Judgment Night
- Episode aired Dec 4, 1959
- TV-PG
- 25m
It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.
- Narrator
- (voice)
- Barbara Stanley
- (as Deirdre Owen)
- Little Girl
- (uncredited)
- Sailor in Ski Cap
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- Rod Serling(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Britons' beverages are coffee rather than tea since General Foods sponsored the episode.
Talking about censorship from sponsors, in a late-1959 interview with Mike Wallace, Rod Serling said, "...in 18 scripts [in the 1st Season], Mike, we've had one line changed, which again was a little ludicrous but of insufficient basic concern within the context of this story not to put up a fight. On the bridge of a British ship, the sailor calls down to the Galley and asks - in my script - for a pot of tea, because I believe it's constitutionally acceptable in the British Navy to drink Tea. One of my sponsors [General Foods] happens to sell Instant Coffee and he took great umbrage, or at least minor umbrage anyway with the idea of saying 'tea'. Well, we had a couple of swings back and forth - nothing serious - and we decided to 'ask for a tray to be sent up to the bridge'! But in 18 scripts, that's the only conflict we've had."
- GoofsThe captain of SS Queen of Glasgow is wearing the ribbons of the Africa Star, the Italy Star, and the 1939-45 War Medal in 1942. None of these medals had been instituted at that time.
- Quotes
Lt. Mueller: I just, I just found it difficult to...
Carl Lanser: To do what?
Lt. Mueller: To reconcile the killing of men and women without any warning. Makes me wonder if we're not damned now.
Carl Lanser: In the eyes of the British admiralty, we most certainly are.
Lt. Mueller: I mean, sir, in the eyes of God.
Carl Lanser: Oh, you're not only a fool, Leutnant, but also a religious fool, and perhaps a mystic at that. Suppose we are damned. What will happen then?
Lt. Mueller: I've had dreams about it. Perhaps there is a special kind of hell for people like us. Perhaps to be damned is to have a fate like the people on that ship, to suffer as they suffer and to die as they die.
Carl Lanser: You are a mystic, Leutnant.
Lt. Mueller: We'd ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night, Herr Kapitän, for eternity. They could die only once, just once, but we could die a hundred million times. We could ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night for eternity.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: Judgement Night (2020)
Set in 1942, a German officer turns up on a British boat which has become detached from its convoy on the cold, dark, foggy sea. He sits down and begins to engage with the boat's crew and passengers but has trouble recollecting who he is and how he got there. He also has a sense of impending dread which gradually dawns on him as the journey progresses but is confused further when amongst his personal effects he discovers a German Navy captain's cap bearing his name inside which only adds to his disquiet.
Finally he realises too late that the ship is fated to be torpedoed by an enemy U-Boat and is shocked into full remembrance only at the climactic moment when he looks across at the submarine to see the "Fire!" command given by its commander, without any kind of humane warning given to the target boat to stop or abandon ship. Only then do we learn his own decisive part in the tragedy and the resultant impact on him from that moment on.
I really enjoyed the direction of this episode. You can see the dripping condensation on deck from the night mist, there's a chilling moment as the German officer tries to rouse the boat's passengers only for him to confront them below deck grouped like a still photograph,, facing him like a silent, accusatory jury and then the seeming doppelgänger conclusion are all telling touches inserted by a capable helmsman as Brahm.
Future Avenger John Steed Patrick MacNee is noticeable in the cast of one of the more darkly entertaining entries in this constantly imaginative series.
- Lejink
- Oct 15, 2019
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1