"The Twilight Zone" Of Late I Think of Cliffordville (1963)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

David Lowell Rich

Writers:

Malcolm Jameson (short story "Blind Alley") and
Rod Serling (creator)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

11 April 1963 (Season 4, Episode 14)

Genre:

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

Plot:

Aging tycoon William Feathersmith is bored with life and makes arrangements through a devilish travel agency to return to the Cliffordville of his youth and start all over again. |

Plot Keywords:

Travel Agency | Boredom | Time Travel | Deal With The Devil | Millionaire

Cast

Albert Salmi	...	William Feathersmith
John Anderson	...	Diedrich
Wright King	...	Hecate
Guy Raymond	...	Gibbons
Christine Burke	...	Joanna
John Harmon	...	Clark
Hugh Sanders	...	Cronk
Julie Newmar	...	Miss Devlin

Runtime:

51 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

Goofs:

Continuity: When the bell-tower shows and the clock strikes "midnight", you can see a relatively light sky is visible.

Some people should quit when they're ahead...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Admittedly this is not one of the better episodes, but one that has always been a particular favourite of mine. The reason is that it has always left me feeling rather uneasy. To summarise, William J. Feathersmith, a bored, old, wealthy & rather unpleasant businessman, makes a deal with the devil, a return to his youth in Cliffordville in exchange for his fortune. He figures that with all his knowledge of the future, he will make a killing and make himself rich. He instead finds out that this supposedly formidable plan is not as watertight as he assumed.

My problem has always been the fact that although I was glad to see the villain get his comeuppance, the punishment did not fit the crime. The rather contrite Feathersmith seemed to be a better man and it was not necessarily for him to be ridiculed by Hecate, his former janitor. Another bothersome aspect of their exchange in the final scene is why was it necessary to make Hecate unpleasant just because he was now rich. More unnecessary moralising by Serling, methinks.

However I recently read "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson on which the episode was based, and I have to admit that Serling's Feathersmith 'got off' rather lightly.