"The Twilight Zone" A World of Difference (1960)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Ted Post

Writer:

Richard Matheson (writer)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

11 March 1960 (Season 1, Episode 23)

Genre:

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

Plot:

A businessman sitting in his office inexplicably finds that he is on a production set and in a world where he is a movie star. Uninterested in the newfound fame, he fights to get back to his home and family. |

Plot Keywords:

Dual Role | Actor | Play | Narrator | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Howard Duff	...	Arthur Curtis / Gerry Reagan
David White	...	Brinkley
Frank Maxwell	...	Marty Fisher
Eileen Ryan	...	Nora Reagan
Gail Kobe	...	Sally
Peter Walker	...	Sam
Susan Dorn	...	Marion Curtis
Bill Idelson	...	Kelly (as William Idelson)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Cayuga Productions

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: You're looking at a tableau of reality, things of substance, of physical material: a desk, a window, a light. These things exist and have dimension. Now this is Arthur Curtis, age thirty-six, who also is real. He has flesh and blood, muscle and mind. But in just a moment we will see how thin a line separates that which we assume to be real with that manufactured inside of a mind.

All Life is a Stage

Man finds his role in a play more real than his life as an actor. 6

Who is Howard Duff? Is he the actor in the play Gerry Reagan, or is he the character in the play Arthur Curtis? He thinks he's Curtis; but the production crew says he's Reagan, and what's worse, he's gone bonkers. Talk about an actor losing himself in a part! Clearly, he's better off as Curtis, without Reagan's shrewish wife who's going to nail him for everything he's got, (Eileen Ryan in a role that's got to give every married man the terminal shudders).

Concept is more interesting than eerie or frightening, especially when Ryan is the scariest part of the episode. Probably, the most interesting feature is the behind-the-scenes look at a sound stage during a movie shoot. I expect many of the technicians and stage hands are actual members of the crew. It's amusing to watch one of them walk across the set and cast a shadow across the Los Angeles skyline! All in all, an entertaining half-hour, but nothing special.