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Reviews
The Gallant Hours (1960)
A study of the character of command
A war film without action makes this picture almost unique. The message is that wars are fought with character as much as gun fire. Cagney's performance is subtle and deeply felt. One scene in particular in the final half hour should be watched carefully: a 45-second shot of Cagney sitting at his desk with a cup of coffee as the consequences of his decision run through his mind in the form of off-screen battle sounds. The camera patiently draws in on his face, as his expression grown more grim. Cagney's expression and eyes have a power that burns through the screen like a magnificent still life summing up the enormous responsibility of command. Also, the choral music throughout adds a great weight and sense of secular reverence to the tone of the film. In a way, "Gallant Hours" is comparable to "Command Decision," in that it takes us, as one other viewer put it, behind the scenes of battle.
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse: The Time Element (1958)
First Twilight Zone
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone was effectively born in this episode of the Desilu PLayhouse. The story embodied the essences of the Twilight Zone concept and was first aired as a free standing episode in the Desilu anthology series. The story concern a man, Peter Jensen (William Bendix), who goes to a psychiatrist (Martin Balsam). He's worried about a dream he's been having which he insists is real. In a series of flashbacks, we learn that he imagines he wakes up in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 6, 1941. Since he has a 1958 perspective, he knows what will happen the next morning. When he tries to warn people, he is regarded as crazy. The next morning the planes come in strafing and he is killed. From the flashbacks, the story Returns to the psychiatrist's office where the Dr. now finds himself alone and perplexed. He goes down to a neighborhood bar and notices a photo of his patient next to the cash register. He asks who the man is, and the bar tender says he is Peter Jensen and that he was killed at Pearl Harbor in 1941. It remain perhaps the best and most startling of all the Twilight Zone stories, and contains a fascinating dilemma: If a man in 1958 goes back in time to 1941 and is killed, how can he exist in 1959? Unfortunately, this seminal TV play has never been included in any of the various Twilight Zone DVD collections that have come out.