Steve-Calvert.co.uk
Steve-Calvert.co.uk
A Passion For Horror
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The Night Gallery first season package consists of 3 DVDs. Each DVD has its own slim-line case and all three are then slipped inside a cardboard sleeve cover. For some strange reason, here in the UK, discs one and three are deemed to be certificate 12 and disc two is a PG. Why? I don't know. I'm just telling it like it is. Disc one contains the pilot for the Night Gallery series, along with episodes one and two. Episodes three through to six are on disc two. There were only six episodes in the first season and disc three is all bonus material. The bonus material in this case, I am glad to say, is episodes from series two and three of Night Gallery. If you have never seen Night Gallery - and I hadn't - let me first explain one or two things about the series. Night Gallery was the brainchild of Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone. Each episode of Night Gallery contains two, or perhaps three, stories - if the stories are longer ones, there will be just two. If they are shorter there will be three. Some of the stories are of Mr Serling's own creation and others are by equally well known writers such as Richard Matheson and Algernon Blackwood. Each episode features Mr Serling as the curator of the Night Gallery and he leads the viewer to a painting and gives a brief introductory speech about it. The painting, of course, is representative of the upcoming story. In the case of The Doll, for instance, he shows the viewer a painting of rather unpleasant looking doll and explains that the doll in the upcoming story is not one that you would want to play with. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how things go in the Night Gallery.
Pilot Episode
The Cemetery stars Roddy McDowell as the nephew of a rather wealthy old man of ailing health. The old man, Mr Hendricks, lives in a large old house along with his faithful butler, Portafoy, and the nephew. The nephew is a little impatient to get at his uncles money and engineers his demise. Then some very strange things start happening with one of the paintings in the house.
Eyes stars Joan Crawford and has Tom Bosly, of Happy Days fame, in a supporting role, and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the story of a very rich woman that has been blind since birth. She hears of an operation that can provide sight to the blind. It has only been tried on animals, and it was successful, but only offered 11 to 15 hours of sight. All that the woman needs is a surgeon willing to perform the operation and a donor willing to part with his eyes. Fortunately she has found a donor a man (Tom Bosly) that is desperate for money. He has debts; he has two functioning eyes, and is willing to part with the one to lose the other. The surgeon of course would not dream of performing such an operation - until he is blackmailed that is.
The Escape Route is the story of a Nazi war criminal who tries to escape his pursuers by attempting to enter a painting in an art gallery. It's a nice scene. A tranquil scene. A man fishing in a boat and oh how he wants to be that man in the boat.
Episode 1
The Dead Man is a story about an experiment in hypnosis. The doctor has found the perfect subject for his work. And so what if his subject is a little younger and better looking than he is, and if he seems a little to friendly with the doctor's wife. But then the experiment goes wrong and the doctor cannot wake the young man. He is quite literally dead to the world.
The Housekeeper stars Larry Hagman as a man with a problem. His problem is his wife. She is a little too cold to him and more than a little to warm with other men. If he leaves his wife, though, he leaves her money too, and that would never do. In desperation he turns to the black arts and uses witchcraft to evict his wife from her body and replace her with his newly hired housekeeper.
Episode 2 Room With A View is all about an invalid, who is confined to his bed, and manipulates his unwitting nurse into being the instrument of his revenge against his cheating wife. The Little Black Bag stars Burgess Meredith (of Rocky fame), as a former doctor who is now living on the streets and seeking solace in the bottle. When a bag appears, from the future, containing revolutionary medical equipment, he uses it to cure a young child and finds a new feeling of self-worth. The Nature of the Enemy is possibly one of the most stupid stories to be featured on Night Gallery. Mission Control watch, helpless, as the members of a lunar expedition are picked off by an unseen enemy. I found myself nearly helpless with laughter when the enemy was no longer unseen and someone announced: "That's the enemy." To tell you why would be a spoiler, so enough said.
DISC 2
Episode 3
The House is the rather unusual story of a woman who is released from a sanatorium and finds the house of her (recurring) dreams. There is quite a spooky feel to this story and it was one of my favourites.
Certain Shadows on the wall is about a doctor who murders his ailing sister in order to get his hands on her money. The dead sister makes her return, though, as a shadow on the wall.
Episode 4
Make Me Laugh was directed by Steven Spielberg and is the story of a failing comedian. He is so bad, in fact, that I found it uncomfortable to watch his act dying on stage. Tom Bosly makes a return appearance on Night Gallery as the comedian's manager, who runs out on him. In desperation the comedian turns to a miracle-working-guru. The guru is not perhaps the best at his craft and things don't exactly turn out how the funny man expected.
Clean Kills And Other Trophies is the story of a wealthy man who has an obsession with big-game hunting. His son, however, does not share his love of bloodshed and so is a constant disappointment to him. In an effort to try and 'make a man' of his son, he adds a clause to his will: either his son kills a deer, or he looses his inheritance. It's a nasty trick, thought up by a nasty man, but his own fate is equally as nasty.
Episode 5
Pamela's voice has a cast of just two: Phyllis Diller and John Astin (who played Gomez Adams in the original; Adam's family series). Astin plays Jonathan, who has murdered his wife. Even death, though, seems unable to save him from Pamela and her horrible, nagging voice that goes on and on and on and. It is easy to sympathize with Jonathan's predicament, which also seems to go on and on and on and. This is only a short story and was penned by Mr Stirling himself. It is one of my favourites and when the twist came at the end it took me completely by surprise.
The Doll is possibly one of the most chilling stories of the series and if Barbie looked anything like this doll then Ken would long ago have changed his name and gone into hiding. The Doll is the story of an army officer that returns home from India to find that his niece, of whom he is guardian, has a new doll. The Doll had arrived in a parcel from India and the nanny believed that the Colonel had sent it. But this is not the case and he seems quite distressed to see it.
Episode 6
They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar. This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1971. It is the rather sad story of a sales executive whose career, like his life, has seen better days. After 25 years with the same company, his secretary seems to be the only person who seems to be aware of his anniversary, or who appreciates him. Tim Riley's Bar holds a lot of memories for him and he has just found out that it going to be pulled down. As he talks of the bar it is hard not to think that he is comparing the bar with his life and the old will be replaced with the new, much as his younger assistant is snapping at his heels and trying to replace him.
The Last Laurel is the story of a crippled athlete who is confined to his bed. With his body no longer of any use to him he decides to exercise his powers of astral projection and use them as a means of revenge on his wife.
DISC 3
Bonus Episdodes From Season 2
Diary. An actress gives her enemy the gift of a diary. The Diary though, seems to record events that will be rather than what has been and nothing good seems to be forthcoming.
Matter of Sematics is the short and silly tale of Count Dracula's visit to the blood bank. It is more of a joke than a story. It is not particularly funny and the punch-line is obvious long before it arrives.
Big Surprise. I didn't really understand the ending of this one, but I enjoyed it anyway. It is based on a story by Richard Matheson. Three young boys are on their way home from school when a strange old man calls one of them over to him. He gives the boy some directions and tells him to dig in a certain place. If he does, he will get a big surprise.
Bonus Episdodes From Season 3
Return Of The Sorcerer stars Vincent Price and Bill Bixby (of Incredible Hulk fame). Price plays a sorcerer who hires Bixby to translate an ancient text for him. He is willing to pay top money for Bixby's services and seems rather anxious for the translation. There are strange noises in the sorcerer's house and it seems to worry him deeply.
Whisper stars a young Sally as Irene, a woman who allows spirits to share her body. An equally youthful Dean Stockwell plays her husband, Charlie, who is worried that this time the spirits want to keep her.
I enjoyed watching the Night Gallery first season package and there were some stories that I enjoyed more than others. The Doll, for instance, was truly chilling. The House was also very good, but was more haunting, I thought, than chilling. The Cemetery and The Escape Route were both very good too and I would have to say that I liked the biggest part of the collection. Every rose has its thorn though and I found one or two of the stories very disappointing. The two main ones to come to mind are The Nature of the Enemy and Matter of Sematics. I found both to be very stupid. Overall though, I would say that I found The Night Gallery first season package to be very entertaining and definitely worth the money.
Soundtrack: 2.0
stereo
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