User Reviews

I wanted to make mention of the first episode's director, as I see Jeff Corey's name is attached to this one as well as quite a few others in the Night Gallery series. He directed nine in all, and if you don't recognize the name, think back to that great flick "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Corey portrayed Sheriff Bledsoe, who had himself tied up by Butch and Sundance so it didn't look like he was in cahoots with the outlaws. Funny how I remember something like that, but since then I've seen him in countless Westerns and he always does a good job. Just like he does here with 'Deliveries in the Rear'.

For starters, this one had some great atmosphere with the fog enshrouded sets and spooky back alleys, reminiscent of the Boris Karloff film "The Body Snatcher" from 1945. From that title, you can tell it dealt with the same subject of this picture, namely the surreptitious collection of dead bodies for a college lecturer to conduct his classes with. With authorities beginning to suspect that Dr. John Fletcher's (Cornel Wilde) anatomy subjects might be acquired through some skullduggery, the pressure is on to collect a female corpse to throw them off the track of investigating recently deceased males. Needless to say, actor Wilde goes wild when he discovers who's under the sheet and on the slab for his latest lecture.

James Gregory is just great as the patient desk sergeant in the second entry, 'Stop Killing Me', as a harried housewife attempts to convince him that her husband is going to kill her. At first he deems Mrs. Turchin (Geraldine Page) a nuisance, but slowly becomes intrigued with her story, especially after detailing all the things her husband accuses her of, such mundane things as not being as pretty as when they first got married. As Sgt. Beverlow considers the woman's plight, you can see the wheels in his mind turning as he contemplates his own marriage, with the camera zooming in on a picture of his wife. With a promise to call the husband in for questioning, the tables have turned, and he's now more interested in getting some marital advice of his own. Aside from the story itself, I was intrigued by the name of Miss Page's character, as the name of the mayor of my town when I was a kid was also named Turchen, but spelled with an 'e'. Not a very common name, and my ears perked up when she introduced herself to the sergeant.

In 'Dead Weight', we have one of the infrequent screen appearances by singer Bobby Darin portraying a gangster on the run, seeking the aid of a helpful exporter (Jack Albertson) who uses a few tricks up his sleeve to help unsavory clients. Bad guy Landau (Darin) will make his getaway to South America alright, but not in the way he bargained for. It turns out his career is about to go to the dogs.

"Deliveries in the Rear" - Ruthlessly ambitious anatomy teacher John Fletcher (well played by Cornel Wilde) enlists the help of two unsavory grave robbers to procure dead bodies for him. Director Jeff Corey ably crafts a supremely gloomy fog-shrouded atmosphere. This potent story delivers a strong moral point about the bitter price one must pay for eschewing morals in favor of science with a real doozy of a surprise grim ending.

"Stop Killing Me" - Batty Frances Turchin (a lively performance by Geraldine Page) goes to the police to report her husband for attempted murder. This rather slight, but still amusing segment benefits from Page's dynamic histrionics as well as sturdy supporting work from James Gregory as an incredulous desk sergeant.

"Dead Weight" - Desperate bank robber Landau (singer Bobby Darin in fine antsy form) seeks the assistance of exporter O. Bullivant (a hearty and winning portrayal by Jack Albertson) to leave the country pronto. Witty comic tale boasts energetic acting from the two leads and a blackly funny punchline.

A thought provoking episode of Night Gallery that involves a tale of a teacher (Cornel Wilde) of a human anatomy class who obtains his deceased specimens from unverified sources. The men who provide the teacher his cadavers are rebuked when the body has decomposed too much for use in the anatomy class. The teacher insists on obtaining bodies that are in excellent condition for his class. The episode starts to turn creepy when a woman accuses the teacher of involvement in the disappearance of her husband. Other faculty members also are a bit worried about where the cadavers are being obtained from. The teacher insists that the advancement of science is much more important than considerations about where the cadavers came from. The twist comes at the end when the teacher has another anatomy class presentation and he will be dissecting a female cadaver. When he removes the covers, the female cadaver turns out to be his fiancée. He screams in agony and shock.

This episode was an absolute winner for the controversial Night Gallery series, and it appears on what I consider the best season, which is the second. It has that great, yet disturbing ending this show can be known for, and this one was a doozy; I'll get to the conclusion at the(ah-em)conclusion of this review. On a personal note, I recognized Larry D. Mann and Rosemary Forsyth from different Columbo episodes, and it was odd seeing them in the same episode from this series, but I digress. The eerie setting appears to be from foggy and dreary England, and we see a doctor teaching surgery to a group of students, while he dissects a corpse, but where does he get those corpses? We meet a couple of real slimy individuals who fetch the bodies for the good doctor at a price, no questions asked. A few folks, including an old, haggard woman screaming, "ya got me Charlie!" to the doctor about her recently deceased husband; suspicion is starting to mount on just exactly where the bodies come from, and doubt is being cast on the doctor. He and his little helper(and he is little)are slick enough to elude the police for now and other people too; he gets out of a jam because his newest corpse is a female, not the old man he was accused of stealing, and the police are satisfied for now, and he is off the hook. The next scene has the confident doctor lecturing his students about the art of surgery once again, and then he loses his mind as he turns back the cover of the sheet covering the body only to discover that it's his very own fiancé who was murdered by the men who were ordered to get a female body by any means. There's hardly any boring moments right to the very end of this fine episode, which wasn't too long.

'Deliveries in the Rear'. Scripted by Rod Serling himself, and directed by actor Jeff Corey. An excellent Cornel Wilde ("The Naked Prey") stars as John Fletcher in what is yet another variation on the familiar "Burke & Hare" story. Fletcher is a medical professor who's content not to ask a lot of questions regarding where his cadavers come from. Although there is a marvellous supporting cast here (a radiant Rosemary Forsyth ("Shenandoah") as Fletchers' fiancee, as well as Walter Burke ("All the Kings' Men"), Ian Wolfe ("Witness for the Prosecution"), Larry D. Mann ("The Sting"), and Peter Whitney ("In the Heat of the Night"), Serlings' story is pretty routine. Before too long, the viewer will sense where it's headed, and they won't be proven wrong. A shame, really, as Serlings' dialogue is typically quite enjoyable. The period recreation is adequate, and one nice touch is how foggy the surroundings are, with people and objects taking some time to materialize from the mist.

'Stop Killing Me'. A largely comedic segment, scripted by Jack Laird from a story by Hal Dresner. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc. An unhappy wife (Geraldine Page, "Hondo") complains to a police sergeant (James Gregory, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes") that her husband is trying to worry her to death by constantly threatening to murder her. Page delivers a memorably kooky, florid performance (complete with a couple of looks into the camera), but after a while her character is merely annoying. Meanwhile, Gregory has to sit there through these histrionics. Just like the first segment, you do get a sense of how this tale will be resolved. It's still mildly entertaining, but it lacks real punch.

'Dead Weight'. The shortest segment of this episode was also scripted by Laird, based on a tale by Jeffry Scott. A desperate criminal on the lam (singer Bobby Darin, "Pressure Point") appeals to a slick "exporter" (a delightful Jack Albertson of "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory") to help smuggle him out of the country. At least this segment gets to the point quicker, and *does* deliver a resolution that the viewer can't easily predict. It's quite an amusing turn of events. In the meantime, the viewer can savour Albertsons' fine performance.

Seven out of 10.

Disclaimer: This review is only for the "Deliveries in the Rear Segment".

"Deliveries in the Rear" is one of the most unnerving episodes of the series, featuring horrors of the psychological variety. The wonderful teleplay provides great exchanges between the actors about morality and the sanctity of the individual, whether he is alive or dead.

Cornell Wilde, an actor not known for his thespian skills, does well in the role of an overzealous doctor in the 19th century dedicated to train future surgeons through the use of cadavers, some obtained by an unsavory pair, expertly played by Peter Whitney and John Maddison. Rosemary Forsyth appears as Wilde's fiancé while veteran Kent Smith plays her father.

Others in the fine supporting cast are familiar character faces, including Walter Burke as Wilde's assistant, Peter Brocco as Dr. Shockman, Larry D. Mann as a police detective, Ian Wolfe as an undertaker, and Marjorie Bennett as the widow of one of the cadavers used by the good doctor. Another highlight is the appearance of a young Gerald McRainey as one a medical trainee with a weak stomach.

The story itself is reminiscent of the 40's classic "The Body Snatchers" and comes to a most satisfying and gruesome ending.

Wilde's scream is terrifying by itself.

"Deliveries in the Rear" involves a doctor teaching students about surgery that has a rather morbid method of obtaining his corpses. He uses grave-robbers to help get these bodies and he justifies this by saying that the corpses are "scum" and are made "immortal" through his teaching. Unfortunately, this assumption is proven wrong when the doctor decides to ask for a female corpse. This story was really good and the twist really comes as a shock. Overall, it did really good with its premise and has a nice build-up to the ending.

"Stop Killing Me" is an odd one but it is pretty well-executed in my opinion. Geraldine Page plays a woman who goes to a police officer and claims that her husband "keeps killing her". She states that he does this by worrying her too much. I won't say if the husband succeeds or not but this story is quite an intriguing one and the camera-work when Page is talking is quite clever in my opinion.

"Dead Weight" is a skit that involves a gangster wanting to flee the country. The person offering him an escape is an old man who has a rather unique way of dealing with helping out criminals.... the ending is clever on first watch but there's not much to this. It's very passable.

After two nearly Jack Laird-less episodes, I knew my luck would not hold out. Yet I don't plan to go into the Night Gallery close-minded. Perhaps this will be a good episode.

Directed by Jeff Corey and written by Rod Serling, "Delivers In the Rear" starts with a body being delivered for Dr. John Fletcher (Cornel Wilde) of the Macmillan School of Medicine. The image of a dead person is so shocking that one of his students, Tuttle (Gerald McRaney in his first TV appearance), faints. The bodies that he gets seem to have been dead only a few hours. Sure, the men delivering them could be murderers. But science...

That night, while eating dinner with his fiancee Barbara Bennett (Rosemary Forsyth) and her family, her father Bennett (Kent Smith) brings this fact up, wondering about grave robbing. What fun dinner talk...

Fletcher believes that "no individual life is of any consequence if it means the saving of many lives." So when the cops close in - a woman believes that he has the body of her murdered husband - he asks his grave robbers to get rid of the body and supply him with a woman so that the police no longer suspect him. Of course, the woman they kill and bring to him is...his fiancee.

As always, Serling brings his darkest tales to the party.

Frances Turchin (Geraldine Page) believes that her husband is trying to kill her, a plot that she describes in grand detail to Sergeant Stanley Bevelow (James Gregory). Of course, she goes on so much that she reminds the officer of his wife and he wonders how he can get away with it as well. "Stop Killing Me" was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by Jack Laird from a story by Hal Dresner. It is, as you can figure, another blackout sketch but stretched way longer than it has any right to be enlongated.

"Dead Weight" concerns Landau (Bobby Darin), a criminal involved in a bank heist gone wrong who needs to escape the attention of the police. That's where Mr. Bullivant (Jack Albertson) comes in, as he has a history of helping get thugs out of jams just like this.

The truth? The fixer kills off the criminals, grinds them up and sends them away as dog food.

This was directed by Timothy Galfas, who also made Black Fist and also served as the cinematographer for the live action scenes that were rotoscoped over for the 70s animated Lord of the Rings. If you guessed that this was another Jack Laird script, based on the story "Out of the Country" by Jeffry Scott, you would be correct.

After two weeks of solid episodes, Night Gallery reminds us that it was a constant push and pull between the elegant and bleak world of Serling and the hackneyed and prosaic work of Laird. I wanted more this time and was left, well, wishing.

In this story, Dr. John Fletcher (Cornel Wilde), surgery instructor at the MacMillan School of Medicine, uses grave robbers to supply him with bodies for dissection, without any concern as to whether they died of natural causes or foul play, taking the view that a life lost, if it leads to the saving of many lives, is a necessary sacrifice, and if that one life lost comes from the lowest level of society, to whom could it possibly matter? Mr. Bennett (Kent Smith), father of Dr. Fletcher's fiancée, Barbara (Rosemary Forsyth), is dismayed by this view, and takes Fletcher to task over it. Barbara is also concerned, commenting that Dr. Fletcher seems to be more involved with his work at the expense of everything else, including her. Fletcher is confronted by Mrs. Woods (Marjorie E. Bennett) as he returns to the medical school, and she accuses him of having the corpse of her husband, Charlie, on a dissection table inside, warning Fletcher that she's reporting him to the police for using grave robbers who, to provide him with corpses, killed Charlie. Dr. Shockman (Peter Brocco) calls Fletcher to task over this, stating that the police will be around to search for Charlie Woods that evening, and if his corpse is there, Dr. Fletcher is going to be in trouble. Fletcher assures Shockman that no one fitting Woods' description is in the building, and that a female cadaver is present instead, which was an outright lie since his underling had hidden Woods' corpse in a storage room of the school. After Shockman leaves, Dr. Fletcher demands that his suppliers give him the body of a woman. After coming up empty in their bid to provide Fletcher with a female cadaver, the grave robbers decide that since the weather is too chilly to dig for a woman's body, they would go hunting the streets for a fresh one. They return to the school with the cadaver and are paid double the normal rate for bringing the corpse on such short notice. Before Dr. Fletcher's lesson in the lecture hall begins, the police investigator, Hannify (Larry D. Mann), asks the whereabouts of Charlie Woods. Hannify checks the recently arrived cadaver to find that instead of Woods being on the gurney, it's a woman's body. Hannify assures Dr. Fletcher that he hopes to be around the next time that Fletcher accepts a cadaver provided by the grave robbers that he hires, for on that day Hannify would arrest him and see to it that the doctor gets 50 years of hard labor in prison, making small rocks out of large ones. After this, Dr. Fletcher enters the lecture hall, stating that a life lost isn't important if many lives are saved as a result. He begins the lesson, and, looking down at the body on the slab, screams in horror, dropping the scalpel and crumpling in a hysterically gibbering heap on the floor as Dr. Shockman and the students watch. It turns out that Barbara, Dr. Fletcher's fiancée, was the corpse on the slab, and he finds out too late that the sanctity of life can't be cast aside for reasons of convenience, and though his fate wasn't shown, I'd be betting that Dr. Fletcher was committed to a mental hospital afterward. Spoiler alert: Gerald McRaney, renowned for Simon and Simon and the sitcom Major Dad, turns up briefly as a squeamish medical student in this segment.