This is the transcript of The Twilight Zone Podcast for deaf or hard of hearing fans of The Twilight Zone. I hope it will be of some. Please bear in mind that these notes are made for me to riff on and read from, so the style and cadence may be different from if they were written for an article, and much as I've tried to clean them up they may be rough round the edges in places.
Best Wishes – Tom Elliot
The audio version of this podcast can be downloaded HERE
Nothing in the Dark
Introduction:
In the multiverse that is The Twilight Zone, I often try to make sense of why it does what it does. Why some are punished while others aren't. It's easy to see why the cosmic justice dished out to some is “deserved” but then every now and then something happens seemingly for no reason at all.
It's in our nature as humans to try to make order out of chaos, and in our nature as fans, to try to join the dots – to create continuity where there perhaps is none. In this show, the only true constant is our host Rod Serling. And you could argue that Rod Serling isn't a character in the show but I would argue differently.
There is Rod Serling the writer who comes on-screen after the story has finished and tells you what's coming next week. But then there's The Rod Serling who introduces and closes out our episode with beautifully phrased insight and poetry. That Rod Serling for me, IS part of The Twilight Zone. Be he God or guide or something completely beyond our understanding, he is the constant in this crazy multiverse.
But is he the only one? In a manner of speaking, no. In the Howling Man we meet The Devil, and when he is spoke of he's described as appearing throughout history in various forms but always war and death would follow him. And in The Twilight Zone, we see several of those forms. We've met him in Escape Clause, A Nice Place to Visit and of course The Howling man. His presence was felt in Still valley and we'll meet him again before this journey is over.
But tonight's Twilight Zone wraps up a trilogy of stories concerning another recurring character, and he too wears different faces. We met him first in One For the Angels and then again in The Hitchiker and he was mentioned, but didn't appear in the opening of Long Distance Call. That character is Death – or as he is sometimes known in The Twilight Zone, Mr Death.
Wanda Dunn lives alone in a dilapidated building. She daren't venture outside for fear of bumping into Mr Death.
But tonight we come face to face with Mr Death yet again in, Nothing in the Dark.
CLIP 03:21
Wanda Dunn: You're lying, you're no Policeman, why can't you leave me alone? I know who you are. I know what you are... OPENING NARRATION –
“An old woman living in a nightmare, an old woman who has fought a thousand battles with death and always won. Now she’s faced with a grim decision – whether or not to open a door. And in some strange and frightening way she knows that this seemingly ordinary door leads to the Twilight Zone."
First Broadcast January 5th 1962
Written by George Clayton Johnson
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Before we get into the story I have to comment on how good I think this pre narration opening is. This apartment was a set on MGM and it's dressed beautifully. The ragged belongings of a woman who is using the same things she's used for decades. Then we have this slow shot steadily moving across the room until we see Wanda in Bed. Then, just a glimpse of the outside world as we see the policeman just before being shot. What a great opening.
A very short opening narration this time from Rod Serling. As I said in my opening and I've said many times before, I see this Rod Serling as some kind of entity from The Twilight Zone. The only one who really knows what is going on. But, if there is another entity who can stand shoulder to shoulder with this deific version of Serling it is of course Mr Death. So probably by accident more than design, it's almost as if there isn't room for two celestial beings in the show, so Serling quickly says his piece and moves aside.
Now it seems that we have Lamont Johnson back in the director's chair rather quickly after his triumph with Five Characters in Search of an Exit, but actually that's not really the case. I don't really go into this because it's a tad confusing, but the order of The Twilight Zone as broadcast is not always necessarily the order as filmed. For example, we have already met Lamont Johnson when we visited The Shelter and Five Characters in Search of an Exit. But, The Shelter was filmed in May 1961, Five Characters in June 1961 but Nothing in the Dark was filmed in April 1961 – so this is actually the first episode he helmed.
In The Twilight Zone Companion he said:
“The whole mystique of The Twilight Zone appealed to me as a tremendous, drenching relief from the Dr Kildares and Have Gun Will Travels and things that I was doing. These were wonderfully theatrical games for me, and it was a joy to do them”.
- Credit: The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Zicree
It was actually supposed to be the last episode in season two, but according to Martin Grams Junior in Unlocking the Door To a Television classic, it was kept back to give them a bit of a head start with Season three, so they would know they had a couple of good episodes in hand. After a conversation with the police officer Harold Beldon, Wanda Dunn, against her better judgement gives in and brings Harold in. She believes him to be Mr Death, but she can't be absolutely sure. But after helping him in, her worries are put to rest, for the moment at least...
CLIP - 07:38
Harold: Now Listen, you should try and get some rest. Really I feel much better. When the doctor gets here, he'll take me off your hands.... You didn't call the Doctor.
Wanda: Shakes Head
Harold: Why not?
Wanda: I haven't got a telephone.
Harold: But couldn't you go to one of the neighbours?
Wanda: There aren't any, they've all moved away. Trucks came and took away their furniture. First one and then another. And evein if I could call a doctor somehow, I couldn't take a chance and let him in. Don't you see? He might be him
Harold: Him?
Wanda: Mr Death. I know he's out there, he's trying to get in. He comes to the door and knocks. He begs me to let him in. last week he said he came from the gas company. Ooh he's clever. After that he claimed to be a contractor hired by the city. I knew who he was. He said this building was condemned, that I'd have to leave. I kept the door locked and he went away. He knows I'm onto him...
The ramblings of a crazy old lady? Or is she onto something? A bit of both? Her old neighbourhood is being torn down, the people she knows going away her body becoming more frail. I think she does see death around every corner, but it's not necessarily THE death. It's that building up of things that we see happening to others as they age – friends and loved ones dying, becoming more and more isolated and alone – gradually beginning to happen to us, or in this case Wanda. And it's this speech that really illustrates that:
CLIP – 10:02
Wanda: At first I couldn't be sure. It was a long time ago, I was on a bus. There was an old woman sitting in front of me knitting – socks I think. There was something about her face, I thought I knew her. Then this young man got on. There were empty seats, but he sat down beside her. He didn't say anything but his being there upset her. He seemed a nice young man, when she dropped her yarn, he picked it up. Right in fornt of me, he held it out to her, I saw their fingers touch. He got out at the next stop when. When the bus reached the end of the line, she was dead.
She then goes on to describe other brushes with death. She saw the signs of death when it happened to others, and now she recognises those signs when they happen to her. She talks about when she was younger, the carefree attitude she had and how she loved to be in the sun – she didn't recognise death when she was younger but the older she gets the more she does. I find that when Wanda Dunn, or rather when Gladys Cooper speaks I'm just spellbound by her. The dialogue is poetry, but she speaks it so well. The looks off into the distance as she remembers, the certainty in her voice. So let's take a moment to meet Gladys Cooper...
Gladys Cooper
One of the things I enjoy about seeing some of these actors in The Twilight Zone is just touching upon how their careers often span such different eras of television and film. Because the mediums was advancing so much over time. This is something we spoke about with Buster keaton recently but one of our stars in this episode was actually born before Keaton. He was born in 1895, but Gladys Cooper who plays Wanda Dunn was born in 1888.
She began her show-business career as a photographic model in England when she was six years old. She decided that she wanted to move into acting and her late teens saw her acting on the stage in London. But then in 1913, she made her screen debut in the British film The Eleventh Commandment – a silent movie of course, one of several that she would take part in. But, not only was she a talented actor, but she was a bit of a pioneer in other areas of the work. She began to co- manage the Playhouse Theatre which was unusual for a woman of the time, and between 1927 and 1933 she took sole control.
So there was this gradual advancement for her over time on both stage and screen and she build her reputation. Of note is a small but memorable part in Alfred Hitchcock's Hollywood debut, Rebecca in 1940.
She really was an actors actor and jumped from stage to television, to film constantly. And even came back to England to work as well as working in the US.
This is her first of three Twilight Zones. She returns in Passage on the Lady Anne and Night Call and she also appeared in The Outer Limits in 1963 in the episode The Borderland. And I've found that there isn't a huge amount of trivia for this episode, but what there is focuses on the casting of these two actors.
The director Lamont Johnson had previously directed Gladys Cooper on the stage and he said this in The Twilight Zone Companion:
“I insisted on Gladys for the role. She was a great lady of theatre, and she had an elegant, polished London Mayfair kind of speech, butit seemed incongruous for that character, who's a sort of Apple Mary character. Everybody said, 'Oh she's such a great elegant lady, how could she possibly...?' I said, 'She can do it!' And I talked to her and she thought it was a terrific idea. So she tried various accents for me. One kind of north country, which was still too fanciful, and then she had a nice kind of nasal, low London quality that was just a bit common and slightly whiney, which was just right”
– Credit: The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Zicree
George Clayton Johnson had this to say: “When I first heard her talking with the cockney accent, I didn't think it would work. I thought she should play it with her own voice, an old woman's voice. But she said 'No, no.' She started to do this strange British accent – and I fell right into believing it.”
– Credit: The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Zicree
There's part of a quote in the Twilight Zone Encyclopedia where Lamont Johnson says of Gladys Cooper “I got her on this, and that enchanted Rod. There was something, this ineffable majesty of her age. The incredible sort of wrinkles of this gorgeous woman, who Somerset Maughan had called the great beauty of the first part of the 20th Century. Here she was showing everything…and Rod was enchanted by her” and I'm quite taken with it - what Lamont Johnson calls the ineffable majesty of her age.
I think it's true, the way she looks kind of goes beyond her as a person, she's almost an archetype – in our collective subconscious this is what an old woman looks like. It's perfect casting. She brings this quality that really sells that this woman is existing through sheer determination not to die. It transcends any frailty that she has because of her years. What is she trying to live for? She stays in her apartment, she doesn't see anyone. She's clinging on to life, but she's not living. A magical performance by Gladys Cooper.
Were it not for the arrival of another character, this would be one of those famous Twilight Zone two handers. Of course, we've seen this episode before so we know who death really is, but on first viewing, George Clayton Johnson throws in a little curveball here to keep us guessing, but also a bit more.
When a contractor pushes his way into the apartment and Wanda falls to the floor this is clearly telegraphed to make us think that the contractor is death – especially when he lays a hand on her when she's on the floor.
The contractor has a face we've seen many times. A very prolific supporting actor called R.G. Armstrong who lived a good long life from 1917 to his death in 2012 at the age of 95.
CLIP – 15:50
Contractor: Easy lady, you gave me quite a scare when you caved in like that.
Wanda: And still I live
Contractor: You don't seem to realise how important this is. I've got a crew and equipment arriving in an hour to pull this tenement down. Begging your pardon Ma'am but it's long overdue, I'm surprised it's still standing.
Wanda: And you're really not Mr Death?
Contractor: I don't know what you're talking about is I got a contract to demolish this row of buildings, everybody moved out long ago. Until the other day I thought this building was deserted. I figured you moved when the rest of them did. Wanda: You want me to go outside? You want me to leave here? I can't.
Contractor: You were notified month's ago right? I'm just trying to do my job. These buildings were condemned by the city and I'm the one who's got to tear them down.
I ain't a monster lady, I've got a heart just like anybody else. I can see how get attached to a place and not want to see it wrecked. But the building, it's old, it's gotta come down to make room for a new one. That's life lady. The old make room for the new. People get the idea that I'm some kind of destroyer, they think I get kicks out of tearing stuff down. That ain't how it is, I just clear the ground so other people can build. In a way I help them do it.
So it's not much of a stretch to see what the point of the contractor is in this story. His description of his role in tearing down buildings to make room for new ones is a perfect allegory for death itself and a good illustration of what this episode is all about. That death is a part of life, and that we aren't treated any differently than anything else whether it's a building or an animal. But that process is one of renewal.
When the contractor is trying to convince Wanda to leave, she turns to Harold to explain why she can't go out, but of course, the contractor can't see him. So before Harold gets his shining moment, let's meet the actor who played him...
Robert Redford
Here we have a young and handsome Robert Redford playing Officer Harold Beldon aka, Mr Death. What Robert Redford went on to do is not going to be of any great surprise to listeners of the show, so let's just see where he was at this point in his career.
After he left high school, he went to college on a baseball scholarship, but was kicked out due to drunkenness. After that, he spent some years drifting across America taking various jobs and working in the oil fields of California. His lifestyle became quite bohemian when he saved enough money to go to Europe to study art in Paris and Florence. When he returned to America he enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
So this Twilight Zone is a couple of years after he made his screen debut in 1960 and he was just a jobbing actor doing his thing in television, popping up as characters in the anthology series of the day, most notably for us in an episode of Playhouse 90 called in the Presence of Mine Enemies in 1960 which was written by Rod Serling which took place in the Warsaw ghetto. Another example of Rod Serling being a pioneer in the depiction of the holocaust on television.
I think for a lot of us when we move down his list of credits, apart from this Twilight Zone of course, the thing that will stick out to us most, is his career defining role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969. But, of course he was in The Twilight Zone first, but how did he get there?
This is a story that seems to have been told a few times in various forms, but the telling I'll read to you is from The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia by Steve Rubin. Director Lamont Johnson said: “We had to think of the young man who played Death, of which the character that Gladys was playing was horrifically afraid, and I said it has to be somebody terribly attractive. And I’d seen this kid on Playhouse 90 (in Rod Serling’s “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”)…Ethel Winant said she thought his name was Redford, whom we brought in to read for Gladys, because she was very particular who she played with in this. And when we got through with it, she said, ‘Oh darling, get him for me!...I thought he responded and did something quite magical with death, and he was extremely charming. …he flirted with Gladys in a very elegant way, and this totally did it for Gladys. Rod and I were delighted with this, and we talked about it when we reviewed the cut that I made. To both of us, it was important that an old person facing death be seduced by perennial youth and beauty, and there was a certain sexuality to it, which was part of Rod’s multi-faceted, and multi- layered imagination about things. It didn’t scream out sex. It didn’t scream out any particular subtext, but it was there, and it was very implicit in the script.”
- Credit The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin
Marc Zicree in The Twilight Zone companion says that he thinks Redford is the only thing that damages the eloquence of the episode, comparing him to a male mannequin. And it seems that Redford himself at the time, wasn't so enamoured with what he did either.
In Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, the writer George Clayton Johnson said:
“We were invited to watch the screening after the first day of filming and sitting in the back was Robert Redford. He was covering his face during most of the showing and when the film was done, he walked out and left without speaking to anyone. Later I was told that Redford did not like himself in the film. But I thought – and still think – that he was absolutely perfect. He was down to earth, attractive, and what would you expect from a man who represented death?”
– Credit: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams Junior
In the same entry by Martin Grams Junior though is a quote from Redford himself, and perhaps with the passage of time he mellowed on it:
“I recall how everything from the director to the actors to the designers had everything ready from the moment we began filming. It was so laid out that by the time we finished the last scene, it felt like a few hours had passed by. Gladys Cooper was a wonderful woman to work with, and a pro all the way. That was a good script too. Of course, no one ever though then that the episode would become a classic and shown around the world like it is today. I don't prefer to look back at my earliest efforts but I have to admit, to this day, I am proud of that one.”
– Credit: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams Junior
So where do I sit with this one? Well, I don't think you can deny that Redford does seem fairly green here. I haven't seen his performance in that Playhouse 90 episode to see whether this is just what his acting was like at that time or whether these were choices he was making in his portrayal, but if you've seen any of his later work you can clearly see that he's perhaps not at the height of his powers yet. But does that make this a bad performance? I don't think so. The point of this story is to present Death in a more natural way, to remove all of the pomposity from it. This isn't a Death who marches in and announces “I AM THE LORD OF DEATH” or other such grandiose statements while he holds a scythe.
To be human is to die. To be Death is to be an aspect of humanity, so of course we want that to be calm, peaceful and in a way, beautiful.
Redford whether by choice or co-incidence has an innocence about him. Although Redford is a handsome man, at this point he's not quite as chiselled and defined as he'd later become. He'd be around twenty five, twenty six at this point and he still has a little puppy fat and youthfulness about him rather than being the matinee idol he would become. But this is why it all works for me – he's angelic in a sense, but not in an obvious and manufactured way. I think there would be a temptation if this episode were made in a different time or place to have Mr Death be a chiselled picture of perfection with a well practised assured delivery. He's a picture of beauty and innocence and sincere charm.
I mean, we could go on and on with this and start to talk about what Lamont Johnson touched upon there, the flirtation, the sexuality. Who better to seduce you into the afterlife than someone young and beautiful. I think we get the idea – so while I do think Redford is undoubtedly green here – perhaps he was just the right actor at just the right time.
CLIP – 21:30
Mr Death: Am I really so bad? Am I really so frightening?
Summing Up
After experiencing Nothing in the Dark, I find its effect to be a subtle one. To borrow a line from Mr Death “no shock, no engulfment, no tearing asunder. What you feared would come like an explosion, is like a whisper”. And the effect of this episode is the same. Instead of layering on sentiment or having the actors over-emote to try and force some reaction from the audience, the lessons in Nothing in the Dark come to you like a breeze. Sure there's some nice music playing in the background, but it's not overplayed. The whole episode is beautifully under-stated because that's the whole point. You can't have a story trying to sell the concept of death coming to you like a whisper and lay it on too thick. George Clayton Johnson will comment on growing old in the episode kick the can, how you can still keep that spark of youth in your later years if you just keep that mindset. But here he says, when it's time, it's time. Don't be afraid of it.
I've enjoyed Death's previous appearances in The Twilight Zone. The bureaucrat in One For the Angels who was similar in his outlook that death is part of life, but presented it more as a transaction – something that had to happen to make sure that everything was where it needed to be. The object of fear in The Hitch-hiker, the thing we're constantly trying to outrun – but can only outrun it for so long. But I think Nothing in the Dark is my favourite depiction of Death, and episode about Death.
People have fictionalised and glorified Death in so many ways in so many stories, but nothing in the Dark strips all of that away and just says...death is a part of life. There's an elegance to this story, a flow. It's quite simple but that is it's strength. It's all about that co-existence between parts of life and how they should be embraced in their own way. Summer doesn't fight the autumn, and autumn doesn't fight to stay when winter comes. They flow into each other, sometimes coming early, sometimes coming late – but never anything to be afraid of.
George Clayton Johnson believed he achieved perfection with Nothing in the Dark, and I'm inclined to agree with him.
CLOSING NARRATION
“There was an old woman who lived in a room. And, like all of us, was frightened of the dark. But who discovered in a minute last fragment of her life that there was nothing in the dark that wasn't there when the lights were on. Object lesson for the more frightened amongst us, in or out, of the Twilight Zone.”
Submitted For Your Approval
Now lets read some listener email in, Submitted for your approval...
1 - Hi Tom,
Tom,
Love the show. Almost done with season two but I keep current as well and now that your about to do “Nothing in the Dark” I couldn’t help but send a line. This is one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes. The story, the camera work, the directing, the acting it’s all great. I love stories were Death is personified, especially where he isn’t a bad guy. Death is a part of life, as much as life is a part of our birth. This is brilliantly portrayed by Serling as he compares Mr. Death and the old woman with the contractor and the old building.
The Contractor: “This building has had it. It's worn out, used up. All these buildings have got to come down. I ain't-a monster, lady. I’ve got a heart just like anybody else… It's got to come down to make room for new ones. That's life, lady. Old make room for the new. Well, people get the idea that I'm kind of destroyer, but they think I get kicks out of tearing stuff down. That ain't the way it is. I just clear the ground so other people can build. In a way, help them do it.”
The old woman is frail just like the building and its time for it to come down. Mr. Death isn’t a monster he is “just clear the ground so other people can build.”
When I first watched this episode I remember falling in love with the writing in the Twilight Zone, especially Rod Serling’s. It's one of, if not the most prolific, reasons the show is as timeless as it is. I think this episode is a masterpiece and I hope that someday I can say that I made something this beautiful.
Keep up the great work. Jason Schwartz
2 - Hello, Tom!
I listen to both of your shows, TWILIGHT ZONE and OMNIVERSE. I'm a huge fan of both. When I first came across TWILIGHT ZONE, I was like three years behind and thought it would take a couple of years to catch up, but I blazed through the episodes in a few months and like everyone else I look forward to the next episode. I don't want to bore you with the usual accolades you probably hear about your hosting, but I did start following you on STRANGE AND DEADLY and was pleasantly surprised to hear your other human side with Chris Clayton. It reminded me of listening to "ROD SERLING AT UCLA." I had only heard Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone, and he's always so serious and it's kind of fun hearing him crack jokes. So, listening to you outside of TWILIGHT ZONE, with Chris Clayton had the same response. Chris, took a minute to get used to, but now I look forward to listening to both of you on OMNIVERSE and I will add that to PATREON.
Your work is very much appreciated and has inspired me to start a podcast.
PEACE, from Los Angeles!!!
Loriston
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