Long Distance Call
- Episode aired Mar 31, 1961
- TV-PG
- 25m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.
Bill Mumy
- Billy Bayles
- (as Billy Mumy)
Arch Johnson
- Fireman
- (uncredited)
Robert McCord
- 1st Fireman
- (uncredited)
Jutta Parr
- Nurse
- (uncredited)
Rod Serling
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- …
James Turley
- 2nd Fireman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original script called for 6-year-old Bill Mumy's character to be found floating face down in the decorative pond behind the house. However, the child actor's mother refused to allow her son to participate in a drowning scene. Director James Sheldon modified the shot to show only the father reaching into the pond to pull Billy out, carefully filmed to exclude having to show the boy. Says Mumy, "I wanted to do it. I was a very good swimmer, but Mom was terrified I'd get some weird ideas about suicide if I did."
- Quotes
[closing narration]
Narrator: A toy telephone, an act of faith, a set of improbable circumstances, all combine to probe a mystery, to fathom a depth, to send a facet of light into a dark after-region, to be believed or disbelieved, depending on your frame of reference. A fact or a fantasy, a substance or a shadow - but all of it very much a part of The Twilight Zone.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: Long Distance Call (2021)
Featured review
There's no-one quite like grandma.
Having thus far presented more duds than gems in Season 2, Rod Serling pulls a corker out of the bag with Long Distance Call, a genuinely creepy tale about a old lady whose obsessive love for her grandson extends beyond the grave.
Shortly before carking it, doting Grandma Bayles (Lili Darva) gives little Billy (Billy Mumy) a special birthday gift, a toy telephone that she tells him will enable him to talk to her 'even when she has gone'. Sure enough, after the old woman dies, Billy begins to hold conversations with her over the phone, much to the concern of his mother Sylvia (Patricia Smith).
Matters become more serious when grandma asks Billy to come and stay with her, the young boy following her instructions to throw himself in front of a car, and, when that fails, drown himself in a pond.
As medics fight to save the lad's life, his father Chris (Philip Abbott) picks up the toy phone and tells his mother that if she really loves Billy, she must give him back...
With a genuinely unsettling vibe, and sterling performances all round, this is easily one of the most effective stories of season two and could only have been better had it not been one of the handful of episodes that were recorded on videotape.
Keeping with the theme of death, those with a morbid fascination will be interested to know that Jenny Maxwell, who played Billy's pretty babysitter Shirley, was shot and killed in 1981 during an alleged botched armed robbery (according to reports, half of her head was blown away). The case remains unsolved.
Shortly before carking it, doting Grandma Bayles (Lili Darva) gives little Billy (Billy Mumy) a special birthday gift, a toy telephone that she tells him will enable him to talk to her 'even when she has gone'. Sure enough, after the old woman dies, Billy begins to hold conversations with her over the phone, much to the concern of his mother Sylvia (Patricia Smith).
Matters become more serious when grandma asks Billy to come and stay with her, the young boy following her instructions to throw himself in front of a car, and, when that fails, drown himself in a pond.
As medics fight to save the lad's life, his father Chris (Philip Abbott) picks up the toy phone and tells his mother that if she really loves Billy, she must give him back...
With a genuinely unsettling vibe, and sterling performances all round, this is easily one of the most effective stories of season two and could only have been better had it not been one of the handful of episodes that were recorded on videotape.
Keeping with the theme of death, those with a morbid fascination will be interested to know that Jenny Maxwell, who played Billy's pretty babysitter Shirley, was shot and killed in 1981 during an alleged botched armed robbery (according to reports, half of her head was blown away). The case remains unsolved.
helpful•20
- BA_Harrison
- Mar 10, 2022
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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