User Reviews

A user instead of a bringer, that's how Miss Devlin (Julie Newmar) characterizes old Feathersmith (Albert Salmi) when he's down and out and about to go utterly bust in the Cliffordville of his past. Too impatient to use the skills that made him a multi-millionaire in the first place, Feathersmith falls victim to the premise that one can find a shortcut to success.

For those viewers thinking of making their own deal with the devil, these Twilight Zone stories would be a good primer on how to avoid all those nasty pitfalls that human frailty is subject to. Like a faulty memory that forgets an important invention takes place a quarter century in the future. Or that a former object of one's desire turns out to be Joanna Gibbons (Christine Burke). Man, what was Feathersmith thinking about?

For us older fans, one of the treats here is catching all those great character actors turning up in one program. John Anderson showed up in just about every TV Western series that ever came out, while Wright King managed an extended run as Josh Randall's sidekick in the second season of 'Wanted:Dead or Alive'. Then there's Julie Newmar, the gal that put the purr in Catwoman in the mid-Sixties 'Batman' TV show.

Hey, here's something I picked up on while watching this show. As Feathersmith nears the end of his rope, he solicits Miss Devlin (Newmar) to return him to the future while in that warehouse basement. Take note of the tall crate marked 'This End Up' - it was used as one of the props in the prior episode of the series, 'The New Exhibit', one of the crates a wax figure arrived in. This kind of thing happened before, and I wonder if Serling threw those things in intentionally to see who was paying attention. Or more likely, a way of recycling props to keep expenses down.

Of course the twist ending is what everyone comes to appreciate with these stories, but this one had a pretty good moral to teach as well. Working for something and earning it is a whole lot more satisfying than just having it - a lesson not necessarily confined to an outer region of the Twilight Zone.

Not surprisingly, you really hate the character played by Albert Salmi. I say this isn't a surprise because he'd already played a murderer in one episode and had a habit of playing scum through the 1960s. Heck, if he'd played a nice or normal person, THAT would have made me take notice!

Salmi plays 'Mr. Featherstone"--a heartless man whose sole joys in life are making money and stomping on people to get that money! After taking great delight in toying with his next victim, he is approached by s sexy devil (Julie Newmar) who offers to give him what he wants...for his soul. Now you'd think he wouldn't bother entertaining this, as he's worth over $30,000,000! But, his wish involves wanting to go back in time to his youth--so he can manipulate and scheme in order to make himself even richer! That's because he's planning on using his current knowledge and applying it to the past. One example is land he knows will yield a fortune in oil--but there is a catch. Heck, there's always a catch on this show when dealing with the powers of Satan!!

I liked this show. The twist was very entertaining--partly because it was cleverly written and partly because the viewer really, really hates Featherstone and takes delight in watching this jerk fall on his face!! Well acted, written and unusual--even if it is one of several deal with the devil episodes on the show.

Admittedly this is not one of the better episodes, but one that has always been a particular favourite of mine. The reason is that it has always left me feeling rather uneasy. To summarise, William J. Feathersmith, a bored, old, wealthy & rather unpleasant businessman, makes a deal with the devil, a return to his youth in Cliffordville in exchange for his fortune. He figures that with all his knowledge of the future, he will make a killing and make himself rich. He instead finds out that this supposedly formidable plan is not as watertight as he assumed.

My problem has always been the fact that although I was glad to see the villain get his comeuppance, the punishment did not fit the crime. The rather contrite Feathersmith seemed to be a better man and it was not necessarily for him to be ridiculed by Hecate, his former janitor. Another bothersome aspect of their exchange in the final scene is why was it necessary to make Hecate unpleasant just because he was now rich. More unnecessary moralising by Serling, methinks.

However I recently read "Blind Alley" by Malcolm Jameson on which the episode was based, and I have to admit that Serling's Feathersmith 'got off' rather lightly.

First off,I love the original Twilight Zone and although I haven't seen every single episode of this series,I still think that it's the greatest TV series of the 20th century...hands down.

I liked this episode,but like the previous poster says the 'comeuppance' factor is kind of weak if Rod Serlings point of this is 'rich = evil'.Feathersmith does seem to have changed for the better after coming back from Cliffordville,and the role-reversal with Hecate was apt,but the new 'evil' Hecate was a bit too much,IMO.

But,the reason I'm writing this is that I thought I was IN the Twilight Zone when I first saw the episode!!! I was just channel-surfing one day and caught the very beginning of this show and saw the character named Deirich,played by John Anderson...and man, he looked EXACTLY like he did when he was on M*A*S*H and Star Trek:The Next Generation TV shows,playing as an OLD MAN on this episode.I've seen a lot of actors try to look old in parts when they are young or middle-aged and then look nothing like that when they actually do get old,but seeing Mr.Anderson look exactly like he did in the 1990's in a 1960's show freaked me out big time.

Heck,this situation could BE an episode on the Twilight Zone...I guess I have to see them all to be sure,but that was scary! 6 out of 10

I just love the work these wonderful actors did in this episode. Even though the "bald wig" on Mr. Feathersmith is obvious, his fine acting ability helps us to forget that and, instead, get wrapped up in the story. One thing trips me up, though: One would've thought that, when Miss Devlin was listing all of Mr. Feathersmith's greedy shortcomings, she would be cheering him on, saying "Good going! Keep up the bad work!" Instead, she was disgusted with him. In the end, it seems she saved his soul because he was then a humble janitor, rather than a ruthless tycoon. That doesn't seem like something a devil would do. Consequently, the story's ending kind of sends mixed signals.

This is one I find watchable even with some of the flaws . It drags a bit at times as some of the hour long episodes do but that happens with the half hour format occasionally.

Feathersmith is rich and powerful and takes great delight in humiliating others and destroying them as he does with a man from his hometown . Still he's bored and as he tells the janitor he wants to go back not only to his hometown but that specific time and start over. That was the fun part. Hecate the janitor is from the same town. Feathersmith is still looking down on people and mocks Hecate they come from the same place but Feathersmith is wealthy and powerful and Hecate is a janitor.

Later he sees a travel agency in his building it's never been there before. The agent is a Miss Devlin ( played by a delightful , wicked but strangely principled Devil) she can make Feathersmith's come true but the price is most of his fortune. Enough to make investments and retain his memory but Feathersmith isn't as smart as he thinks nor is his memories as clear he forgets the time frame or the details of inventions he plans to " invent " . He forgets how long it is from 1910 ( the year he travels back to) when they can actually get oil out of the ground. He may look thirty but inside he's still seventy five but that isn't the only problem. His memory of the girl that got away is nothing like he remembers either. He also gets humiliated by among others the man he destroyed in the future.

Miss Devlin makes it clear he's taken without giving and made money off what others worked for that others would benefit from. He only wants to go back to the present. Miss Devlin can arrange it but Feathersmith has to sell his plot of land to get the money. He does so and going back to the present we see he is the janitor and Hecate the billionaire! Hecate having bought the land that later struck oil. Many feel Hecate turned out no better and lost all his humanity and humility. Perhaps so. It might be more interesting if he was still largely the same person he was before.

Any scene with Julie Newmar is a treat to watch .She's actually the most interesting character in this episode .

The story starts stupidly, with two (very obviously) young actors made up as old men - which immediately implies that there will be flashbacks to decades earlier when they were young. (Or in this case time-travel.) So that's a major spoiler right there which only makes this nonsense even more dreary.

Even worse, one of them starts giving a moral serlingian speech, berating the other - very much in keeping with the Serling tradition to annoy and bore the viewers with the usual corny bitterness and holier-than-thou babble.

Much worse than all this crap though is the casting of the "evil capitalist" villain: some amateur hack who hams it up as if this were a children's comedy, Sesame Street, or whatever. (I know, there was no Sesame Street then.) To exacerbate things, his bald head is clearly not bald by nature but bald because it's wrapped by a very obvious piece of plastic (or whatever), tightly fitted onto his overacting head. He talks like a total buffoon, in a very unnatural mega-theatrical way that makes it impossible to maintain any interest in the rest of the episode. Small wonder I'd never heard of this actor, before or since this episode. I was rather shocked to find that his page here is full of movies and TV appearances. This guy actually had an extensive career!

By total contrast, Julie Newmar's sudden appearance was a very nice surprise, after all the crap that transpired beforehand. But... she wears horns. And the CEO's reaction to them is of course... very dumb, as everything else this overactor does. Are we meant to believe that he'd met devils and demons many times throughout his life?

She offers the Overactor a Faustian deal, which naturally has to have loopholes. Overactor KNOWS about the loopholes, so at least that's a refreshing change, but of course he eventually - and predictably - gets duped.

I don't so much mind loopholes but the fact I was able to predict one of them. When Overactor said "I want to look as young as I was 53 years ago" I immediately thought "well, this doesn't include his youthful health - just the appearance of youth". So if I was able to figure out the loophole, why wasn't Overactor? Or are we to believe he got extremely wealthy by sheer chance, by being stupid and lucky? Which is pretty much what is implied here. Sorry, but this doesn't wash... (Wealthy) lib writers have the right to hate ultra-wealthy capitalists (envy, perhaps?), but they can't tell us that these mega-successful entrepreneurs are dim-witted buffoons. Well, they CAN tell us, but it's going to drag the script down.

Besides, how did Devil Newmar know that Overactor would act so foolishly when he rejoins the past? Overactor assumed off-hand that just because he knew of "future" technology that this would somehow make it happen in 1910. This is unrealistic. Nor does it make any sense why Overactor couldn't simply focus on the stock market (which he already stated he'd know in advance) once his land ownership oil deal turned out to be a fluke.

Speaking of which, Overactor neglecting the fact that the oil wouldn't be obtainable until several decades later makes us question HOW the hell he got so rich in the first place! His actions seem to be that of an unintelligent risk-taker, not that of a cunning entrepreneur. Or am I to believe that old age had turned this CEO into a blithering moron with neither business sense nor common sense? The only clown here is the guy in charge of the script...

The last scene is totally flawed, because instead of wrapping up things neatly it only raises more questions and makes the episode even dumber. The Devil (Newmar) actually ANGRILY BERATES the capitalist for his various vices and evils... Which implies... what exactly? That the Devil is actually an instrument of God, dishing out just punishment in the name of goodness and fairness? Interesting, this notion that Satan hates evil people. Devil Newmar is ANGRY at Overactor for being nasty, which is laughable. Shouldn't the Devil like these evil people instead? This makes zero sense and serves as the most concrete proof that no thought went into the production of this episode.

In fact, I've often wondered WHY Hell is used for punishing evil people. If Satan is in charge of it, then shouldn't he be REWARDING God's enemies for being enemies? The purpose of Hell would make sense only if God were the boss there...

Still, that at least isn't Serling's fault. That particular "logic complaint" I should address at the writers of the Bible, all those brave story-tellers...

"Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" is one of the lesser-known episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Part of the series' fourth season, which consisted of hour episodes, "Cliffordville" is often criticized for its bad age makeup and for Albert Salmi's brash performance as Feathersmith. On the other hand, Julie Newmar's slinkily seductive turn as the Devil is justly singled out for praise, and it must be said that the episode (age makeup aside) looks very good, with a convincing transition to the 19-teens for the Cliffordville sequence. Rod Serling was in moralistic mode here, and the script is quite sophisticated, with echoes of CITIZEN KANE in its chronicle of the downfall of a mighty tycoon. I like the epic scope of this story, which fits very well into the hour format; arguably, it could have even been a full-length movie.

There is one point, though, where I feel Serling stumbled. It is the ending. Feathersmith and fellow Cliffordville native Hecate trade places, with Hecate becoming the cruel tycoon and Feathersmith the lowly custodian. Serling's point here seems to be that power corrupts absolutely; the suggestion is that a decent, virtuous person like Hecate will turn evil simply by virtue of acquiring power and success.

I think Serling missed an opportunity to show that virtue can triumph over evil. An alternate ending could have had Hecate acting kindly and mercifully toward custodian Feathersmith in the end, thus showing him a correct exercise of power and ending the episode on a more redemptive note. As it is, Serling simply wrote an O. Henry-esque "switcheroo" ending such as we already saw in Season 2's "Back There." Here it is simply predictable and leaves us with an unnecessarily bitter view of life and human nature.

Ultimately, "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" is worth seeing, but it is a flawed episode and not one of the series' best.