Original Airdate: October 9, 1959
Plot: A sidewalk salesman of trinkets tries to avoid a personified death, but in doing so endangers the life of a little girl. In order to save her life, he must keep Death too enthralled in a sales pitch to claim the girl's life.
It sounds like a weak plot because it is. There's always that episode of a show that is always on when you try to catch the show on TV, and for The Twilight Zone, this is the one for me. The plot is ridiculous: are we supposed to see "pitchman" as a noble profession? I've never liked salespeople, and I think it's a testament to the failings of capitalism that we have people to convince us to buy things we don't need or at least want of our own accord.
The performances leave a lot to be desired. The salesman never seems alarmed by anything. "Oh, there's a strange man in my house. How do you do sir?" A lot of the actors on The Twilight Zone were established personalities; the actor in question is Ed Wynn, who even had his own show in the ten years before and went on to appear in Mary Poppins. Granted, the script isn't much to work with, but he's not even believable as a salesman. He's just monotone, disconnected, and awkward-sounding.
I can't blame the Death character too much for his performance. Death in this episode is a thin man in a suit who alternates between being absolutely immovable and a total pushover. What we have is a personification of an idea without any of the trappings of a person. Finally he is defeated because he can't resist a good deal on a tie. It's a miracle that anyone has to die when Death's on the job.
Perhaps the one saving grace of the episode is the scene in which the salesman is trying to avoid Death while leaving his apartment. He'll lock Death in one room just to find him magically in the next. It's a simple effect, but the movements of the camera make Death pop onscreen at that critical moment, and the whimsical score gives it a Looney Toons feel.
Altogether rather poor showing for The Twilight Zone's second airing, and something of a disappointment. Chin up, though, it's mostly uphill from here.
No comments:
Post a Comment