An intriguing title gets half the work done! That's probably what director John Brahm and his crew must have thought and, indeed, "The Four of Us Are Dying" is one of the most enticing and curious episode titles of the entire first season (although on par with "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street") and perhaps even the full series. Obviously this doesn't mean that it's also one of the greatest episodes of the season/series, but nevertheless it's another very entertaining one with a good pace and a fair share of suspense. Pretty much every single installment in "The Twilight Zone" requires a healthy dose suspension of disbelief, but this one right here demands an extreme lot of it. The plot introduces small time crook Arch Hammer; a man with the incredible (and impossible) capacity to change his face! He only has to look at someone's picture or concentrate real hard and his frontispiece switches! Naturally he uses this unique talent to get what he wants, like picking in the girlfriend of a recently deceased musician or extorting a mafia boss. But when he runs into a dark alley in order to escape from a few assailants, he takes on the wrong face. The face of Andy Marshak, a man who broke his father's heart and has retaliation awaiting him. The script never bothers to clarify where Arch's unique gift originates from, and I'm sure you could do more useful stuff with this talent rather than toying with the feelings of a nightclub singer or stealing small cash from the mob? Still, the script of "The Four of Us Are Dying" is quite compelling and the twist-ending is both unpredictable and effectively harsh. The cool title properly makes sense during the climax, in fact! John Brahm's direction is surefooted and skilled as always. I said it before and I'll repeat it forever, but Brahm is truly one of the most underrated directors of the 40s-50s eras.
Review of The Four of Us Are Dying
