James Best was quite the ladies man in The Twilight Zone: in The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank he courted the drop-dead gorgeous Sherry Jackson, and in Jess-Belle he gets to canoodle with stunning blond Laura Devon AND the delightful Anne Francis.
Best plays (hill)Billy Ben Turner, who proposes to Ellwyn Glover (Devon) at a barn dance, much to the dismay of Turner's former lover Jess-Belle (Francis). Unable to accept that Billy Ben loves another woman, Jess-Belle visits local witch Granny Hart and purchases a love potion, paying for the magical elixir with her soul, which causes her to turn into a leopard at midnight. Jess-Belle wins Billy Ben's affection, but is unable to marry him for fear of him finding out what she has become.
Jess-Belle is an atypical episode of The Twilight Zone, a gentle supernatural folk-story lacking the show's by-now expected twist ending. It's the kind of tale one can imagine being told around a campfire in the deep South, and passed on from generation to generation. It's a haunting slice of Southern gothic romance that is entertaining enough, but it feels like it sits on the very fringes of The Zone rather than in the heart of it.
Best plays (hill)Billy Ben Turner, who proposes to Ellwyn Glover (Devon) at a barn dance, much to the dismay of Turner's former lover Jess-Belle (Francis). Unable to accept that Billy Ben loves another woman, Jess-Belle visits local witch Granny Hart and purchases a love potion, paying for the magical elixir with her soul, which causes her to turn into a leopard at midnight. Jess-Belle wins Billy Ben's affection, but is unable to marry him for fear of him finding out what she has become.
Jess-Belle is an atypical episode of The Twilight Zone, a gentle supernatural folk-story lacking the show's by-now expected twist ending. It's the kind of tale one can imagine being told around a campfire in the deep South, and passed on from generation to generation. It's a haunting slice of Southern gothic romance that is entertaining enough, but it feels like it sits on the very fringes of The Zone rather than in the heart of it.