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Treasures of The Twilight Zone

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"An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge" (the original English name for this French film which was presented as Episode 142 of the "Twilight Zone" on 2/28/64) is this DVD's ONLY raison d'être. The other two TZ episodes ("Where Is Everybody?" and "The Encounter") appear on DVD volumes 43 and 33, respectively, and the fillers (The '59 Serling/Wallace interview and "Inside the Twilight Zone") are shamelessly (or perhaps shamefully) duplicated on "More Treasures From the Twilight Zone." So, is this DVD worth its price just for this one feature? Probably. In the first place, it is based on an Ambrose Bierce short story. Bierce is best known for his acidly satiric aphorisms in _The Devil's Dictionary_, but, more to the point here, he was also a consummate (arguably America's best) short story writer, and this story in particular has achieved near legendary status in literary circles. In its French video version, it won best short subject in the '62 Cannes and '63 BAFTA (British Academy Awards) competitions. Somewhere along the line, Rod Serling saw it, and when William Froung (the series' producer for its final episodes) told him that the 36-episode budget had been exceeded after only 35 episodes, Serling suggested acquiring US TV rights to the French film. For a paltry $10,000, which saved the 5th season's budget, but not the series, the deal was done. Later that year, probably as a result of the exposure it received on TZ, the film completed its hat trick by winning the '64 Academy Award for best short subject. Although I'm not positive on this point, I believe it to be the least expensive and most highly honored half-hour-long film in the history of US television. The original film (with a few minutes of footage that was cut for the TZ version and sans the Serling narration) is available as a VHS cassette, but, for the few dollars extra, I recommend that you go ahead and buy this DVD -- especially if you don't already have one or more of its other features.

You don't even have to know what is on this tape. It doesn't even matter which episodes are on it. "Eye of the Beholder" is present. You won't find a better half-hour than that. "The Howling Man" is good, and "The Masks" is adequate. Check out Serling's interview with Mike Wallace.

Rod Serling had quite a bit to say about the quality of televsion programs of the late 1950s and the way advertising dollars and corporate influence effect the medium. He could see this and rise above it. Each of the episodes exhibit that Rod Serling was a man of true determination and integrity. He was an artistic genius who was not afraid to challenge both audiences and censors.

The first episode is an early attempt of just what Rod Serling claims he set out to do in the Mike Wallace interview. That is to create mature, quality drama for television. While it does have a relatively safe, conclusive ending, unlike many of the best TZ episodes, Rod was merely testing the waters rather than jumping in with both feet. Keep in mind that this is still only a 1959 audience.

The second episode is much more daring. It shows how the show progressed and the creators began to push the envelope in dealing with more socially concious topics. This definitely isn't I Love Lucy or Father Knows Best.

While the third isn't a TZ original, it is an example of the awareness the show's producers had of artistic possibilities of the medium of television. Something that had become too often overlooked as Rod mentions in the Wallace interview.

Rod Serling was a visionary and this DVD is a testimony to his true genius.

As a collector who has all 43 Volumes of The Twilight Zone, I was taken back when I found out episodes: "An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge", "The Masks" and "The Howling Man" were not included. These three together would have made Vol. 44, or in which ever sequence they could be placed. So now, I have episodes I already have included with the missing ones that should have been there to start with. However, I was told these predate the Volume series and everything's been done ramshackle, because not everyone is willing to pay the retail $900 for all episodes.
I'll give the content 5 stars, and if you want just a few episodes this the way to go. But, for collectors of the entire series it's sad they didn't stuff in those 3 episodes, with 2 being on "More Treasues of The Twilight Zone".

"Treasures of The Twilight Zone" offers three episodes that are not seen in syndication for various reasons. "Where is Everybody?" was the pilot episode for "The Twilight Zone." Written by Rod Serling, it stars Earl Holliman as Mike Ferris, apparently a member of the U.S. Air Force since he is wearing a jumpsuit, but who is suffering from amnesia. Finding himself in a town where all the people have disappeared, Ferris still has the feeling he is being watched. An average episode, it does set the tone for future Twilight Zone twists. "The Encounter," written by Martin Goldsmith, pits a bigoted World War II veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) against a young Japanese-American gardener named Taro (George Takei). Things come to a head when the samurai sword Fenton claims to have taken off a Japanese solider apparently inspires the two men to confess their worst sins when trapped in an attic. Ironically, Brand was the fourth-most decorated U.S. Army soldier from World War II. "The Encounter" is another episode that is not shown in syndication, presumably because of its fairly overt racism (for the time) and its somewhat offensive suggestion there was a Japanese-American traitor who was directing enemy plans at Pearl Harbor.

Finally, we have "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," which was a French film that had won first prize for short subjects at Cannes in 1962. Written and Directed by Robert Enrico, it is based on the short story by Ambrose Bierce. Since the film only had a half-dozen lines in it, dubbing an "English version" was relatively easy. A few minutes were cut and Serling's opening and closing narration (which made it clear this was a French film) were added. Robert Jacquet stars as a Confederate about to be hung for being a spy with Anne Cornaly as the wife he desperately wants to return home to see. This short film went on to win an Oscar in 1964 for Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects. This collection of episodes is actually better than I remember from way back when, although none of them qualify as classics from the celebrated television series.

Well, I'm a late comer to posting about this, basically bought the complete older set with this and more treasures of the twilight zone included with set/season 5, of "the gold edition" as the older set is known for, 45 discs in all. Of course, when they sell the complete blue ray set as a complete season 1-5 set, that is when I'll upgrade, maybe, I do collect blue ray tv shows selectively so far. Bought an older dvd set off ebay with this disc, knowing that the later definitive edition had more special features, on fewer discs of course, mainly since there isn't as much digital compression per disc per episode. Treasures of the Twilight Zone is very interesting, almost through this disc.

Six timeless, unforgettable masterpieces are the main attraction of this superb collection, along with a Twilight Zone promotional ad and Mike Wallace's interview with Rod Serling in 1959, at the dawn of The Twilight Zone's premier on CBS. Treasures of the Twilight Zone is comprised of classic episodes and rare footage. It begins with a film advertisement promoting sponsors, hosted by Serling.

The Twilight Zone's first episode, "Where Is Everybody?," is a timeless treasure with amazing camera work by Joseph La Shelle, who unfortunately never again filmed for The Twilight Zone. It's director, Robert Stevens, went on to direct the episode "Walking Distance"(1959), one of Serling's most personal episodes. "Where Is Everybody?" was written, of course, by Rod Serling. It has a wonderful music score, conducted by Bernard Herrmann who later on wrote more fantastic music for many other episodes. Earl Holliman stars as a lonely man who finds himself in a lonely, unpopulated town. As he searches for someone else, he can't shake the feeling that he's being watched. "Where Is Everybody?" was filmed at an empty lot of Universal Studios, the same lot that was the "Hill Valley" setting in Back to the Future(1985). "Where Is Everybody?" later inspired author Earl Hamner, Jr. to pen the episode "Stopover in a Quiet Town"(1964).

"The Howling Man"(1960), written by Charles Beaumont, stars H.M. Wynant as David Ellington, a traveler of central Europe who gets lost in a storm and discovers a dark and mysterious hermitage inhabited by monks, led by Brother Jerome, who believes he has captured the Devil in a cell. The inmate claims that Jerome is insane. Who should Ellington believe? "The Howling Man" has some of the greatest camera work and set design of The Twilight Zone and is truly gothic and sinister looking. The best acting is done by John Carradine as Jerome who looks and acts like Moses. Interestingly, Carradine played Moses's brother in The Ten Commandments(1956). Douglas Heyes, the director of some of The Twilight Zone's best episodes, including "The After Hours", "Eye of the Beholder", and "The Invaders" directed this one.

"Eye of the Beholder"(1960), written by Rod Serling, is about a state in which a girl longs to be beautiful like everyone else.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"(1962), a French film that won first prize at the Cannes Film Festival, was recut for the series in 1964.

"The Masks"(1964), written by Serling, is the only episode in which an actress who had stared in an episode also directed one. Ida Lupino("The 16mm Shrine") was the director. A rich old man in his death bed summons his greedy family to a Mardi Gras party. The family has never cared for the old man and they're waiting for him to die so they can collect the inheritance. In The Twilight Zone, they get what they deserve.

"The Encounter"(1964) is the rarest of all the episodes. Never put into syndication, it involves 2 men, one a WW II veteran, another a Japanese-American gardener(George Takei) who get locked in an attic. An emotion battle and a confrontation from beyond the grave ensues. Directed by Robert Butler("Caesar & Me") and written by Martin Goldsmith("What's in the Box?") it is one of the most controversal episodes of The Twilight Zone.

The collection ends with Mike Wallace's interview with Rod Serling on the subject of The Twilight Zone. Treasures of the Twilight Zone and More Treasures of the Twilight Zone are definite must-buys. I highly recommend them.

Folks there's a good reason why this dvd is described as "Treasures" and not "Best of" or other similar title. The 3 episodes here are truly treasures in the sense that they are hard to find and relatively rare episodes. These are not the very best episodes in the franchise and currently you'll need to get the complete set at an incredibly exhorbitant price to get these at least until they decide to release a best of dvd for those of us who can't afford or really don't want to see every single episode from all 5 seasons.

The first episode is literally the first and as such, one doesn't or at least shouldn't expect perfection at least relative to later works as Rod Serling is just cutting his teeth here and is trying to get a feel for what his ob markers or boundaries are with respect sponsor and censor tolerance. As a result, we get for new fans and those curious about what Twilight Zone is all about the debut episode and a chance to see how far the quality of the episodes develop over time to what we now know and love.

The second episode is also a rarity in that it isn't shown anymore or at least rarely because of the huge controversy it stirred regarding its topic of racial discrimination, bigotry and tolerance. Unlike most TZ episodes, this one I felt was very good as the supernatural element isn't as important and in fact is barely noticeable while the real intent of the episode is to educate and force us to face an unpleasant aspect of our flawed humanity. Many people are ashamed to admit that they are closet racists because they somehow know and feel that it is wrong and yet it is by talking it out, admitting to a problem intead of denial is probably the best way to lick it and come to think of it any problem.

I actually felt sorry for Fenton as it seemed especially at the end that he was actually trying to reach out to someone to admit his problems seeking a solution but his pride and in his clumsy way, he only managed to infuriate the very person he was looking at getting some help and healing from. Both Fenton and Takamuri were dealing with deep seated guilt problems that they had buried deep within themselves and ironically when they came close to healing by bringing these feelings out to the surface to confront them, they actually end up destroying each other. For this reason, I believe that this is truly a treasure of TZ in that it is a very deep and special episode that lifts the 30 minute feature into the realms of artform which I believe is what Rod Serling intended as well.

In the very good and informative interview included among the bonus features we hear Rod speaking about his frustrations at censorship and about how he wanted to address important social issues in his work but had been frustrated until he decided to try doing this with the Twilight Zone. In my opinion, he achieved this very well with "The Encounter." A very good metaphor showing how society sometimes causes the destruction of people by refusing those who need healing to come clean by insisting on punishing the symptoms instead of allowing the root cause to be cured. We focus on the racist and discriminatory themes instead of seeing the bigger message that this is really a story of two people crying out for help which for them never comes.

The jewel in the crown of this dvd is "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" which would be spoiled if anyone told you anything about it. Just like Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" you'll need to see it totally unprepared to enjoy this masterpiece. This and the previous episode come very close to being described as short film art.

If you are looking for true treasures from the whole TZ franchise you have in these 3 episodes jewels for the reasons described above. Unfortunately though the sound quality although decent by Dolby Digital Mono standards should have added the 5.1 or DTS surround audio options although if your system has Pro Logic capabilities, it does somewhat help to make up for this deficiency. The picture quality isn't very good though but judging from the quality of the Mike Wallace interview and the Advertiser Pitch, you can tell that a lot has been restored and that it's a great improvement but you still see lots of white specks here and there on all 3 episodes.

For this reason, if you don't mind the hefty price tag, you should get the complete franchise on dvd which I believe has been much better restored. If you are looking at a sampler, this is it but if you are looking for something a little more but not the full set than like me you'll have to wait. Otherwise, a nice dvd of different but still very good Twilight Zone episodes.

The interview done by Mike Wallace with Rod Sterling in 1959 is worth the value of the DVD. The stories are classic, and well done. Anyone who liked the 1960's series, will love this DVD.

Just want to clear up a few historical inaccuracies in this post.

1. "Nevermind the fact that no Japanese American has ever been found guilty of treason..."

Answer: The last person convicted of treason in the United States was Tom Kawakita, a Japanese American. Kawakita, born in California, went to Japan in 1939 when he was 18 to visit his grandfather. He stayed, never renouncing his U.S. citizenship. He was employed as an interpreter with a Japanese nickel company. He was never conscripted, but Japanese authorities used him as an interpreter in a prisoner of war camp.

He readily joined in the abuse of American prisoners, "going beyond any conceivable duty of an interpreter," according to the U.S. Supreme Court. He beat some, pushed another into a cesspool and forced the obviously ill into hard labor.

After the war, he re-registered as a U.S. citizen and returned home. His former victims, who knew him as "Meatball," spotted him and turned him in, and he was sentenced to death for treason in 1952. President Eisenhower commuted his sentence to life in 1953.

Kawakita v. United States, 343 U.S. 717 (1952)

2. ...or that they served in the MOST DECORATED US military unit of WWII (it's true; look up the book "Go For Broke!")

Answer: Most decorated FOR THEIR SIZE AND LENGTH OF SERVICE, after Hawaii Senator Akaka introduced legislation in the 1990s and Bill Clinton started handing out medals and upgrades like candy canes to Japanese Americans against the advice of the Pentagon's head historian, many years and miles away from the battlefield in complete defiance of American military tradition.


I like this episode. It reflects a lot of what Americans knew then about this history compared to what Americans know today, a history manipulated by ethnic activists and politicians that is far from the truth.