A Nice Place to Visit

Larry Blyden plays immoral small-time crook Rocky Valentine, who is running away from the police after a robbery when he seems to have been shot and killed, only to find the smiling face of a Mr. Pip(played wonderfully by Sebastian Cabot) who declares himself his guide in the next world, where at first Rocky is ecstatic in, with all the gambling and women he can take, but after a while the unimaginative Valentine gets bored and dissatisfied, and begs to go to the other place, but Mr. Pip has a big shock in store for him... Memorable episode may now be obvious, but Cabot is superb, elevating this one a couple of notches, and really brings home the sting of the end revelation.

If the principle character had been a cat, he would have been very happy. In this episode, a small time hoodlum gets shot. When he awakens he is in the presence of Sebastian Cabot, who appears to be on his side. The man is given whatever he wants. He chooses the most base, crass, set of circumstances. Those things that mattered to him during his miserable life. There is a scene where he actually tries to shoot his benefactor. I guess we all imagine what our own hells would be like. We might think a little more. For him, boredom comes easily because he has few options. It has an interesting conclusion and the guy gets what's coming from him.

The idea of a friendly angel isn't exactly original but this lighter-themed "Twilight Zone" episode was nevertheless a refreshing change of pace for the series.

Small-time crook Rocky Valentine is caught in the act and gunned down by a policeman and wakens up to a cuddly big man in a white suit called Mr Pip. Who leads him to a seeming life of luxury and ease. He thinks he's cracked it until he tires of having unlimited money, comfortable accommodation and beautiful women running after him. Too good to be true or too true to be good?

I must admit I saw the twist-ending coming a long way around the corner but the high production values, tidy direction by Hollywood veteran John Brahm and nice acting by Larry Blyden and particularly Sebastian Cabot in the two leads all help it along nicely.

Who knows, maybe this episode inspired "Groundhog Day" or Kenneth Cope's similar attire as the deceased private detective in the brilliant 60's British TV series "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)".

In the end, I was perhaps more convinced than I should have been that, to quote AC/DC, hell ain't a bad place to be, which I'm not sure was rhe moral lesson I was meant to pick up, but I suppose it might offer some comfort to all the sinners out there when their own judgement day rolls around.

The most powerful morality tale ever. What happens when you're given any paradise you can invent and you're so profoundly ignorant and foul-tempered you create a hell instead of a heaven for yourself??? Look closely at this piece and consider what percentage of the planet's population would shriek in agony if they were abandoned to a paradise no better than what only they, themselves', could conceive. Rod's concise, wildly hysterical illustration of the dissolute life of Rocky Valentine carries a clear message. Rod's two principal prescriptive ethics in 'a nice place to visit', he wishes us to follow are= 'YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING THE PARADISE IN WHICH WE ALL OUGHT TO LIVE' and 'MAKE HONOR YOUR LIFE'S GOAL'. When we seek the good things in life as life's ultimate goal, as rocky does, no 'good' if ever qualitatively or quantitatively enough. Rod clearly prescribes that, in order that we may elude Rocky's fate we must use life's 'goods' and pleasures as a tool to fill us with goodwill and inspire us to 'go forth' and 'give back' to the world in ways that we personally define and continually improve.

It takes small time crook Larry Blyden to realize that he was killed in a recent pawnshop robbery. But this ever helpful guide he has Mr. Pip played most sardonically by Sebastian Cabot tends to all his needs. He's got more money he can spend, more women than Casanova could ever get to know in a biblical sense in a lifetime. He goes gambling and he's rolling sevens with every pass.

What a celestial existence, but there's a catch for what is life without an element of risk?

Sebastian Cabot and Larry Blyden play beautifully off each other in this fine Twilight Zone story.

So where do you think Blyden has wound up?