Richard Deacon stars in this marvelously clever Twilight Zone episode of an industrialist who has decided that he's going to automate his entire plant. Just think of it, no workers to deal with, no union complaints, presumably the technicians to keep the machines running are all part of management now. To completely eliminate labor, the goal of every tycoon of business since the Industrial Revolution.
Watching this I was thinking that if some poor Luddite rioters from the post Napoleonic war era Great Britain could have seen this episode it would have confirmed all the worst fears they had.
The clash with Deacon and a plant foreman Ted DeCorsia is one for the books. Has some profound things to say about man's need to feel he's doing useful work in this world. At least most of us feel that way, there are some parasites among the human species to be sure.
In the end poor Deacon finds he too is expendable. Then he became a Luddite.
Watching this I was thinking that if some poor Luddite rioters from the post Napoleonic war era Great Britain could have seen this episode it would have confirmed all the worst fears they had.
The clash with Deacon and a plant foreman Ted DeCorsia is one for the books. Has some profound things to say about man's need to feel he's doing useful work in this world. At least most of us feel that way, there are some parasites among the human species to be sure.
In the end poor Deacon finds he too is expendable. Then he became a Luddite.