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Twilight Zone and WWII

Discussion in 'WWII Films & TV' started by Class of '42, Apr 5, 2020.

  1. Class of '42

    Class of '42 Active Member

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    Always been a big fan of the old Twilight Zone series with Rod Serling..especially the episodes having a WWII theme to them. Here are my seven I came up with, how I ranked them and a short synop for each.

    1.) Judgement Night - The year is 1942 and her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry is British and for the time being is lost in thick fog in the North Atlantic. A man is seen standing aboard the deck of the cargo liner looking lost himself. The man's name is Carl Lanser and he appears disoriented, with no idea of how he got aboard or who he really is. For throughout the night he tries to dismiss his fears of a doomed ship by warning others but it all turns into a personal nightmare.
    2.) King Nine Will Not Return - This is Africa, 1943. War spits out its violence overhead, and the sandy graveyard swallows it up. Her name is King Nine, B-25, medium bomber, Twelfth Air Force. On a hot, still morning, she took off from Tunisia to bomb the southern tip of Italy. But for one pilot, Captain James Embry, finds himself lying in the desert just outside the wreckage of his plane, alone and a big mystery unfolds of what happened to his crew, all of whom have disappeared.
    3.) A Quality of Mercy - It's August, 1945, the last grimy pages of a dirty, torn book of war. The place is the Philippine Islands.The men are what's left of a platoon of worn out and tired American infantry, who are assigned a eager 90 day wonder, who demands respect and perhaps earn a citation for his record before the war is soon over but for which side???...as he will soon find out.
    4.) The Purple Testament - Infantry platoon, U.S. Army, Philippine Islands, 1945. There are many faces who fight in this war but for one Lt. Fitzgerald, aka "Fitz", he gains the mysterious ability to see who is about to die via a strange glow on the person's face. After correctly predicting several deaths, he tells a fellow officer what he is able to see, but the Captain does not know whether to believe him or not...the truth will tell if he is right.
    5.) The Thirty-Fathom Grave - Incident one hundred miles off the coast of Guadalcanal, for the time is present. For a U.S. naval destroyer has been on a most uneventful cruise until sonar picks up someone or something tapping underwater on metal. But for one Chief Bell, the past will quickly catch up to him, for he knows where and why the sound is coming from and what he must do for his mistake some 20 years earlier in battle.
    6.) Deaths-Head Revisited - Mr. Schmidt, recently arrives in a small Bavarian village which lies eight miles northwest of Munich, a picturesque, delightful little spot one-time known for its scenery, but more related to other evil events from the past. For he was former SS Captain Lutze during the war and he has decided to revisit his old haunts, satisfied perhaps that all that is awaiting him in the ruins on the hill is an element of nostalgia..in a place called Dachau.
    7.) He's Alive - Portrait of a bush-league Führer named Peter Vollmer, a sparse little man who feeds off his self-delusions and finds himself perpetually hungry for want of greatness of eager brown shirts and cheap rallies. Until a shadowy figure rebukes Peter for his failures and says that from now on he will be ordering him rather than instructing him. In the end Peter gets his justified reward.
     
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  2. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    U-boat with dead worker in ballast tank.
     
  3. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    That was "One Step Beyond" with Werner Klemperer.
     
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  4. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    Yes. Of these, "The Purple Testament" was my most favorite.
     
  5. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Purple Testament was good, watched it last week. Rod Serling fought in the Philippines, so I suspect it was close to home with him.
     
  6. Class of '42

    Class of '42 Active Member

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    The ending of King Nine Will Not Return got me when I first saw it, when they found desert sand in his boots at the hospital..wth???
     
  7. belasar

    belasar Court Jester

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    The Boris Karloff show 'Thriller' had a good one where a concentration camp commander visits his old haunts and was tormented by his victims.
     
  8. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    That was probably "One Step Beyond" also. I'll look it up.
     
  9. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    King Nine will not return was on last Saturday, and the week before was the episode about the Genie's lamp, where the guy becomes Hitler in the bunker just before the end.
    Only other two I've seen are Judgement Night and The Purple Testament.
     
  10. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    My favorite is the little old lady vs. the aliens in space suits.
     
  11. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    The Obsolete Man is my most favorite. Burgess Meredith and Fritz Weaver.
     
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  12. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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  13. ColyH

    ColyH Member

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    Judgement Night is one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.
     
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  14. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I like the one where the nerdy guy is thrilled by some apocalypse that leave him alone with all the time in the world to read, at last.
     
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  15. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    And then he breaks his specs. Burgess Meredith. One of my favourite episodes.
     
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  16. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Darren's mother-in-law, Agnes Morehead (Endora in "Bewitched"), is my favorite. Live in that little shanty with spaceships on the roof.
     
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  17. CAC

    CAC Ace of Spades

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    Stunning woman.
    [​IMG]
     
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