The only episode I ever remember seeing — it must be great!
Lydia Bowen (Else Lanchester) has not only a green thumb, but 10 green fingers — everything she plants seems to grow. Unfortunately developer Michael Saunders (Cameron Mitchell) has his eye on her property to build a factory.
A couple of comments on his glasses: First, they make him look very much like Burgess Meredith in Time Enough at Last. Second, for some reason, he wears the arms of the glasses on the outside of his ears rather than over the top.
Saunders has sent emissaries to buy the land, but Ms. Bowen simply refuses to sell. Saunders pays a visit himself, but she still refuses to sell. She has lived here all her life, the last 10 years alone since her husband died. When Saunders can’t budge her, he hires a fixer to get her her off the land.
The police show up the next day after someone hears screams coming from her house. They find her in the garden burying something — her fingers. They get her to the hospital, but she dies from the loss of blood. The elderly doctor says he remembers “the widow Bowen” from when he was a kid. Hmmm, she said her husband died 10 years ago, so this guy would have been about a 55 year old kid.
That night, Saunders stops by the property. He sees Ms. Bowen’s hands coming up through the soil and panics. When he looks again, there is a hole in the ground which he inexplicably lowers himself into. He hears her singing in the house. Her green fingers have grown into a new Ms. Bowen.
He runs outside and breaks the fourth wall, addressing the camera. I assume at that point he goes mad.
One of the best.
Post-Post:
- Twilight Zone Legacy: George Keymas was in Eye of the Beholder. Bill Quinn was in the TZ Movie, but that doesn’t count.
- Else Lanchester played the Bride of Frankenstein.
- Greensleeves plays throughout the episode.
- Skipped Segment #1: The Funeral. The second and final of Richard Matheson’s contributions to Night Gallery. Neither were of the quality of his TZ work.
- Skipped Segment #2: The Tune in Dan’s Cafe. Meh.
I wonder if you can clarify if this is what I remember seeing as a young boy. At (maybe) the end, some men burst into her home/cabin and see an old lady sitting in (maybe) a rocking chair, and as her forarms rest on the armrest, you see that leaves are growing where her fingers should be. Could this be that show? I only remember seeing this scene (I probably just walked in at the end), and it scared the bejeezus out of me.
Yes, that was this episode!
Scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. Heck, it still creeps me out today. Like you, it was the only episode besides “The Cemetery’ that stayed with me. Purchased the entire series on DVD due to those episodes. Now realize why those are the only two that I remembered. While NG can be fun to watch, just doesn’t have the quality writing of the TZ.
I wish you and I could do a “Siskel vs. Ebert” review of some of these episodes – especially in this case, as I strongly disagree with your assessment here. For me, this is one of few episodes I truly loathe.
Where do I start? The fact that “Green Fingers” uses the piece “Greensleeves” as its incidental music? The poor wig and mustache donned by Cameron Mitchell? His “Foghorn Leghorn” of a Southern accent? The premise that a hand, planted by some horticultural genius would germinate into an entire body? Paging Borgus Weems!
And dare I say it – but Elsa Lanchester’s performance really grated on my nerves. I think Agnes Moorehead would have been a better casting choice. I could envision the sparring between her and Mitchell; a true battle of wills which would have led an underlying tension that this story sorely lacks. And since the ‘resurrected’ Lydia Bowen seemed (at least partially) plant-based, I would think all Mr. Saunders would need is a big ole jug of Roundup.
I still remember this episode. When I was a kid I had a green thumb with plants. The closing line “I can grow anything, even myself ” has always stick with me.