TONIGHT on ME-TV @ 12:30am EST, one of the GREAT episodes of Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE: "NOTHING IN THE DARK" (written by George Clayton Johnson, directed by Lamont Johnson, originally broadcast January 5, 1962): This 3rd-season Twilight Zone episode is about an old woman (the wonderful actress Gladys Cooper, also seen in the 5th season’s “Night Call”) confronting her imminent death. Or rather, “Mr. Death,” that shopworn character device used here with a redeeming Twilight Zone fillip that makes it new again: Death is played by the young Robert Redford, whose matinee idol looks played off perfectly against preconceptions formed by previous, more avuncular Deaths (think Fredric March in the fondly-remembered 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday). The highlight, and climax, of writer George Clayton Johnson’s Twilight Zone urban nightmare—allowing a stranger into your apartment—happens when Redford finally reveals his true identity to the woman, who refuses to believe him, because she’s been fooled into thinking he’s the injured policeman she reluctantly allowed in to her below-street level hovel (a gritty set design that plays up the very stage-like aspects of the best Twilight Zones, essentially two-act plays filmed for television), until he beckons her to finally take his hand by calling her...“Mother.” This sensitive but jarring gesture speaks volumes to both Cooper and we, the audience, as we fill in the possible familial, maternal bond that Cooper may have innately shared with the persona Redford’s Death character inhabited. That meta-moment makes “Nothing...” something special, one of The Twilight Zone’s best meditations on life and death, the appreciation of the former and the acceptance of the latter, just one of the major philosophical themes Serling and Company investigated throughout the run of the legendary TV series. arlenschumer.com/twilight-zone #rodserling #twilightzone #thetwilightzone #georgeclaytonjohnson #robertredford #tv #television #tvhistory #televisionhistory #arlenschumer @dgareps @adamschumer @the_richardsyrettshow @nyadventureclub https://www.instagram.com/p/ClwXD79vLNy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
