Long Distance Call
- Episode aired Mar 31, 1961
- TV-PG
- 25m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.A toy telephone becomes the link between a young boy and his dead grandmother.
Bill Mumy
- Billy Bayles
- (as Billy Mumy)
Arch Johnson
- Fireman
- (uncredited)
Robert McCord
- 1st Fireman
- (uncredited)
Jutta Parr
- Nurse
- (uncredited)
Rod Serling
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- …
James Turley
- 2nd Fireman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original script called for 6-year-old Bill Mumy's character to be found floating face down in the decorative pond behind the house. However, the child actor's mother refused to allow her son to participate in a drowning scene. Director James Sheldon modified the shot to show only the father reaching into the pond to pull Billy out, carefully filmed to exclude having to show the boy. Says Mumy, "I wanted to do it. I was a very good swimmer, but Mom was terrified I'd get some weird ideas about suicide if I did."
- Quotes
[closing narration]
Narrator: A toy telephone, an act of faith, a set of improbable circumstances, all combine to probe a mystery, to fathom a depth, to send a facet of light into a dark after-region, to be believed or disbelieved, depending on your frame of reference. A fact or a fantasy, a substance or a shadow - but all of it very much a part of The Twilight Zone.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: Long Distance Call (2021)
Featured review
Surprisingly sinister !
Expect a nice heart-warming little story about love between a boy and his grandma and you're in for a nasty surprise. This and 'Night Calls' both seem very unlike TZ, more the 'Midnight Zone'. Early on it seems very sad that Grandma Bayles (Lilli Darvas) expects to die soon and does so after giving the birthday gift of a toy phone to little grandson Billy (Bill Mumy). She says that Billy will always be able to talk to her. What transpires is rather creepy.
Lilli Darvas was obviously an actress of some stature. Coming from Hungary (even in the all-American TZ a character like this has to originate from Gothic old Eastern Europe with accent) she starred in a great range of roles on stage working for the legendary German director-producer Max Reinhardt.
Here she goes from making Grandma Bayles seem kind enough (though acting almost oblivious to the boy's parents) to starting to reveal her true motives on her death bed.
Creepy! Not a TZ that I like.
Lilli Darvas was obviously an actress of some stature. Coming from Hungary (even in the all-American TZ a character like this has to originate from Gothic old Eastern Europe with accent) she starred in a great range of roles on stage working for the legendary German director-producer Max Reinhardt.
Here she goes from making Grandma Bayles seem kind enough (though acting almost oblivious to the boy's parents) to starting to reveal her true motives on her death bed.
Creepy! Not a TZ that I like.
helpful•142
- darrenpearce111
- Jan 4, 2014
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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