Dr. Max Redford has invited his colleague Dr. Miles Talmadge to his private sanitarium to see the only patient he has there. Dr. T sees a very healthy young man who appears to just be asleep. He turns to speak to Dr. R about the man. When he turns back, the man has become very sickly, emaciated. Dr. R tells him to take another look whereupon the patient is healthy again. The shenanigans continue through a couple more iterations before the patient, John Fearing, jumps up and introduces himself to Dr. T.
Redford has discovered that Fearing has the world’s worst / best case of psychosomatic illness. By giving him suggestions under hypnosis, Redford can cause the symptoms of any sickness to manifest in Fearing’s body.
No, and you can’t make me.
It is not clear what the market is for this ability. Although duplicating certain side effects of E.D medications might provide 4 hours of entertainment.
That evening at dinner, it is clear that Fearing and Redford’s wife Velia (consistently written as Velda in the CC) are infatuated with each other. Redford recognizes this, but prizes his research too much to boot Fearing out of his house. So just as in the atrocious Three’s a Crowd, we have a husband who is allowing his wife to be swept away as he stands by and watches.
The next day, Redford shows off his new trick, producing the symptoms of death in Fearing — no pulse or breath. Again, not sure what the market is for this skill. When he tries to revive Fearing, he discovers he isn’t only mostly dead — this guy is stone cold dead.
Redford is truly remorseful and gathers a team to revive Fearing. But he is too dead. Velia is distraught.
Some time later, Dr. Talmadge discovers what went wrong. Redford was using the wrong post-hypnotic suggestion to revive Fearing. Velia overhears and rushes to the graveyard to try out the new signal.
It plays out as a Tales from the Crypt but without the humor — just like Three’s a Crowd. Unlike that turd, however, this episode works. The actors inhabit their roles perfectly. And these were solid 1960’s actors who probably had a stogie and glass of scotch just out of the frame. Louise Sorel as Velia is a little over the top, but maybe the episode needed that juice.
In all, nothing very original, but very well done.
Post-Post:
- For some reason, it took NBC a year after the pilot aired to get this episode on the air.
- Twilight Zone Legacy: Co-Writer & Co-Director Douglas Heyes directed 9 TZ’s, 2nd most of anyone. Despite a long writing career, he had no TZ scripts filmed.
- Based on the short story by Fritz Leiber, Jr.
I discovered your witty and insightful commentaries when I began watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Many thanks!
Two nights ago I saw that Night Gallery was going to be shown on MeTV—“The Housekeeper” and “The Dead Man” were scheduled. I started to watch “The Housekeeper” and was bored even with Larry Hagman and Jeanette (“Dirty Sally”) Nolan starring. However, I was a bit nervous about watching “The Dead Man”—I remembered it from when I saw it at the tender age of 14–and it was so terrifying that it is still unsettling.
I never did watch “The Dead Man” because I thought each episode of NG was an hour long and it was over when I flipped back to MeTV. I think it was my subconscious that prompted that mistake!
My question about “The Dead Man” is whether anyone really believes Dr. Redford made a genuine mistake or actually set out to commit murder? Because, having seen this episode only once nearly 50 years ago, I STILL can remember that the post-hypnotic suggestion goes 1,2,3–1,2!!!
Was great to me
This episode is as (pleasantly) unsettling today, in my opinion, as it was when it first aired half a century ago. The ghoulish ambient sounds, tense musical score and slow-motion crypt-opening sequence in the final graveyard scene contribute heavily to one of the most horrifying endings that Night Gallery ever had to offer. Too bad they don’t make shows like that anymore.
I was confused by the ending. After Velia gave the proper signal, it seems that John Fearing rose from the dead and killed Dr. Redford – but when Dr. Talmadge got there, Fearing was dead again.
I think it would have been more terrifying if Fearing would have been a zombie reaching out for Velia at the end instead of a corpse with his hands around Redford’s throat.
Nevertheless, it was a good show.
The ending was muddled as well as confusing: Did Fearing emerge from the grave to exact revenge on Dr. Max, or was the doc frightened to death? BTW: The premise of the episode is that the young patient (Fearing) can actually use his mind to not only simulate illness, but can even take it as far as clinical death.
But we see a skeleton (inanimate though supposedly resurrected)’s hand grab Dr. Max. So what are to conclude – even after burial and decomposition, Fearing’s brain was still operative? I mean, there’s a thin line between suspension of belief and implausibility.