"The Twilight Zone" King Nine Will Not Return (1960)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Buzz Kulik

Writers:

Rod Serling (creator)
Rod Serling (writer)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

30 September 1960 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

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

Plot:

A pilot of a downed WW II bomber comes to in the African desert and desperately tries to find out what happened to the rest of his crew. |

Plot Keywords:

Bomber | Desert | Hallucination | Missing Person | WWII

Cast

Robert Cummings	...	Capt. James Embry (as Bob Cummings)
Gene Lyons	...	Psychiatrist
Paul Lambert	...	Doctor
Jenna McMahon	...	Nurse

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

Trivia:

First episode to feature the familiar Marius Constant Twilight Zone theme. Also the first to feature an on-camera Rod Serling narration at the beginning of the episode.

An Oldie but a Goodie !

Robert (Bob) Cummings was a popular actor in the 40s and 50s. He made the transition to TV in it's early days with the "Bob Cummings Show". Unlike much of the entertainment of that era, this show was very funny and creative and a welcomed relief from the recycled Vaudeville entertainment that permeated most TV shows in the early 50s.

It's interesting to note that the actress that played the housekeeper on the long running "Brady Bunch" (American TV) also played Bob's secretary on the earlier "Bob Cumming Show". They made a perfect comedy team. By today's standard, it was funny to watch Bob puff on cigarettes while appearing in the cigarette commercials for his early 50s show as Bob was an avid physical fitness fanatic.

Bob was a decorated World War II bomber commander in real life. This episode of "The Twilight Zone" was written by Rod Serling with Bob's war record in mind and was one of his dramatic roles that he carried very well. This show was one of the few shows of that era that was filmed on location, an expensive proposition for producers of that time. The location used had a vintage WWII bomber aircraft that was the center piece of the story. Media magazines of that period said that the leather bomber jacket worn by Bob was actually his from his military experience in WWII.