Inger Stevens stars in this 1960's Twilight Zone entry about a young woman who begins to sense something terribly wrong in her "perfect" home environment. Her inventor father, played by John Hoyt, has developed life-like robots to serve as butlers, maids and other household help to keep everything running as smoothly as a swiss clock in their luxurious estate. Her mother (Irene Tedrow) seems content to go along with the scenario and doesn't mind being surrounded by these automatons. Unfortunately, Ms. Stevens begins to grow suspicious of her own natural existence when she discovers to her horror that there are no pictures of her younger years. Slowly but surely she learns the truth despite everything her "parents" do to prevent her.
"The Lateness of the Hour" isn't a totally original concept, but the execution here is quite chilling. It's the classic "monster rebelling against its creator" theme but on a more subtle level than usual. All the players do justice to their roles, especially Ms. Stevens. Of course, her own tragic end adds some poignancy to this story. Prolific television and feature film director Jack Smight handles his duties with his usual craftsmanship. As some reviewers have noticed, this episode was also one of the few Zone episodes filmed on tape and its grainy quality doesn't enhance the production values to any degree. That said, this is one of the better Twilight Zone stories (written by Rod Serling) and it's still great to watch the beautiful and talented Inger Stevens in the prime of her brief career.
"The Lateness of the Hour" isn't a totally original concept, but the execution here is quite chilling. It's the classic "monster rebelling against its creator" theme but on a more subtle level than usual. All the players do justice to their roles, especially Ms. Stevens. Of course, her own tragic end adds some poignancy to this story. Prolific television and feature film director Jack Smight handles his duties with his usual craftsmanship. As some reviewers have noticed, this episode was also one of the few Zone episodes filmed on tape and its grainy quality doesn't enhance the production values to any degree. That said, this is one of the better Twilight Zone stories (written by Rod Serling) and it's still great to watch the beautiful and talented Inger Stevens in the prime of her brief career.