In the 1950s and 1960s there was a screen cycle of Jules Verne adaptations. The peak year was 1961, which saw the release of four Hollywood productions, two imports, and the broadcast of two television productions, both of the same original story. This Vernian film year opened in January with the two television versions of Master Zacharius (first published in 1854, when Verne was a fledgling 26 year old writer), one an acknowledged adaptation, the other not. Both took considerable liberties with the source to make the story suitable for the new medium's constraints of time and genre. In effect, they carried Verne's idea one logical step further than the conclusion he had provided, by portraying the outcome of the clockmaker's experiments as the creation of human-like automatons who operate on a clock-like mechanism.
The first of the two broadcasts occurred on January 3 with ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: THE CHANGING HEART, scripted by Robert Bloch and directed by Verne enthusiast Robert Florey. This was the uncredited version, necessarily condensing the story's themes to fit a 30-minute show. Nonetheless, of the two versions, this one actually retains greater fidelity to the duality and menace of Verne's clockmaker (memorably played by Abraham Sofaer) who believes he has conquered time. He possessively retains a hypnotic control over his granddaughter (Anne Helm) that gradually gives evidence of his increasing madness.
Several weeks later, on January 29, NBC broadcast the official adaptation of Master Zacharius, a one-hour show entitled THE TERRIBLE CLOCKMAN for the series THE SHIRLEY TEMPLE THEATER. The clockman in this version is not Zacharius himself, but his latest triumph to calculate time, a giant human-shaped statue with a clock-like face, and arms for the hands of the clock to point to the hours of the clock, all intended as a gift for the King of Bavaria during his forthcoming visit to the village. However, Zacharius's daughter, Gerande (a blonde Shirley Temple), has been followed by Ignacious Van Der Graf, a stranger who brings darkness and storms wherever he goes and is able to appear and vanish at will. Van Der Graf, a demonic alchemist, demands that Zacharius allow him to marry Gerande, regardless of her love for Aubert, her fiancée and her father's assistant. When Zacharius refuses, more than just his clocks stop. Under Van Der Graf's spell, the ticking mechanism in the clockman turns into an audible beating heart, as it comes to life as a walking robot and escapes. The clockman thus becomes the scientific prediction audiences expect from Verne, despite the original story having been a pure fantasy.
Not only does Van Der Graf cause the townsfolk to lose all track of time, he changes day into night and causes snow during the summer. Past and future become mixed, as a music box suddenly plays a 20th century radio broadcast. The clockman stalks the streets, murdering a young couple and terrorizing the people, who blame Zacharius. Gerande is abducted by the clockman to Van Der Graf's lair in the Black Castle, where she spurns the sorcerer's marriage proposal. He vengefully transforms Gerande into an old woman as Aubert arrives to save her. However, as the clockman attacks Aubert, he manages to disconnect its mechanism, and the dying robot turns on Van Der Graf and kills him before falling to pieces. Villainy has turned destructively back on itself and, with the magician's death, Gerande regains her youth as time returns to normal.
Temple's out-of-costume introduction casts the Verne story as a science-fiction fairy tale, a look enhanced by the fact that the William Asher production was shot live. The mood is furthered by the show's clear stage limitations, its artificial decor and medieval setting, and the extraordinarily bright and colorful hues. Allen Reisner's direction facilitates fast camera movements, and the sense of evil is furthered by the dramatic lighting and shading (such as the lightning whitening Van Der Graf's face), with excellent sound effects and a vivid musical score. Eric Portman and Sam Jaffe vividly etch Van Der Graf and Zacharius, respectively. However, some of the acting by the supporting players is mediocre, such as the carriage driver and the burgomaster, and they cause the story to drag when they alone occupy the screen.
While one of the best-made Verne television shows, THE TERRIBLE CLOCKMAN has little fidelity to Verne's conception. Writer Bernard Schoenfeld eliminates the tragic duality in Master Zacharius, central to Verne's Faustian conception, instead splitting the original characterization by adding Van Der Graf. Rather than Verne's tale of a man tempted by the devil, THE TERRIBLE CLOCKMAN eliminates Verne's specific religious connotations and shifts to emphasize a Frankenstein-style conflict and a time-warp theme. While Zacharius must still choose between having all his clocks stop or marrying Gerande to the sorcerer, he is never tempted to accept. His complicity in the evil instead comes through his having built what becomes the terrible clockman. Nonetheless, the show is gripping and the new themes provide an arresting, if unfaithful, manner of presenting Verne.
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