May 29, 2023- numbers 3 & 4

This is the first time I have done a post for The Daily Zone for more than one individual episode. I am linking episodes 3 and 4 together on this post.

SPOILERS

“Mr. Denton on Doomsday“

This episode is a Western and my favorite episode so far. We get the drunken Al Denton, at one point the fasted draw around until he killed a teenager who was wanting to take the title of the best shooter. Al lost himself in the drink more and more to hide from the pain of his reputation.

Mr. Henry J. Fate arrived in town, bringing his magical potions with him, giving Al more belief in himself.

Dan Duryea played Al Denton and he was amazing in this role. You could feel the uncertainty, the anguish over the siren call of the gun. When he was aided magically by Henry Fate, Al set himself on the course of gunslinger once more.

This episode was filled with themes of redemption, fate as well as dealing with alcoholism and the price of fame (or being infamous). It also included a performance by Martin Landau as a bully cowboy who taunted the drunken Al Denton before his discovery of the magical firearm.

I really enjoyed this episode.

Episode 4

“The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine”

“Picture of a woman looking at a picture. Movie great of another time, once-brilliant star in a firmament no longer a part of the sky, eclipsed by the movement of earth and time. Barbara Jean Trenton, whose world is a projection room, whose dreams are made out of celluloid. Barbara Jean Trenton, struck down by hit-and-run years and lying on the unhappy pavement, trying desperately to get the license number of fleeting fame.”

https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sixteen-Millimeter_Shrine

Ida Lupino starred in the fourth episode of The Twilight Zone as an aging actress named Barbara Jean Trenton, who has become a bit of a recluse, isolating herself in a room with a movie projector, playing her old films. She was in deep denial of the change she was having because she was getting older.

This episode certainly looks at something that Hollywood has had a reputation for doing to actresses as they age. There is a scene where Barbara Jean was offered a bit part in a film as a mother and she flipped out, insulted. Hollywood was known for treating aging actresses poorly and this spoke to that very detail.

It also felt like it dealt with mental illness in a way. Barbara Jean could not accept the changes that comes with age and how it caused her to become depressed and take an extreme step.

There was a sadness to this episode, including a strong performance by Martin Balsam as Barbara Jean’s friend and confidant Danny Weiss.