Twilight Zone: Episode 10: 'Judgement Night' (1959) - TV Episode Review

Der Kapitan Lanser is about to learn the horrifying truth of serving in Hitler's navy when he enters... The Twilight Zone!

Being a fan of both, 'Horror' & 'Science Fiction' and having researched both genres in depth, I have come to a conclusion... Movies and TV shows (episodes anyway,) that have something mystical or supernatural that in some ways revolve around World Wars 1 or 2 are fun!

Shocking... But true!

A couple of great examples of this being, Hellraiser (1987)... This movie tells the tale of a World War 1 military officer who ends up leading Hell's campaign to gather up souls... another one being, Shock Waves (1977), a movie about the last Nazi hold out and the Zombie Nazi's that are protecting the island... (I mean how much better can you get with Zombie Nazis?)

Nazi Zombies... I mean how cool is that!

Another set is the stuff that, 'The Twilight Zone' did... Now I haven't seen much of this yet... But in the anthology movie, there is a segment where a bigot gets transported to Nazi Germany that is pure genius!

And then there is an episode that I finally got to see all the way through that was absolutely genius... And that episode being: Episode 10: 'Judgement Night' (1959)!

Written by: Rod Serling (Planet Of The Apes) & Directed By: John Brahm (Shane). Starring: Nemiah Persoff (Twins), Deirdre Owens (Thriller), Patrick Macnee (The Howling), Ben Wright (The Bionic Woman) & Leslie Bradley (Attack Of The Crab Monsters). 

"We'll ride the ghost of that ship every night.  Every night, Der Kapitan, for eternity.  They could die only once, just once, but we could die a hundred million times. We could ride the ghost of that ship every night.  Every night for eternity." - Lt. Mueller (James Franciscus: A quote from: Twilight Zone - The Original Series episode: 'Judgement Night' (1959)!)

This brilliantly crafted tale, tells the story of a German man by the name of, 'Lanser' (Played by: Nemiah Persoff).... Now this guy seems to know who he is... But not where he is... That essentially he is on a ship of the damned! 

Lanser, as he is trying to figure out what is going on...

You see the S.S. Queen Of Glasgow is transporting people across the ocean in 1942... A time when the German submarine corps of Nazi Germany was basically sinking any none, 'Axis' boat... And especially, 'Allied' boats!

Now this boat has lost it's way in a fog and has drifted out of sight of it's convoy... 

And as Lanser starts to put all of the pieces together of what is going on and who he is, he begins to realize that not only is he on a doomed ship... But that due to an absolutely supernatural circumstance, he may never get off!

Lanser with a steward begins to get the first clue of what is going on...

In the end this episode is fun for many reasons: 

1. It is brilliantly crafted... As a matter of fact, this episode is great in it's less then 30 minute format, and could also make for an absolutely brilliant movie! 

2. Another thing is the talent... You rarely get to see talent of that caliber these days, and these guys that made this episode did so well, it was like watching a novel unfold!

3. The last thing that I wanted to say is that this episode... considering when it was made... This episode had absolutely brilliant special effects! 

In the end, the only thing that I did not understand is why they put an, 'American' in a, 'German' role and not sound German? 

Either way, this episode is a total blast and well worth watching... Check it out, I think you might agree!  

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Twilight Zone: Season 1 - Episode 8: ' Time Enough At Last' (1959) - TVEpisode Review

Official Score = 4 Devils 

One thing about the Twilight Zone is that it seems to never fail to have a fun episode just around the corner (even if the episode before it really was not that good...) And there is one episode that I have wanted to watch, pretty much ever since I first got in to the series, an episode that I would say is only seconded in pop culture popularity (having been used in other media as well,) to the episode, 'Terror At 20,000 Feet'... Don't worry that review is coming...

In this case, the episode that I am talking about is, 'Time Enough At Last' (1960)!

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was, was all the time I needed..." - Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith - A quote from Twilight Zone episode, 'Time Enough At Last'.)

Based on the short story by Lynn Venable, written by Rod Serling (Planet Of The Apes) & Directed by: John Brahm (Penitentiary), starring: Burgess Meredith (Batman), this episode tells the story of a man by the name of Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith), and the bad luck he has!

What I mean by this is that all Mr. Bemis wants to do is read... So much so that  his need to read has made him a poor bank teller, he has lost the respect of his wife, and well... Basically he doesn't have much to look forward to... That is until an H-Bomb changes his world!

Henry Bemis will get the chance to endulge his love of reading... That is until he enters the Twilight Zone of course!

You see after the bomb drops and every is dead Henry Bemis will find his paradise in the remnant of his public library, but when he finds his paradise in the aftermath of Armageddon, The Twilight Zone will commit the ultimate cruel trick on Mr. Bemis... And like Adam & Eve, cast him out of paradise!

The truth is, is this episode is as good as the hype! Seeing a young Burgess Meredith was awesome, the story is this is a fun one with a cruel sense of irony that is just awesome! If you haven't seen this episode... Check it out, I am gonna say that for me that this maybe one of the best episodes of this series that I have seen... And if you check it out, you might find the same thing as well!