Night Gallery (1969) (TV)

Directors:

Boris Sagal
Barry Shear

Writer:

Rod Serling (written by)

Release Date:

8 November 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Plot:

In the pilot of the television series "Night Gallery" (1970), Rod Serling introduces three separate paintings...

Plot Keywords:

Painting | Nazi | Blackmail | War Criminal | Butler

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Miss Menlo
Ossie Davis	...	Portifoy
Richard Kiley	...	Strobe
Roddy McDowall	...	Jeremy
Barry Sullivan	...	Dr. Heatherton
Tom Bosley	...	Resnick
George Macready	...	Hendricks
Sam Jaffe	...	Bleum
Norma Crane	...	Gretchen
Barry Atwater	...	Carson
George Murdock	...	1st Agent
Tom Basham	...	Gibbons
Byron Morrow	...	Packer
Garry Goodrow	...	Louis
Shannon Farnon	...	1st Nurse

Also Known As:

Rod Serling's Wax Museum (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:12 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

The "Eyes" segment was Steven Spielberg's professional debut as a director. This was quite an auspicious beginning, considering that he was to direct screen legend Joan Crawford, winner of an Academy Award who had been acting in films since 1925.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the "Escape Route" segment, Israeli agents hold a photo of wanted war criminal SS-Gruppenfuhrer (Major General) Helmuth Arndt. However, the photograph shows Kiley wearing the one-of-a-kind uniform worn by Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Even better than the Twilight Zone

I was there when Night Gallery first appeared, in my early teens. And I was into Theatre at the time and knew a few things about production. Nihgt Gallery was instantly a classic. Rod Serling would introduce the segments with paintings which led into the plot. One had Roddy McDowell playing his usual malevolent character to the max, in an ordinary tale made better by acting and production. Another segment dealt with the rich buying happiness in a very unique and creative way. It wasn't a mind blower, but the most reminiscent of the Twilight Zone series. The third was the true classic, with Richard Kiley giving a masterfully performance of a vicious horrible creature, a Nazi war criminal who thinks he merits leniency after years on the run. He feels he can escape into a picture at a gallery in which men are fishing at a serene lake. This episode alone is better than any Twilight Zone series, and that is not easy to do. This was easily the creme de la creme, the Mona Lisa of Rod Serling's career, undeniably. If you haven't seen it, you must watch it! You will be enthralled! There were later episodes that also had great suspense, and terror that modern gore films can only fantasize about producing. The famous "Earwick" episode, the super scary "Robert the Bruce" episode. It's easy to see why studios won't release these again, for the same reason they don't release the other great classics of the past (Bronco, Sugarfoot, Laredo, The Untouchables-it's even hard to find some everyone knows about-Gilligan, the Hillbillies, Big Valley), because they want to make audiences think the old classics were the ho hum shows they air today so they won't lose audiences from new show. You will be pleasantly surprised by NIGHT GALLERY