According to Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour, “Whisper” is among the best scripts Night Gallery ever produced.
Then who is to blame for the piece of shit as it aired? Serling had long ago had his power in the series usurped. Director Jeannot Szwarc? Certainly not, he went on to direct Jaws 2, and Somewhere in Time. Maybe the answer is on one of the pages hidden by Google Books.
Sally Field allows spirits to enter her body.
Dean Stockwell has a ridiculous afro.
There is a lot of talking directly to the camera.
I watched this episode twice, so I feel like I’ve done my part. Really an awful experience.
Post-Post:
- Twilight Zone Legacy: Dean Stockwell was in A Quality of Mercy where he played a Japanese Soldier.
- This 3rd season episode oddly appears in the 1st season collection, but it is almost bad enough to put me off marching 4th into the 2nd season.
When someone uses the put down: “…has a ridiculous afro” in their review…you can disregard what they are commenting on. This was really a fine episode. Full stop.
Upon further examination, more of a perm, I guess. Someday I’ll give these another viewing.
In regards to Dean Stockwell’s “hairdo”, let me assure you that permed look was very fashion-forward in the 70’s. As for the episode – I think a backstory on how and when Irene received “the gift” is sorely lacking. Sally Field does a very commendable job here: she would later tackle the role of schizophrenic “Sybil” in the made-for-tv movie three years later (this aired in 1973), to critical acclaim.
Yes, the “fourth wall” breaks are a little tedious – it would have worked better if Stockwell merely provided voiceover narration, but the love story between the two actors feels genuine and their chemistry, impressive. The scene where Irene (channelling a woman whose baby was stillborn) asks Charlie to properly bury their child is both haunting and visceral….the ending particularly tragic, though we are left to surmise on our own the aftermath of the medium transformed into the personality of the ‘spirits’ who inhabit her felt anticlimactic, though no less somber.
I saw this couple yrs before started watching quantum leap.now can’t find it .that’s Dean’s naturally curly hair .he was born with that gorgeous out of control curly hair .I always liked him but started looking for his movies , TV stuff since marathoning quantum leap on Roku channel .