Twilight Zone

Absolutely- They were so clever, and well done. They were so memorable that when I watch them in reruns, I can remember most of them.

I remember some of them too, Phoenix, and "Passage on the Lady Ann" is
one of them.

Well, I decided to tune in -- made my son quit watching the History Channel. (Vikings, Pagans and Romans, oh my!)

I have a very vague memory of this one and started watching it halfway through. The ship is heading north and the young woman has just disappeared.

WTF???? I feel as nervous as I did when I used to watch this ...

---commercial break---

Glad she returned. Odd how he mentioned Vandals, wasn't it? One throws a watch into the sea, the other, love letters.

Thanks, CJane.

Can you describe the opening scene? Imdb says it is had a famous opening theme (music or ??) but doesn't say anything else. All I saw was the last half.

Piff, I didn't see the opening scene either. I tuned in when the young
couple was at the travel agency looking for a cruise. Everything was
booked out, except for the "Lady Ann" and the travel agent urged them
to use a plane instead. The young lady insisted on the cruise, hoping
to have more time with her husband alone as she feared their marriage
would depend on it (they grew apart). When they started loading onto the ship, all passengers seemed rather old, and were surprised to find such
a young couple among the passenger list. They (old passengers) didn't
want them on the ship and wanted to reimburse them for their expenses
if they took another ship/plane. They young couple became stubborn
and insisted staying on the ship.

Once they were out in the open sea, the young couple realized that the
ship did not stay on course. The older passenger seemed secretive about
their destination.....

From there on, you should have seen it, Piffka, right?

Thanks! Yup, I saw some of that. I started watching when the young woman became tearful at the dining table.

It's available on a DVD (The Twilight Zone, Vol. 40 - 1959). I think I may order it off NetFlix since that DVD also has a Carol Burnett episode I'd like to see.

I might do that as well, Piffka, to me it's always entertaining to look
at various episodes.

I also have a whole series of DVD's from Louis de Funes (he's a French
comic) and his movies are also classics, at least in Europe.

I haven't heard of him but I'll see if there any DVD's available. Okay. There were two which I've added to my list: La Folie Des Grandeurs and also "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob". I'll tell you what I think when I watch them. Comedy (like poetry) can be harder to translate than drama and romance, and (again like poetry) the good stuff is rare.

You're so right, Piffka, humor is difficult to translate, and you might get
them in the original version with English subtitles only. Germany has
a tendency to translate all movies into German and with Louis de Funes films they have made rather exceptional good translations in those days
(mostly in the 60s and 70s).

You'll also see a brilliant French actor, Ives Montand, whom I adored.

As you know, some of the movie phrases become quite famous, like
Arnold's "I'll be back!!" and in Louis de Funes' case it is
"Did you get my anonymous letter?" or "All for one and every man for
himself!"

The Twilight Zone is one of my all-time favorite shows! The actors were usually first class as were the stories (usually).

You can find some at: http://tv.peekvid.com/feature/tv/1205/The-Twilight-Zone.html

Thanks... I'll look (listen) for these. My preference is usually to see the words written in both the original language and a translation or two. Eventually I "get" the drift.


Bermbits -- Do you remember seeing the Passage of Lady Anne? Do you know what the first "theme" was about?

That's one I don't remember by name. Sorry.

A quick look found this:
"Charles Beaumont adapted this hauntingly-poignant 60-minute Twilight Zone episode from his own short story "Song for a Lady." Hoping to save their tattered marriage, Alan and Eileen Ransome (Lee Philips and Joyce Van Patten) book passage on a luxury liner bound for England. Their first indication that something is amiss is the fact that all the other passengers are very, very old; the second is the realization that the ship is not travelling in the direction that it should. But what seems to be sinister at first ends up as something rare and beautiful. The veteran supporting cast includes Gladys Cooper, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Cecil Kellaway, and Alan Napier. The first Twilight Zone to be produced by Bert Granet, "Passage on the Lady Ann" originally aired May 9, 1963." From www.allmovie.com

Even better (www.scifilm.org):
"A couple, having considerable problems in their marriage, agree to take a cruise on the passenger ship the Lady Anne on what is fated to be her final voyage as she's to be decommissioned, in hopes of saving their marriage. Only Allan (Lee Philips) and Eileen Ransome (Joyce Van Patten) find their fellow passengers less than accommodating. In fact, it seems as if practically everyone aboard, entirely folks over the age of 75, insist they just do not belong aboard - that is until they learn the real reason for the Ransomes being on board. The Ransomes finally seem to find acceptance as yet one more couple hoping to spark their marriage on an old passenger ship that was once famed for being reserved for lovers when again they are asked to leave. Why? What mysterious fate awaits the Lady Anne?

There are certain stories that touch one on a very personal level. This is one such story that stirs such feelings in me. I love the basic message it's sending that everyone nowadays is in too much of a rush, so much so that they miss out on so many joys that exist in the world and some even lose track of what's really important, like love and family, just taking the time to stop to smell the roses so to speak. It's a powerful message that resonates with me more now than ever before. The old way of doing things...was there ever really such a way? Whether there was or not, there's something all too romantically elusive today in looking back upon a time and era when people had no other choice but to take their time to get from place to place, where there seemed time for elegance, grace and tranquility. Back into a time there seemed to be more time for love and more chances to fall in love, where one wasn't moving so fast within the modern world that one didn't have time for romance. This story touches upon all of that in its running time and to me, it's an absolute delight. Maybe it's a little afield of reality, maybe it's painting a rose-colored glass portrait of the past yet it the picture it paints is a most pleasant and appealing one. And it should be noted that it does not forget to remind us in the end that no matter how attractive the past may seem, one just cannot live there no matter how much one might desire it so. This one is well worth watching just for the speech given by Burgess (well played by Cecil Kellaway) alone, a speech as rambled as it was I couldn't help largely being in agreement with myself and so likely too will anyone else who's ever wished for just a little while they could live in the past, in a simpler time and place.

"Why? What's the rush?"

Yep, Bermbits, that was a great little speech by "Burgess" and speaks to us now even more than in 1959.

My personal favorite is still "The Invaders", featuring a true virtuoso performance by Agnes Moorehead. She is the only member of the cast, and has not a single line of dialogue in the entire twenty-five minute episode. If you have never seen it (or even if you have), this is a can't miss view the next time it airs.

I will look for that one, CowDog.

The other one I remember vividly is the women who was in the hospital
all bandaged up. She had numerous facial surgeries and was hoping
that this time the surgeons succeeded in giving her a "new" more appealing
face.

One never saw the doctors or nurses faces, heard just their voices. The suspense built up and when she finally got her bandages removed, a beautiful face emerged, but she was crying as the operation wasn't successful yet again.

Then the camera swayed up to the faces of doctors and nurses and they
all had terribly distorted ugly faces.

---

I remember the "Hitch-Hiker" episode too - gosh, that was creepy!

that a favourite of mine

and of course the classic, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

Opening narration

"Maple Street, U.S.A. Late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice-cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43pm on Maple Street. This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street, in the last calm and reflective moment before the monsters came."

Closing narration

"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts... attitudes... prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is... that these things cannot be confined to... The Twilight Zone."


MSNBC correspondent Keith Olbermann cited this episode as an allegory for the Bush Administration's conduct of the War on Terror in a "Special Comment" aired on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, titled "This hole in the ground."

Oh my, youtube has the entire episode of "Eye of the beholder"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IldiAYhabIw