Rod Serling: Other Dimensions – Twilight Zone & Night Gallery
As part of their “Rod Serling: Other Dimensions” series, the UCLA Film & Television Archive presents this evening of creepy television penned by Rod Serling, including episodes from THE TWILIGHT ZONE and NIGHT GALLERY, plus the pilot THE NEW PEOPLE. Jim Benson, co-author of “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour” will be in person to answer questions about the late Rod Serling. Admission is free.
Rod Serling was a well-known and respected writer of dramas during the early “Golden Age” of television, when many shows were broadcast live. However, he became a household name, forever associated with science fiction and fantasy, thanks to his classic television show THE TWILIGHT ZONE, which ran for five years during the 1960s, during offering some of the greatest cinefantastique ever committed to celluloid. In the 1970s, Serling returned with NIGHT GALLERY, a somewhat more conventional “monster of the week” show, which nevertheless offered a handful of gems. “Rod Serling: Other Dimensions” emphasizes Serling’s other accomplishments (such as the excellent political thriller SEVEN DAYS IN MAY and the original television version of REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT), but tonight’s screenings provide viewers with a glimpse of what Serling is most famous for: mind-bending tales of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
Details on the screenings below:
“The Twilight Zone: The Shelter” (CBS, 9/29/61). Directed by Lamont Johnson. Screenwriter: Rod Serling. Cast: Larry Gates, Joseph Bernard, Jack Albertson. 16mm, b/w, 25 min. Best neighbors become worst nightmares when an imminent nuclear attack sends one family scurrying to their fallout shelter—as their friends howl for mercy, then for blood, outside the implacably sealed door.
“The New People” (pilot) (ABC, 9/22/69). Directed by George McCowan. Screenwriter: Rod Serling. Cast: Tiffany Bolling, Nancy DeCarl, Richard Kiley. 16mm, color, 51 min. In this precursor to “Lost,” a group of American exchange students is marooned on a Pacific island. Pocked with abandoned buildings for a canceled atomic test, the unsettling locale becomes home for the young survivors, who are forced to confront their prejudices as they form a new society.
“Night Gallery: Class of ’99” (NBC, 9/22/71). Directed by Jeannot Szwarc. Screenwriter: Rod Serling. Cast: Vincent Price, Brandon de Wilde, Randolph Mantooth. Beta SP, color, 25 min. In a future society, a domineering professor (Price) serves as proctor over a diverse group of college students for a final exam where bigotry is encouraged and evaluated—with an unexpected twist.
Preceded by: Trailer for PLANET OF THE APES (1968), which screens the following evening.
Date: September 8, 2012 at 7:30pm
Location: The Billy Wilder Theatre in the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Admission: Free
Link out: Click here
“Rod Serling: Other Dimensions” resumes on Saturday, September 9 with a screening of PLANET OF THE APES. The series continues through September 19.
