This is
the first time that I’m writing up a trip to the Canton Palace Theater for the horror
dude blog, but it won’t be the last. The Palace is one of my favorite places to
watch movies and has a wonderful history. Opened in 1926 the Palace has a lot
going for it, including still having its original pipe organ. Nothing like
seeing a classic silent movie accompanied with live music! If you live in or
near Canton Ohio you should really check them out. Their website is http://www.cantonpalacetheatre.org/
I’ve
attended many great events, but this is the first Twilight Zone Fest that I’ve
attended (might be the first time they have done one). They showed four
episodes of the classic series with a break after the first two for trips to
the concession stand and the prize raffles. I didn’t win any prizes, but I did
get some candy and soda at the concession stand. Not that anyone cares about
that. Let’s talk about what they showed.
The first
of the night was The Fear. Here we have a city girl who has escaped to an
isolated mountain cabin after having a nervous breakdown. The episode starts
off with a police officer stopping by to check up on the woman, Charlotte,
after she was heard mentioning some strange lights she saw by her cabin. She is
a bit of a snob to the officer but as he is getting ready to leave there is a
large flash of light. Things start to happen and soon they are faced with the
threat of a giant alien who seems to be toying with them. But this is the
Twilight Zone so of course everything isn’t what it seems to be.
This is a
decent episode that I don’t remember ever seeing before, but I’ve seen
similarly themed episodes. No spoilers but if you are a fan I’m sure like me
you can think of at least one famous example. What does stand out is the cast.
Here we have Peter Mark Richman of Friday the 13th part VIII infamy
as the police officer, Franklin. But the real treat was seeing Roger Corman
favorite Hazel Court on screen as Charlotte. She is awesome in most everything
that I’ve seen her in and this is no different. Not a bad way to start the evening.
The next
episode up was Nick of Time. This is my second favorite Twilight Zone episode
to feature William Shatner! Here he plays a newlywed who is on his honeymoon.
He and his wife have car problems and end up in a diner waiting for the repair
to be finished. While there they find this little fortune telling machine with
a devil’s head mounted on a spring. One of those novelty things that you just
don’t see anymore. Put a penny in and it dispenses a card that will answer a
yes or no question. This being the Twilight Zone of course the thing seems to
be accurate! Soon Don, Shatner’s character, and his wife are caught up in
letting the machine dictate their actions. Well Don is at least. His wife tries
to talk some sense into him.
I’ve seen
this one before and I’ve always thought it was a good. Not classic like having
a gremlin tearing up your plane, but still good. This episode was also penned
by the legendary Richard Matheson so it isn’t any surprise that the dialogue is
sharp and the story has a great ending that is both happy and sad. We only get
a bit of the “Shatner” acting that he later became famous for. Honestly people
forget that he was a solid actor that did a lot of work pre-Star Trek. The lights
came up after this one and it was time for intermission.
After
fortifying myself with some Good and Plenty as well as a Diet Coke I found my
seat and was ready to watch Mr. Dingle, the Strong. Here Burgess Meredith plays
a failed vacuum salesman who is given super strength by some aliens as a test.
He goes from a zero to a hero overnight. Being a simple man he uses his
strength to show off and do tricks, which is what the aliens expected from him.
They eventually take his strength away, but don’t worry he is attractive to all
sorts of visitors due to being totally unremarkable and below average. The
episode ends with Dingle being tested again.
This was
the weakest of the bunch. Similar to Shatner in Nick of Time this isn’t the
Twilight Zone episode that Meredith is famous for. It is weak in comparison to
that classic. Here Meredith barely seems to be putting any effort into his
performance and phones in his normal mild mannered weak character. The
highlight for me was the little cheer that went up in the audience when Don
Rickles popped on screen as one of the bar patrons that tortured poor Dingle
before he got his strength. I dig the respect given to a legend! I also had a
super nerdy moment when I recognized Douglas Spencer as one of the aliens as
being everyone’s favorite newspaperman in the original Thing.
One more
to go before it was time to pack it up and head home. They saved a classic for
last with Eye of the Beholder batting clean-up. Even the most casual fan of the
Twilight Zone probably recognizes the “shocking” ending to this one. The
episode follows a woman with her face wrapped in bandages. She is apparently
horrible to look at and is in the hospital for one last attempt to treat her disfigurement.
If it fails she will have to live in a settlement with the other disabled
people. The fact that all of the other characters, doctors, nurses, orderlies,
etc. are only seen in shadows should let you in on something. The bandages come
off and she is beautiful, but also ugly to everyone else who look like pig people!
Get it Eye of the Beholder?
Even
having seen this one many times I still enjoy it. It has a clever twist ending
and the makeup of the “normal” looking human beings is iconic. There is also
the Serling touch, he wrote this one, of making the society in which this
happens have a totalitarian feel to it. The loss of freedom and individuality
were reoccurring themes in many of the episodes he wrote. I’ve also always
found it ironic that they used one actress for the performance under the bandages
but then used Donna Douglas, who is admittedly stunning, after they come off.
Given the point of the episode isn’t that a little hypocritical? Or maybe that
was the point.
This was a
great night out at the Palace Theater. I’ve attended many events there and have
a couple more planned for October. I feel very lucky to have such a great historic
theater that is still in the business of showing movies as well as hosting
special events like this. I can’t wait for the next one!
© Copyright 2017 John Shatzer
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