twilight Zone episode but it's worth watching once.

This episode plays upon alienation, and Marc Scott Zicree, in his superb Twilight Zone book, theorizes that The Twilight Zone's appeal was that it dealt with themes of alienation, particularly after world war two when the triumphant defense personnel returned and married and moved their families to tracts in the suburbs, where people kept themselves to themselves.

Terminator 0.1 – Initial Rise of the Machines

[Coventry · 8/10 · 29 August 2017]

I raised this point after various "Twilight Zone" episodes already, but it always remains relevant: many, many of cinema's greatest and most famous film concepts featured here first in this magnificent TV- Show, albeit in short and more modest versions. The story of "A Thing about Machines" can easily be considered as a blueprint for James Cameron's awesome "The Terminator"; as it's centered on a man – Bartlett Finchley – who painfully experiences how all types of machinery in his house, including his car television set and even his electrical shaving device, violently turn against him. Of course, it might just be his imagination, as Mr. Finchley is an obnoxious and self-indulgent individual who's against all forms of technological progress and also leads a very secluded life without friends or family. It starts with the television switching on and off and alarm clocks continuing to ring even though they lie broken on the floor, but pretty soon the typewriter sends him messages to get out of the house and his car is chasing him up and down the driveway. This is only the fourth episode of the second season, but I can already safely claim that it's one of the most suspenseful and unsettling ones of the whole franchise. There's something genuinely disturbing and petrifying about machines operating themselves and attacking their proprietors. James Cameron knows it, and various other movies also used this idea already like "Killdozer" and "Maximum Overdrive". But remember, it featured first … in "The Twilight Zone". "A Thing about Machines" features a few very powerful sequences, like when the typewriter delivers an unfriendly message. Also, as silly as it may sound, there's something very scary about a shaving machine slithering down the stairs like a snake.

Most boring, stupid TV episode ever - and I LOVE The Twilight Zone.

[darrenpearce111 · 1/10 · 5 December 2013]

According to the TV repair man, Finchley (Richard Hayden) once called him out after kicking-in the TV screen. I would never kick a screen in, but this entry would be the nearest possible reason for justifying Finchley's own wretchedly stupid action. There's not an ounce of humanity about the nasty, soulless prig whose utterly insane and pointless world this extremely lame story is about. I was hoping a washing machine would swallow Finchley within five minutes as this is unfunny and dreadfully tedious. Fifth dimension? - One dimension! Other episodes where a machine takes on human qualities at least have a strong reason, like the driver's guilty conscience in 'You Drive', and the gambling addiction depicted in 'The Fever'. Finchley is simply boring and unwatchable. Machines here are a self perpetuating plot device in what can barely be described as a story. Perhaps the moral is don't upset your toaster, it might harbour a grudge?- I give up.

Please do not confuse this with the great, or the good, or the fair, or even the bad with some quality entries in the best TV show ever.

Technophobia, Twilight Zone style

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 28 July 2017]

Obnoxious and ill-tempered writer Bartlett Finchley (a nicely fussy and irritating portrayal by Richard Haydn) has an increasingly difficult time dealing with all the mutinous machines in his house to the point that he thinks that there are conspiring against him.

Director David Orrick McDearmon keeps the enjoyable story moving at a steady pace and maintains a pleasant lighthearted tone throughout. Rod Serling's amusing script gets a lot of inspired comic mileage out of Finchley's ridiculous predicament. The persnickety Finchley makes for a fun guy to hate; it's a treat to see the machines get the best of him. Moreover, there are neat supporting turns from Barbara Stuart as Finchley's long-suffering assistant Edith, Barney Phillips as a smartaleck TV repairman, and Henry Beckman as a hard-nosed cop. A real hoot.

Sometimes you win some, sometimes you don't...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 June 2010]

Richard Haydn plays Finchley, a man who hates electrical devices--plus he's a nasty old jerk to boot! When he has trouble with them, he smacks them around and wonders why they don't work! Eventually, however, the machines have had enough and begin to rebel. At first, it's one or two machines--such as the typewriter that tells him to leave or the television. But later, it's practically everything--they are all ganging up on him and have had enough.

Talk about a weak show. The premise is pretty thin and the special effects are rather poor. The scene where the razor is chasing him down the steps and you can CLEARLY see the 'invisible' string pulling it is particularly awful. It's a shame, really, as Haydn was a good actor and I wish the material had been more to his ability. As it is, this is a crappy and ultimately forgettable episode. No brilliant or nice twist here--just a surprisingly dopey show with a rather mean-spirited ending.

"Get out of here, Finchley." Who are you, to tell me to get out of here?!

[gregorycanfield · 10/10 · 7 August 2022]

The line above is, of course, addressed to a typewriter! In my most recent viewing of this episode, this scene had me laughing for the remainder of the episode. What is with all the negative reviews here? These reviewers are about as perceptive as Bartlett Finchley would think they were. There are a few ways that you can interpret the events in this episode. Basically, Finchley is a malcontent. He lives in an age of progress and change. He doesn't see any of it as "progress." He doesn't understand or appreciate the "change." Richard Haydn is quite effective as the unlikeable Finchley. Barbara Stuart is great as Miss Rogers. I love when she says to Finchley: "In this war you speak of, between you and the machines, I hope you lose!" Another interesting turn is by Margarita Cordova, as a Mexican dancer. She's on the TV. In the middle of her dance, she stops and says: "Why don't you get out of here, Finchley?" You tell him, sexy lady! A great, classic episode.

Rise of the machines.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 2 March 2022]

Contemptuous food critic Bartlett Finchley (Richard Hatyn) not only holds most people in disdain, but also treats machinery badly: when a piece of technology doesn't works properly, he trashes it in a fit of temper (which keeps the local repairman in business). In The Twilight Zone, such behaviour doesn't go unpunished, and the machines in Finchley's home aren't taking it any more, tormenting him at night and telling him to 'Get out of here Finchley'.

The notion of machines coming alive and menacing mankind can be a fun one, and has since been put to good use in such films as Christine, The Terminator and Maximum Overdrive (well, I like it!). On this occasion, the concept goes to waste: A Thing About Machines really labours matters and, after much repetitive nonsense involving a self-operating typewriter, a floating electric razor, and a driverless car, culminates with a most unsatisying resolution. There's no clever twist or ingenious moral to the story: it's just a case of a mean man getting his just desserts, which is rather lame, especially coming from the pen of the mighty Rod Serling.

And just how long is that razor's electric cable anyway?