Night Gallery Season Three - Part Two

THE OTHER WAY OUT
(1972)
Dir - Gene Kearney
Overall: MEH

 

More of a crime revenge tale than anything resembling traditional horror, "The Other Way Out" runs Ross Martin's doomed protagonist through the ringer of a blackmail ploy that brings him to an isolated house where Burl Ives has permanent plans for him.  Ives' scheme relies on a number of blind luck moments to pan out accordingly, and he seems unphased by anything going awry as if he has already read the script ahead of time.  Some of the details surrounding Martin trying to escape and plead his way out of his situation are white-knuckled on paper, but both the narrative and presentation are overall humdrum.  Also, we can guess what the "other way out" is long before Martin finally puts the pieces together.

 

FRIGHT NIGHT
(1972)
Dir - Jeff Corey
Overall: MEH

 

Another clunky supernatural yarn following a stream of them for Night Gallery's third and last season, "Fright Night" does a mediocre job with its generic haunted house motifs.  Stuart Whitman and Barbara Anderson inherent a farmhouse that has a reputation for bumps-in-the-night activity, has a painting of its patriarch on the wall, and features a mysterious trunk that hops up and down and cannot be gotten rid of.  Also, the couple begins to grow more hostile towards each other as if possessed by their new home's bad mojo, all until Alan Napier shows up on Halloween and in ghastly corpse makeup to finally get that pesky trunk off of their hands, or so they assume.  The ending renders the entire ordeal pointless, and despite one or two eerie moments, the segment is nothing remarkable.

 

FINNEGAN'S FLIGHT
(1972)
Dir - Gene Kearney
Overall: GOOD

 

In typical Rod Serling fashion, "Finnegan's Flight" takes a compassionate look at the downtrodden, in this case prisoners who long to be free of the confines of their captivity.  Cameron Mitchell and Burgess Meredith are two such prisoners, the latter doing decades for a life of crime when he was younger, and the former a carnival hypnotist who is only doing a handful of years and starts testing out his old skills on his fellow inmate.  It turns out that Meredith has been cooped up for so long while leading a docile existence that he is the ultimate dangerous candidate for hypnosis, so eager for being released that any suggestion which is in line with such a privilege overwhelms him physically.  It leads to a literally explosive finale, showcasing how powerful a man's desire for unattainable freedom can be.

 

SHE'LL BE COMPANY FOR YOU
(1972)
Dir - Gerard Perry Finnerman
Overall: MEH

 

Leonard Nimoy gets the psychological turmoil treatment in Night Gallery's "She'll Be Company for You", an adaptation of Andrea Newman's short story of the same name that grows monotonous and underwhelming despite the best efforts of its star.  The beginning is interesting enough, disorienting the viewer with some jarring audio editing as Nimoy delivers an internal monologue at the funeral of his invalid wife.  He eventually is gifted a feline to keep him company, but this is when Nimoy's psyche starts to relentlessly crack under a stream of bombarding cat noises, hallucinations, and the ringing sound of his dead spouse' bell.  Almost the entire presentation is inside of a brightly lit and mostly yellow decorated house, hardly an ideal landscape for bone-chilling supernatural shenanigans.  Nimoy breaks down appropriately, but it ends on a whimper and fails to do anything clever with its promising concept.

 

THE RING WITH THE RED VELVET ROPES
(1973)
Dir - Jeannot Szwarc
Overall: GOOD

 

While it has some narrative loose ends, (particularly stemming from its intro which introduces supernatural details that are left dangling), "The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes" still proves to be one of the better season three Night Gallery installments.  It adapts Robert Malcolm Young's 1968 short story of the same name which mysteriously transports a recently crowned boxing champion to a spacious abode that sits atop a mountain side with crashing waves underneath it, no outgoing phone service, and seemingly no means of escape.  It turns out that Gary Lockwood's confused fighter must engage in one more bout, this time with Chuck Conners where the "winner takes all", an ominous phrase that viewers will be able to decipher soon enough, (the two fighters having a conversation inside of a fire circle and alter is a further indication of what forces are at work).  The final knock-out brawl is presented in an oddly flashless and ergo eerie manner, taking place in a bare red room with minimal sound accompaniment.
 

SOMETHING IN THE WOOD WORK
(1973)
Dir - Edward M. Abroms
Overall: GOOD

 

Featuring a performance from Geraldine Page that gnaws the scenery, (her last of three for the program), Night Gallery's "Something in the Wood Work" offers up an interesting tweak on haunted abode tales.  Rod Serling adapted it from the 1968 short story "Housebound" by R. Chetwynd-Hayes where an unstable and alcoholic woman is so lonely and irksome that her new home's ghost is annoyed by her instead of being able to scare her away.  Leif Erickson portrays her not-amused ex-husband that visits her out of concern against his better judgement, and despite the ridiculous nature of Page's character and how easily the presentation could have been played for laughs, director Edward M. Abroms does it more as a quirky tragedy where common ghost story motifs are side-stepped.  The ending is ambiguous and only partially delivers, but the segment is worth it for Page's damaged portrayal, as well as some fitting atmosphere.