A Quality of Mercy was the episode that provided the blueprint for Vic Morrow's segment in The Twilight Zone: The Movie. Dean Stockwell plays U. S. Lieutenant Katell, who arrives in the Philippine Islands at the end of WWII to take command of a war-weary squad of soldiers, led by Sgt. Causarano (Albert Salmi). Keen to prove himself by killing a few of the enemy, Katell instructs his men to launch an attack on a unit of injured Japanese soldiers holed up in a cave. However, before he can lead the assault, Katell suddenly finds himself as a soldier in the Japanese army, part of a unit about to launch an attack on some injured Americans.
Having seen both sides of the coin, Katell realises the error of his ways, and tries to convince his Japanese superior to abort the attack.
This is another one of Serling's anti-war tales, this time showing us how dehumanising the enemy can lead to further meaningless death and destruction. Such idealism is all well and good, until you wind up facing a foe who still sees you as nothing more than a target for their rifle, at which point survival is the name of the game. War is indeed hell.
I think the concept worked much better with the central character as a bigot -- shame that Morrow didn't live to finish the story how it was intended.
Having seen both sides of the coin, Katell realises the error of his ways, and tries to convince his Japanese superior to abort the attack.
This is another one of Serling's anti-war tales, this time showing us how dehumanising the enemy can lead to further meaningless death and destruction. Such idealism is all well and good, until you wind up facing a foe who still sees you as nothing more than a target for their rifle, at which point survival is the name of the game. War is indeed hell.
I think the concept worked much better with the central character as a bigot -- shame that Morrow didn't live to finish the story how it was intended.