The Dummy

No question, Rod Serling had to have been inspired by the cult British film, DEAD OF NIGHT (1945), which featured a series of weird tales, foremost the story of a ventriloquist and his "live" dummy. Catch this amazing horror film. You won't forget it.

Here, Cliff Robertson plays the doomed ventriloquist who believes his dummy (called Willy) is taking over his life --if not his soul? Creepy little tale, directed Abner Biberman, who also headed four TZ episodes. Frank Sutton (GOMER PYLE) as Frank, in a role obviously written for him, plays Robertson's exasperated manager who thinks he's just plain nuts. You be the judge.

One to see and see again, especially for Cliff Robertson's uncanny performance. He may have won the part due to his impressive performance in PT 109, playing John F. Kennedy, and was selected by the president to play the role. Good trivia question.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 33 remastered in classic black and white. The Definitive dvd Edition. 5 dvds. Released 2013.

"The Dummy" a "Twilight Zone" episode from season 3 1962 is one that's interesting and creepy as it involves an object that comes to life! The story involves Jerry Etherson a Ventriloquist who plays a club night after night and finally he has reached the conclusion that his dummy named "Willie" actually does talk! The scenes are telling and convincing it's like a little cat and mouse game with things that are suspenseful and this is a man who seems to be close to having his whole life go to the gutter. Only when a plan to go to the stage with a new dummy it's when things twist around and go plum crazy! It's like a new transformation for Jerry as Willie is one little evil dummy! Overall good well done creepy episode that twist.

Fact: ventriloquist dummies are creepy! Like clowns, they have some sort of uncanny aura surrounding them and the more you look at them, the scarier they become. Different fact, however: there isn't a whole lot you can do with them in terms of plotting. If ventriloquist dummies were easy to process into horror scenarios, surely, we would have as many evil dummy movies as evil clown movies. There do exist a few very good full-length films, like "The Devil Doll" and "Magic" (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins), but they lend themselves better for short stories, like the brilliant segment in "Dead of Night" or episodes in TV-series like "Goosebumps", "Tales from the Crypt" or "The Twilight Zone".

"The Dummy", starring a young Cliff Robertson, revolves around that inescapable plot where the wooden doll seemingly lives for real and gradually takes control over its master... Or is the artist simply losing his sense of reality? In defense of "The Twilight Zone", this installment came before most of the aforementioned films/TV-episodes, and undoubtedly influenced many of them. It's a competent short, but personally I didn't feel any sympathy for, or connection with Robertson's lead character. The psychedelic climax is terrific, and quite disturbing to boot.

Cliff Robertson stars as talented ventriloquist Jerry Etherson, who has a popular act in a nightclub, but still has trouble making all his dates, since Jerry drinks too much, and insists that his dummy Willie(voiced by George Murdoch) is alive and persecuting him mercilessly. Of course his agent doesn't believe him, and threatens to drop him if he doesn't get help, but it seems that poor Jerry is beyond help, as Willie appears to be gaining the upper hand, and about to make his move... Chilling episode is among the series' best, and certainly the scariest, with an excellent performance by Robertson and voice work by Murdoch, and contains the most effective, jump-out-of-your-seat twist ending in television history. A true classic of its kind.

Everything about a ventriloquist dummy is creepy and this story went a long way to giving me nightmares! Well developed storyline and some great cinematography.