Dir - William Hale
Overall: GOOD
Virginia Mayo and a severely-haired Patty Duke do battle in Rod Serling's "The Diary", a story that comes equipped with a sufficient enough supernatural premise to hinge its revenge trajectory on. Duke plays a viscous gossip columnist with a particular hard-on for Mayo, a once prominent actor who has become tabloid fodder as of late. We also discover that they have shared a lover in the past, one that Duke successfully acquired. Mayo delivers her nemesis a mysterious diary that writes itself in Duke's handwriting, filling out an entry for the following day. This ultimately spells Duke's mental deterioration, and the finale is one of those borderline silly twists that most viewers should see coming but many may not, which is a testament to Serling's ability to deliver clever subversions from the writer's chair.
Overall: GOOD
Virginia Mayo and a severely-haired Patty Duke do battle in Rod Serling's "The Diary", a story that comes equipped with a sufficient enough supernatural premise to hinge its revenge trajectory on. Duke plays a viscous gossip columnist with a particular hard-on for Mayo, a once prominent actor who has become tabloid fodder as of late. We also discover that they have shared a lover in the past, one that Duke successfully acquired. Mayo delivers her nemesis a mysterious diary that writes itself in Duke's handwriting, filling out an entry for the following day. This ultimately spells Duke's mental deterioration, and the finale is one of those borderline silly twists that most viewers should see coming but many may not, which is a testament to Serling's ability to deliver clever subversions from the writer's chair.
(1971)
Dir - Jack Laird
Overall: MEH
For this silly and unnecessary blackout sketch, none other than Cesar Romero drops in as Count Dracula, which in all fairness is ideal casting. "A Matter of Semantics" was authored by Gene Kearney who penned several of these brief vignettes at the behest of producer Jack Laird, the latter also behind the lens here. The punchline is predictable as Romero's immortal vampire cheerfully enters a blood bank and engages in miscommunication with E.J. Peaker's nurse, all the while eyeing a fridge full of that sweet delicious crimson plasma. While the gag is elementary and lame, Romero could elevate anything on camera, and it is only a shame that he never got a proper Dracula comedy to sink his teeth into, (har, har).
(1971)
Dir - Jeannot Szwarc
Overall: MEH
Richard Matheson joins the Night Gallery roster, adapting his own 1959 short story "Big Surprise" which unfortunately just comes off as dopey here. On the plus side, John Carradine appears and proves to be ideally suited as a weird old man who never leaves his dilapidated farmhouse, (or so it would seem), eventually convincing a young boy and his friends to dig in a specific spot where, (as the title would suggest), they will get a "big surprise". The kids argue over what said surprise could be and hoping that it is copious amounts of money, they take the bate. It is a goofy reveal that is anything but frightening, only raising implausibility questions in the process. Also, frequent director Jeannot Szwarc fails to elevate the material with any proper atmospherics, mostly because the entire thing is filmed in balmy daylight.
(1971)
Dir - Jerrold Freedman
Overall: MEH
Though technically longer than the blackout sketch snippets that producer Jack Laird inserted into a handful of Night Gallery episodes, "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" still adheres to that same formula. Laird wrote the screenplay, and Carl Reiner provides the big name to pop in on a single set to deliver an increasingly raving monologue about various Lovecraftian Ancient Ones. His title character even manages to acquire a copy of the Necronomicon, something that never bodes well. A violent storm intensifies outside as Reiner's smug professor continues to mock the ageless gods, making terrible jokes, sweating profusely, and pontificating with a pompous accent. The punchline is more "sure whatever" than funny, but at least Reiner's performance goes all out and is worth enduring.
(1971)
Dir - Gene Kearney
Overall: MEH
Based on a short story by Cthulhu Mythos contributor August Derleth where a man moves into a haunted abode so that he can get rid of his wife to keep his mistress happy, (it is as convoluted as it sounds), "House - with Ghost" is presented in a serviceable tongue-in-cheek matter, though it is not one of the stronger Night Gallery segments. Screenwriter/director/frequent contributor Gene Kearney forgoes any bump-in-the-night atmosphere, presenting the few supernatural moments without much macabre fanfare. Unfortunately, he also does not present them as comedic, and the stiff presentation fails to impress, as does a cast that simply seems to be going through the motions in a tale that could be both funnier and creepier.
(1971)
Dir - William Hale
Overall: MEH
Victor Buono appears in his second blackout sketch for Night Gallery, (though the first one aired), and it is one of many to poke fun at vampire motifs, as well as arguably the dumbest of them. "A Midnight Visit to the Neighborhood Blood Bank" would have made a more appropriate title for the previous episode's "A Matter of Semantics" in which Cesar Romero played a member of the undead who literally shows up in the middle of the night at a blood bank. Buono gets to wear blue face paint and a cape while hamming it up for about thirty seconds here, but as was almost consistently the case with Jack Laird's gag insertions, it simply builds up to a moronic punchline. At least it is shorter than most, thank heavens for small favors.
(1971)
Dir - Jerrold Freedman
Overall: MEH
This tale from Rod Serling has the air of his usual contemplative sci-fi and/or supernatural works, but its themes do not run deep enough to be that engrossing. "Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator" concerns a con-artist medicine man in the Old West, (played with calm resolve by Forrest Tucker), who travels from town to town in a wagon with his seemingly dim-witted sidekick Don Pedro Colley in hopes of selling enough of his bogus tonic serum to make ends meet. When Tucker meets a man whose daughter is dying and begs the "doctor" for his help, he is faced with a moral dilemma that he disastrously succumbs to. There is little else to it than that, save for a lone ghostly set piece in the finale that ends abruptly yet serves Tucker his comeuppance for taking advantage of the downtrodden.
(1971)
Dir - Theodore J. Flicker
Overall: GOOD
In "Hell's Bells", John Astin is back again as a man who stumbles into a particularly not fun version of the afterlife, just as he had in the previous season's "Pamela's Voice". Written for the small screen and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, (who also plays the Devil himself), this one is based on a short story from Harry Turner and finds Astin playing an inconsiderate hippie who crashes his car, slides down a metal shoot, and finds himself in the waiting room to hell. We see a few monstrous demon faces yelling general accusations at him, ("Hypocrite!", "Thief!", etc), before he settles into the rest of eternity with some company who are about as far from hip as it gets. The joke is simple and even foreseeable, but it provides a nice ghoulish and amusing note for the episode to go out on.
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