Judgment Night
- Episode aired Dec 4, 1959
- TV-PG
- 25m
It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.It's 1942, and a man finds himself on a ship in the Atlantic, not knowing who he is, nor how he got there. He does know the ship will soon be attacked by a German U-boat.
- Narrator
- (voice)
- Barbara Stanley
- (as Deirdre Owen)
- Little Girl
- (uncredited)
- Sailor in Ski Cap
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- Rod Serling(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Britons' beverages are coffee rather than tea since General Foods sponsored the episode.
Talking about censorship from sponsors, in a late-1959 interview with Mike Wallace, Rod Serling said, "...in 18 scripts [in the 1st Season], Mike, we've had one line changed, which again was a little ludicrous but of insufficient basic concern within the context of this story not to put up a fight. On the bridge of a British ship, the sailor calls down to the Galley and asks - in my script - for a pot of tea, because I believe it's constitutionally acceptable in the British Navy to drink Tea. One of my sponsors [General Foods] happens to sell Instant Coffee and he took great umbrage, or at least minor umbrage anyway with the idea of saying 'tea'. Well, we had a couple of swings back and forth - nothing serious - and we decided to 'ask for a tray to be sent up to the bridge'! But in 18 scripts, that's the only conflict we've had."
- GoofsThe captain of SS Queen of Glasgow is wearing the ribbons of the Africa Star, the Italy Star, and the 1939-45 War Medal in 1942. None of these medals had been instituted at that time.
- Quotes
Lt. Mueller: I just, I just found it difficult to...
Carl Lanser: To do what?
Lt. Mueller: To reconcile the killing of men and women without any warning. Makes me wonder if we're not damned now.
Carl Lanser: In the eyes of the British admiralty, we most certainly are.
Lt. Mueller: I mean, sir, in the eyes of God.
Carl Lanser: Oh, you're not only a fool, Leutnant, but also a religious fool, and perhaps a mystic at that. Suppose we are damned. What will happen then?
Lt. Mueller: I've had dreams about it. Perhaps there is a special kind of hell for people like us. Perhaps to be damned is to have a fate like the people on that ship, to suffer as they suffer and to die as they die.
Carl Lanser: You are a mystic, Leutnant.
Lt. Mueller: We'd ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night, Herr Kapitän, 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.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: Judgement Night (2020)
Another excellent episode. This is the kind of thing I had been expecting when I first started with 'The Twilight Zone': an eerie, moody tale that unfolds with a twist that catches the viewer in surprise. Well acted by Nehemiah Persoff, to the point that even when overacting it still comes around as fun instead of amateurish.
If 'Time Enough at Last', another great episode, was an adaptation of the Tantalus myth, 'Judgment Night' skillfully adapts yet another Greek myth; the myth of Sisyphus.
Sisyphus was punished for his acts by the Gods, by being forced to roll a giant rock up a mountain; only for, when reaching the top, the rock to fall back to the base, forcing him to repeat the task for all eternity.
This eternal cycle of repetition as punishment is more used than the Tantalus one, and I liked the way this episode further enhances the metaphor with the 'hunter becomes hunted' trope it also employs. A great, surprisingly intelligent little plot.
Seeing this episode made me remember a recent film, another Sisyphus-based, hunter/hunted duality, twisted mystery/horror that is one of my favorites. If you enjoyed this, check out 2009's 'Triangle' as well.
- GTeixeira
- Dec 18, 2013
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1