User Reviews

Loved this episode and have a hard time believing more people didn't give it a much higher grade.Cliff Robertson gives an excellent yet understated performance as a Ventriloquist who may or may not be losing his mind.He takes his act all over the country and is quite a success except lately he has a real problem. He is convinced that his dummy (named Willie) is alive.It seems that the dummy is actually saying his own lines on stage and tries to torment him when offstage.The matter is further complicated by the fact that he is also developing into an alcoholic.His manager thinks he's crazy and that his self destructive behavior and bizarre visions are ruining both his career and his sanity not to mention the act itself..His manager says "adios amigo" and Jerry's nightmare reaches epic proportions.He locks the dummy in the trunk but still sees visions of him everywhere and hears the dummy taunt him no matter where he goes. And then....... ? well-maybe one of the best executed shocks of any Twilight episode. OK I know the knocks-that its derivative, that its predictable and that it has been "done before".The movie "Dead of Night" often comes to mind along with Hitchcocks TV episode entitled "The Glass Eye".But in all fairness this episode stands very well on its own.The viewer is unsure whether the Dummy is real and when we reach the end well- NO ONE would expect the shocking yet ironic twist. There is a lot to admire about this episode. First of all the acting is truly outstanding-Robertson is excellent and very convincing as a desperate man who may be losing his mind and Sutton is equally good as his estranged agent.Also the direction is brilliant ranking right up there with "Eye of the Beholder". The stark backgrounds,the frantic camera shots and the surrealistic images plus the editing helps puts us in Jerry's world. And then there is the shock at the end-and no matter what people say no one could ever predict or expect it

I know that this episode seems derivative but give Serling and the director's credit.The ending is both fascinating and truly original This was one of the most entertaining episodes from the series and it will suck you right into the story and not let go-not even during the commercials. This is one act you DON'T want to miss

Cliff Robertson stars as talented ventriloquist Jerry Etherson, who has a popular act in a nightclub, but still has trouble making all his dates, since Jerry drinks too much, and insists that his dummy Willie(voiced by George Murdoch) is alive and persecuting him mercilessly. Of course his agent doesn't believe him, and threatens to drop him if he doesn't get help, but it seems that poor Jerry is beyond help, as Willie appears to be gaining the upper hand, and about to make his move... Chilling episode is among the series' best, and certainly the scariest, with an excellent performance by Robertson and voice work by Murdoch, and contains the most effective, jump-out-of-your-seat twist ending in television history. A true classic of its kind.

This isn't to be confused with the famous "Talking Tina" episode. This is instead an episode about a ventriloquist's dummy. Countless scary stories have been made with these guys, the most notable being Slappy from the "Goosebumps" series. Now that's just starting to seem like a ripoff. Anyway, what I really like is how there's never anything that goes wrong during the actual show. I kept expecting the dummy to come alive and bad mouth the audience while the performance was going on. They even showed a warmup with him working with a dummy. I felt for sure something was going to go wrong during his act.

Instead, they played it straight and it's kept as mysterious as ever. I really appreciated this episode's pacing. It just seemed like it flew right past me, it was just so well done. It's another perfect episode that has a great twist ending as expected and not even in the way you might think. I liked the introduction of the other dummy. It's just good to see how this slowly gets scarier as it goes on. So this is why the art died out. ****

Dipso Ventriloquist is haunted by his dummy.

Well staged variation on the familiar theme of diabolical dummies. Robertson is a tormented voice-thrower whose act is being ruined by drink, caused by what he thinks is a live dummy. The opening dressing room scene is excellent for its spooky subtleties and imaginative effects. It made me think this would be special. Unfortunately, the story line soon drops the ambiguities and becomes too obvious. Still, some imaginative camera work breathes life into Robertson's unusually low key-delirium, while the final scene amounts to a genuinely new and rather unnerving twist on the old idea.

In passing-- you can measure the sharp decline of quality in the series' final year (1964) by comparing this episode (a good but not remarkable one) with the derivative Caesar and Me, a jumbled and unimaginative entry from that last year that strongly indicates how the production crew had run out of fresh ideas, but still had an unrelenting schedule to meet. Of the two, this one, The Dummy, is definitely the more watchable.

Fact: ventriloquist dummies are creepy! Like clowns, they have some sort of uncanny aura surrounding them and the more you look at them, the scarier they become. Different fact, however: there isn't a whole lot you can do with them in terms of plotting. If ventriloquist dummies were easy to process into horror scenarios, surely, we would have as many evil dummy movies as evil clown movies. There do exist a few very good full-length films, like "The Devil Doll" and "Magic" (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins), but they lend themselves better for short stories, like the brilliant segment in "Dead of Night" or episodes in TV-series like "Goosebumps", "Tales from the Crypt" or "The Twilight Zone".

"The Dummy", starring a young Cliff Robertson, revolves around that inescapable plot where the wooden doll seemingly lives for real and gradually takes control over its master... Or is the artist simply losing his sense of reality? In defense of "The Twilight Zone", this installment came before most of the aforementioned films/TV-episodes, and undoubtedly influenced many of them. It's a competent short, but personally I didn't feel any sympathy for, or connection with Robertson's lead character. The psychedelic climax is terrific, and quite disturbing to boot.

"The Dummy" a "Twilight Zone" episode from season 3 1962 is one that's interesting and creepy as it involves an object that comes to life! The story involves Jerry Etherson a Ventriloquist who plays a club night after night and finally he has reached the conclusion that his dummy named "Willie" actually does talk! The scenes are telling and convincing it's like a little cat and mouse game with things that are suspenseful and this is a man who seems to be close to having his whole life go to the gutter. Only when a plan to go to the stage with a new dummy it's when things twist around and go plum crazy! It's like a new transformation for Jerry as Willie is one little evil dummy! Overall good well done creepy episode that twist.

Everything about a ventriloquist dummy is creepy and this story went a long way to giving me nightmares! Well developed storyline and some great cinematography.

No question, Rod Serling had to have been inspired by the cult British film, DEAD OF NIGHT (1945), which featured a series of weird tales, foremost the story of a ventriloquist and his "live" dummy. Catch this amazing horror film, especially late at night.

Here, Cliff Robertson plays the doomed ventriloquist who believes his dummy, Willy, is taking over his life --if not his soul! Oustanding direction on the part of one of the greats, Abner Biberman, who directed four TZ episodes. Biberman mastered such shows as HAWAII FIVE O and IRONSIDE. Catch Frank Sutton (GOMER PYLE) playing Frank, a role obviously written for him, playing Robertson's exasperated manager who thinks he's just plain nuts. You be the judge.

One to see and see again, especially for Cliff Robertson at his acting best. Robertson may have won the role due to his impressive performance in PT 109, playing John F. Kennedy, and was selected by the president to play the role! Good trivia question. SEASON 3 EPISODE 33 remastered in classic black and white.

I have no criticism to make of Cliff Robertson in the lead role as ventriloquist, Jerry Etheredge. He gives a good performance as a seemingly likable man whose peculiar and insecure nature becomes increasingly visible. However, as the night club owner says about this kind of act 'you've seen one, you've seen them all'. The same pretty much goes for predictable ventriloquist stories like this (although 'The Glass Eye' in 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' was fairly different).

My problem is that the sentient dummy idea is mad and silly, creepy but uninteresting, as well as being predated by the film 'Dead of Night'. I prefer the segment 'Ventriloquist' in that movie to this TZ, but I prefer the Zone's 'Twenty Two' to the same storyline as 'The Hearse' within 'Dead Of Night'.

The ventriloquist Jerry Etherson is a successful show businessman with his dummy Willie. However, he believes Willie is an evil entity and his agent and friend Frank believes he need psychiatric help. When he decides to change his dummy, they lean that this is not possible.

"The Dummy" is a reasonable episode of "The Twilight Zone". The plot of an evil dummy is common and neither scary nor intriguing. The conclusion is actually funny, with Jerry Etherson becoming another dummy and making partner ship with him in the show. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil); "O Ventríloquo" ("The Ventriloquist")