"The Twilight Zone" The Thirty-Fathom Grave (1963)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Perry Lafferty

Writers:

Rod Serling (creator)
Rod Serling (writer)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

10 January 1963 (Season 4, Episode 2)

Genre:

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

Plot:

In the early 1960's, as a U.S. Navy ship cruises near Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, its sonar detects muted hammering on metal undersea...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Submarine | Survivor Guilt | Ghost | Radar

Cast

Mike Kellin	...	Chief Bell
Simon Oakland	...	Capt. Beecham
David Sheiner	...	Doc
John Considine	...	McClure
Bill Bixby	...	OOD
Conlan Carter	...	Ens. Marmer
Forrest Compton	...	ASW Officer
Henry Scott	...	Jr. OOD
Anthony D. Call	...	Lee Helmsman (as Tony Call)
Charles Kuenstle	...	Sonar Operator
Derrick Lewis	...	Helmsman (as Derrik Lewis)
Vincent Baggetta	...	Sailor (as Vince Bagetta)
Louie Elias	...	Sailor

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

Trivia:

The exterior shots of the ship used in this episode were of the The "Mighty Mux" USS MULLINNIX DD-944, A Forrest Sherman class destroyer. The interior shots were done on board the USS-Edson DD946.

Drawn Out And Dragged Down

"The Thirty-Fathom Grave" is an atmospherically rich tale in which mysterious pounding noises from a sunken submarine are detected by a passing US naval vessel. As it turns out, onboard the naval ship is the lone surviving member of the crew of that sub. Plagued by creepy visions of his dead comrades sopping wet and beckoning him to join them, one cannot help but feel for the tormented character in this very well shot episode that ends with an effectively eerie revelation.

So why does it ultimately fail?

Quite frankly, because there just isn't enough story here to sustain the episode's momentum over the course of an hour. After starting off with a promising first act, the pace quickly begins to bog down to the point where the character of a young naval diver has to fill air time by making descent after monotonous descent to check out the wrecked sub. One other problem is the question of why the ghostly crew are so determined that their comrade should re-join them at the bottom of the ocean? Afterall, he didn't cause their deaths, and since the ending pretty clearly indicates that the phantoms are not just hallucinations, it becomes even harder to understand why they would be so determined to drive this guy to take his own life.

Had it been told at the usual "Twilight Zone" episode length of 30 minutes, this could well have been one the best such tales of the entire series, perhaps attaining the same standout status as did other classic episodes like "The Invaders" and "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet." Unfortunately, "Thirty-Fathom Grave" just drifts along before ultimately sinking due to it's own bloated length.