Night Gallery - Finnegan's Flight
What an unexpected and outrageous outcome to an episode of
Night Gallery! This features Cameron Mitchell as a master hypnotist in jail for
a B&E, doing an 18 month stretch. He has found the perfect human experiment
in a prison lifer (Burgess Meredith), dying to get out and “be free”. What is
remarkable about this human subject is that through Mitchell’s hypnotism, he’s
able to convince Meredith that cold water is hot and that is so real to him
that his fingers are scalded! Mitchell is able to convince Meredith, in the
harrowing opening sequence of the episode, that his hands are fists of steel…Meredith
commences in punching the concrete wall barrier of the prison until both hands
are broken and he’s pulled away by fellow inmates. Barry Sullivan is the prison
doc who has become astonished by Mitchell’s work, agreeing to let him convince
Meredith that he’s in a jet plane, way up in the sky…so convincing in fact that
Meredith develops physical symptoms of hypoxia, leaving blisters on his face
and deprivation of oxygen!
That there is an actual explosion in the sick bay as Mitchell is unable to talk Meredith into gradually landing the plane safely is quite a lot to absorb…it is a jolt, for sure. All three men in the leads are really good and Meredith as the star-eyed, wide-eyed inmate desperate to be free from the walls while Mitchell sees this test subject as a test run for when he gets out of the slammer is especially [no surprise] excellent. I have to also mention that B-movie creature feature fans will be thrilled to see Kenneth Tobey in the episode, cast as the prison warden not too keen on Sullivan’s leeway with Mitchell. Toying with the human mind, particularly when the test subject is so vulnerable and easily manipulative, is quite dangerous and Tobey sees that even as Sullivan becomes too obsessed with how amazing Mitchell’s hypnotism to see it for himself. Serling wrote this one and I consider it one of the best of the third season. I dug it. Meredith in the best episodes of Night Gallery shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who has seen their fair share of Twilight Zone episodes (for the exception of Mr. Dingle, of course). The premise is quite out there so how you are susceptible to Serling's focus on the mysteries of the mind and how the body responds to it will be up to each viewer. I purchased his bill of goods. 4/5
That there is an actual explosion in the sick bay as Mitchell is unable to talk Meredith into gradually landing the plane safely is quite a lot to absorb…it is a jolt, for sure. All three men in the leads are really good and Meredith as the star-eyed, wide-eyed inmate desperate to be free from the walls while Mitchell sees this test subject as a test run for when he gets out of the slammer is especially [no surprise] excellent. I have to also mention that B-movie creature feature fans will be thrilled to see Kenneth Tobey in the episode, cast as the prison warden not too keen on Sullivan’s leeway with Mitchell. Toying with the human mind, particularly when the test subject is so vulnerable and easily manipulative, is quite dangerous and Tobey sees that even as Sullivan becomes too obsessed with how amazing Mitchell’s hypnotism to see it for himself. Serling wrote this one and I consider it one of the best of the third season. I dug it. Meredith in the best episodes of Night Gallery shouldn’t be shocking to anyone who has seen their fair share of Twilight Zone episodes (for the exception of Mr. Dingle, of course). The premise is quite out there so how you are susceptible to Serling's focus on the mysteries of the mind and how the body responds to it will be up to each viewer. I purchased his bill of goods. 4/5
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