Zane Grey Theatre (TV Series) A Warm Day in Heaven (1961) User Reviews

More Stephen King than Zane Grey

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 15 November 2016]

In this Zane Grey Theater story someone decides that a town like Heaven which prides itself on being a nice place with nice people living in it ought to be messed with. When stranger Thomas Mitchell comes to town he's just the man who can do it.

Mitchell works quite insidiously starting with amiable blacksmith Lon Chaney, Jr. He tells Chaney he's an auctioneer by trade and offers to auction off Chaney's string of horses that he has at the livery stable. Chaney makes a nice profit, but pretty soon the whole town is infected with the quest for the almighty dollar. And always Mitchell is insinuating himself in their lives.

Mitchell must have been in the first stages of the cancer that killed him. He does not look well though he delivers a fine performance. Chaney also never gets credit for being the fine actor he was in roles away from grade Z horror films

I will say this though, the ending comes more out of Stephen King than Zane Grey.

A surprising and entertaining story.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 14 March 2016]

In this unusual but entertaining episode, we have a town that is a wonderful place to live. Everyone in town is respectful of others and not an unkind word is spoken in this small community called Heaven. That is until as stranger named Nick Finn (Thomas Mitchell) shows up in the town that will change the name of Heaven to a more warmer and less friendly place to stay.

Mr Finn seems like a likable old chap and becomes friends with the citizens of Heaven. When the local blacksmith/stable man, Michael Peters (Lon Chaney Jr), is selling his horses at a reasonable rate-Finn talks Michael to go in partners with him and that he will auction the horses out to the highest bidder. Everything works out fine as Michael is soon making more money than he has seen, but it comes at a cost. Some of the horses turn out to be poor and the buyers cannot get their money back. Now, instead of the town being a great place to live, it begins to change into a town of money and greed.

Soon Finn has teams up with others in the town and before long the town becomes a place for gunfights, drinking and cheating. Finn has accomplished what he wanted for the town of Heaven.

This was an excellent script that was entertaining with its magnificent references to heaven and hell. Thomas Mitchell does a nice job of playing the greedy stranger that brings the evils of the world to the incorrupt town. Even though Lon Chaney acting ability is limited, he does a nice job of playing the person that sees that the town has changed. -- The ending was somewhat odd but the point of the entire story was brought out by the time the performance ends. For an episode that had no expectations at the beginning, the show was a surprising story that was enjoyable to watch. Good watch.

Lon Chaney and Thomas Mitchell

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 5 October 2022]

A 5th season episode whose story was supplied by producer Aaron Spelling, "A Warm Day in Heaven" is set in the Arizona town of Heaven, a population of 207 friendly citizens conducting their business peacefully. Into this quiet community comes a stranger calling himself Nick Finn (Thomas Mitchell), immediately stirring up trouble behind the back of blacksmith Michael Peters (Lon Chaney) by poisoning the horse he was about to sell to an irate buyer who chooses to make his purchase at the stable of Jonas Mulvey (Hank Patterson). Ruffled feathers continue when Finn partners with Michael to sell his stock by auction, earning the blacksmith a pretty penny at the expense of his friendship with old Jonas. Finn also ingratiates himself with banker Ben Stark (Malcolm Atterbury), convincing the townspeople to cater to cattle drovers for increased profit, but Michael remains uneasy after another group of horses also perishes. In no time, the once upstanding community transforms into a rowdy center for drinking and carousing, where the women are told to stay indoors or risk being assaulted. The treacherous Finn is now vice president of the bank, just in time for one final transaction with a downtrodden Michael, coming out on top of a fracas with two conniving drunks, now determined to sell his place and leave town for good. The blacksmith finally calls Finn's bluff when he overplays his hand, and it appears that cooler heads will prevail after too many warm days in Heaven. An obviously ailing Thomas Mitchell does not come off well in this atypical role, but Lon Chaney's steadfast heroics prove to be as gratifying as other sympathetic turns on small screen Westerns, forgotten at the time but surviving the years to entertain anew.

Twilight Zone lost in the West

[searchanddestroy-1 · 6/10 · 9 November 2018]

This is one more example of a non western story set in a western settings. Not bad tale, entertaining and with an ending which looks so much like a TWILIGHT ZONE series episode.

A hard-to-get episode

[jargandona · 3 June 2021]

As many old series, only a few episodes have the luck of been alive. To the guys who were lucky to comment after watching this episode, please, at least add the source so the rest of us can look for it. In my case I was looking by all means, but had no luck.