The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Long Distance Call (1961) User Reviews

Dramatic, Sinister and Frightening

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 17 June 2018]

The five year-old boy Billy is the pride and joy of his grandmother and they are attached to each other. On his birthday party, she gives a toy telephone to him and tells that he can talk to her whenever he wants. Out of the blue, she becomes delusional and dies. Billy misses his grandmother and uses the toy telephone to talk to her. His mother Sylvia becomes concerned with his fantasy. When Sylvia and her husband Chris Bayles return from the funeral, they meet a neighbor waiting for them and he explains that he had almost hit the boy on the road when Billy ran out in front of his car. Further, he tells that Billy told that someone asked him to do it. When Sylvia takes the telephone from Billy during the night, she hears the voice of her mother-in-law and Billy tries to drown himself to be with his Grandma. What will they do?

"Long Distance Call" is a dramatic, sinister and frightening episode of "The Twilight Zone". The plot is really scary with great performance of Billy "Will Robinson" Mumy very young. The conclusion is heartbreaking, with Chris talking to a toy telephone and begging his mother to give Billy back is desperation. And scary with the boy reviving. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Telefonema Interurbano" ("Long Distance Call")

A special telephone

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 April 2014]

This was one of the most memorable Twilight Zone stories from my youth. I guarantee you see it and you will never be able to forget this story.

Young Billy Mumy, future Will Robinson, is all but five years old and is the center of his grandmother's world. Grandma Lili Darvas lives with her son Phillip Abbott and his wife Patricia Smith. As Abbott explains he had two older brothers who died before he was born and you can see that Darvas was a well meaning, but clinging sort. Her grandson has allowed her to live again as a surrogate mother, something his real mother properly resents and rightly so.

Darvas gives Mumy a toy telephone and promises they will be able to communicate forever. That gets put to the test after Darvas dies and the young boy is talking to his grandmother from beyond the grave.

After that it's a struggle for possession of his spirit and soul between his living parents and dead grandmother.

Just seeing it again brought back vivid memories of Phillip Abbott trying to reach and reason with his dead mother. For why he's doing that you have to see this excellent Twilight Zone episode.

"You can always talk to Grandma, even when she's not here..."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 28 April 2010]

In some ways, this episode reminds me of my own grandmother, who spoke of dying almost from the time I can remember her. She lived with my family - mother, father and sister, or I should say, we lived with her in the home she built. When I was Billy Mumy's age in the show, my grandmother would have been sixty two, which about parallels the characters in the story. For all of my 'babci' contemplating her demise at any minute, she managed to hang on until the age of ninety eight. I don't use a telephone to talk to her every now and then, but I do ask for her help in watching over my family and keeping things safe for my kids and grandkids. That spiritual element may come across as part of the supernatural with this installment of The Twilight Zone, but for anyone seeking help from a higher power, it's comforting to know there's someone on the other side to weigh in with a favorable vote.

"Long Distance Call" is a poignant story, one that examines a variety of issues from a mother's resentment against a woman stealing away her son in marriage, to reliving one's youth through a surrogate child. It's true there's almost a creepiness to the way Grandma Bayles interacts with her grandson, with those suspect glances exchanged between young Billy's parents. It leads to that 'uh-oh' moment when Billy considers he might want to go and stay with her after she's passed on. Writers Charles Beaumont and Bill Idelson tread a fine line for the 1960's in tackling a subject like child suicide, which seems daring even today some fifty years later.

As was often the case, Rod Serling would eventually recycle the theme introduced here, with that of a disembodied voice on a phone in a fifth season episode titled 'Night Call'. That one plays for shivers more so than the one here, set as it is within the confines of an average suburban home. In either case, one can readily come to the conclusion that in The Twilight Zone, there's no such thing as a wrong number.

Subtle, Beautifully Acted Episode

[chrstphrtully · 10/10 · 28 July 2007]

Just before dying, an old woman gives her grandson a toy telephone for his birthday, with which the boy can seemingly speak to her from beyond the grave. This episode is a prime example of how the series could deal in depth with deeply human issues through the veil of science fiction in a remarkably frank and effective manner.

At the same time the episode creates a somewhat creepy atmosphere (owing to the brooding presence of the grandmother over the house), it simultaneously addresses the complex web of familial relationships -- the tensions between parents and their children-in-law, the attachment children find for their grandparents, and the need to deal with familial loss. The remarkably intuitive script by Beaumont and Idelson, matched by wonderful performances by the entire case (Philip Abbott as the father, in particular, is the standout), and the realistic setting of this story drives the message home -- the need to cut ties between generations.

The only small downside to this episode is the videotape look, which makes it look more like a soap opera. In the end, it doesn't matter, as the script and the performances carry this to the highest levels reached by the series -- indeed, that any half-hour show can reach.

These are the days of miracle and wonder, this is the long distance call...

[Anonymous_Maxine · 10/10 · 8 July 2008]

At the time of this writing there is only one other IMDb reviewer who has commented on this episode, and he makes a lot of good points about how strangely effective this episode is in approaching very deep and emotionally powerful elements of human life. The show is mostly about the relationship between a young boy and his grandmother, who is aging and knows that any day now she will pass away.

She is staying with her son and his wife, and the parents attempt to shield the boy from directly acknowledging the fact that grandma is going to die soon, but the grandmother knows it will happen and, because the boy fills her with happiness and a sense of lifelong fulfillment, she wants to acknowledge her own passing before it happens so that no one in the family afterwards suffers from that awful feeling of never having been able to say goodbye.

After watching this show, you may find it arguable whether it is better to never have been able to say goodbye, or to actually come right out and acknowledge impending death and say your goodbyes to a loved one who is just about to pass. This has never happened to me, but I can't imagine a more emotionally torturous situation than having to say goodbye to someone like that.

I have to say that the performance of Bill Mumy as the young Billy stole the show, the kid was brilliant. The show approaches the very complex issues that married couples deal with in modern America, such as conflicting views of how to raise a child, the relationships with in-laws, and of course, death.

But most of all, there is an amazingly palpable presence of the grandmother, even after she has died, and not just because Billy spends so much of the second half of the show on the phone with her. His near death experience gives a surprisingly convincing feeling of her waiting just on the other side, desperate to take her biggest source of happiness with her to the twilight zone and beyond, but ultimately deciding to leave him behind to have a full life. Serious but entertaining, this one has the pleasant effect of leaving you with an urge to really appreciate the ones you love...

Surprisingly sinister !

[darrenpearce111 · 6/10 · 4 January 2014]

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.

Definite creep factor

[Calicodreamin · 8/10 · 7 June 2021]

This episode did a great job of conveying a creep factor with minimal effects, basically just a kid talking into a phone. The storyline was well developed and the characters were well acted. This episode had the right vibe.

Get off the phone, Grandma!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 14 February 2019]

If nothing else, this episode at least gave me some good ideas for a name and an album theme in case I would ever start a metal band! I'd name us "Dead Grandmother" and write a whole bunch of songs about how young children deal with their first real encounter with death. Is there something wrong with me? Probably, yes!

Due to its themes, "Long Distance Call" is automatically a lot eerier and more unsettling than most of its fellow "Twilight Zone" episodes. There's something naturally sinister about the bond between an elderly, dying person and a healthy young child. I always fear that old folks want to own and absorb the purity and innocence of children. That's not what "Long Distance Call" is about, however. Grandma Bayles disregards her own son and literally ignores her daughter-in-law, but she's absolutely fond of her grandson Billy. For his fifth birthday, she gives him a toy telephone and the message that Billy will always be able to talk to her. When Grandma passes away the next day, the parents discover that little Billy actually does still talk to her via the toy telephone. What a cheap and easy alternative for babysitting, you'd think, but things become a bit disturbing when Grandma, from beyond the grave, urges her grandson to commit suicide and join her.

I disagree with several other viewers around here who claim that the episode is implausible because no loving grandmother would ever want her grandchild to die. Pay attention to the dialogues between Chris and Sylvia, in which he clarifies that grandma suffered a lot in life. She lost two of her own children. She's angry with Chris because he survived and detests Sylvia because she took away her only remaining son. She's an embittered and selfish woman and wants to keep Billy exclusively to herself. "Long Distance Call" is a very moody and atmospheric tale, with a powerfully creepy performance by the Hungarian born Lily Darvas as the grandmother. Although she only appears in the intro sequence, you feel like she's definitely present throughout the full episode; talking on the phone and waiting on the edge of life and death to reach out for little Billy. Yikes!

I didn't like it as much as most people

[ericstevenson · 8/10 · 29 July 2018]

Here we have a grandmother who dies shortly after her grandson turns 5. She gave him a toy telephone for his birthday. After she dies, she communicates with him from the dead and wants him to join her. That is, for him to die too. I didn't think this was that great an episode as most people think. I thought it was kind of psychotic because she seriously wanted a 5 year old to die?!

The acting is still great. Did the mom really break the phone? It looked fine to me. The pacing is still rather nice. I had heard of this episode and it was nothing like I expected. It's a little predictable, but good for the most part. ***

Grandma is a real jerk here!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 September 2019]

This is the first of three appearances by young Billy Mumy on "The Twilight Zone"....as well as the sixth of six episodes which were videotaped. The most famous of Mumy's appearances was where he was a monster with incredible psychic powers...and he terrorized all those around him. Here, however, he's a much more benign character!

When the story begins, five year-old Billy is having a birthday dinner with his parents and grandma. Grandma is deathly ill and shortly after giving the boy a toy phone, she dies. However, her will is apparently quite strong as she begins calling the boy on his phone....and giving him instructions to off himself so he can join her!

This is a fair episode of the series--neither a particularly good one nor a bad one. The story offers few surprises but the acting is decent. An episode that is hardly a must-see....but one that is intelligently written and enjoyable.

Pretty disturbing

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 5 October 2021]

Long Distance Call has got to be one of the most disturbing Twilight Zone episodes ever, and shows how the series was not afraid to deal with depressing subjects like the inevitable end of someone's life. The episode is also the last of around 6 episodes to be video taped, which is why it has a grainier and older look to it, which in my opinion makes it that much more creepy. The plot is about a little kid named Billy Bayles (Billy Mumy), and today is his birthday. His beloved grandmother arrives at his house to present to him a gift: a toy phone. Immediately after, his grandmother becomes ill and retires to a bedroom. She dies shortly after. Being only 5 years old, Billy doesn't really understand the concept of death being permanent, so he's not as upset as he should be. He honors his grandmother's memory by playing with the phone she gave him. Strangely, Billy tells his father Chris (Philip Abbott) that his grandmother is talking to him on the phone from beyond the grave. Soon, strange things begin happening and it appears the phone is adversely affecting Billy's behavior, such as when he almost gets hit by a car one afternoon and tells his terrified mother the phone told him to step in front of it. Shortly after, Billy's mother decides she has to put her foot down and find out who her son is talking to all the time. She sneaks behind him and takes the phone from him, and is shocked to hear what sounds like breathing on the other side. Billy is so sad that his mother tried to take his phone away that he runs outside and tries to drown himself in a pond. A group of paramedics arrive to try and revive Billy, but are unable to. Facing the horrible situation no parent ever wants to face, Billy's father picks up the toy phone and pleads with his dead mother to give him his son back. He tells her when she was at his birthday party, she thought of Billy as her own son and how he made her extremely happy. If she really does love Billy, she won't let him die. By the time Chris is done talking, Billy miraculously comes back to life. When I said this episode is disturbing, I wasn't kidding. It is essentially about a dead woman trying to convince her grandson to commit suicide so they can be together again. While I typically find Billy Mumy obnoxious, he does a good job in this episode. He thinks that maybe by talking to his grandmother on the phone, she'll come back, but we never actually hear what she's telling him during their conversations. It's also disturbing knowing that Billy's parents aren't able to do anything about his grandmother urging him to kill himself. This means that there is a slight plot hole here because if the grandmother really did love Billy, why does she want him to die? I know it's so that she can see him again, but she already has an eternity to spend in death anyway. Either way you look at it, Long Distance Call is (along with Living Doll) one of the creepiest things shown on the Twilight Zone, and shows that the series didn't back down from exploring morbid topics.

Last of the Videotaped Episodes

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

In "Long Distance Call" a boy is gifted a telephone that allows him to communicate with his dead grandmother. The boy soons starts attempting to kill himself in order to reunite with his favorite relative, per her instructions.

This episode took a much darker twist in the second half than I anticipated. Child drowning seems pretty intense for a 60's TV show.

I'm glad I'm through with the videotaped episodes because I still think they look like garbage. One of the reasons The Twilight Zone still holds up today is because of its great cinematography but this string of episodes isn't included in that. At least the story here is fairly interesting.

What about love?

[l-perez-dancer · 1/10 · 8 April 2018]

As a child, I was very close to my grandmother, so after watching this episode I must ask what loving grandmother would try to seduce her grandson child to commit suicide? Really???

Don't Answer The Phone

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 27 October 2014]

Bill Mumy plays Billy Sayles, a little boy who has just celebrated his birthday, attended by his parents(Philip Abbott & Patricia Smith) and ailing grandma, whom he loves dearly, and she in turn loves him perhaps too much, because she soon dies, and somehow uses the toy telephone she gave him for a present to communicate with Billy, and seems to be encouraging him to join her on the other side at the earliest opportunity and by any means necessary... Last of the videotaped episodes once again is worse off for it, but the fine acting and frightening, even disturbing premise more than make up for it, resulting in well-remembered episode.

Don't Answer That!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 19 November 2008]

A narrow minded, dying grandmother attends the birthday party of her five year old grandson. She is obsessive and rather rude to her own son. We find out later why this is. She also resents her daughter in law for taking the son away. After the party she has a heart attack and soon dies. The present she has give her grandson is a toy telephone. She tells him that he can call her on it anytime he wishes. Of course, this being a Twilight Zone episode, he begins to talk to her from the grave. Not only that, she wants the little boy to join her. The parents are frightened and bewildered with these circumstances. The nice thing about this story is the human element which works very well.

The act of faith and a telephone

[AvionPrince16 · 6/10 · 6 May 2023]

So yeah the episode was kind of interesting but it was a little bit rushed in my opinion in term of plot and its pretty superficial and kind of predictable. The death of the grand ma trigger some weird event with the telephone but the grand ma look a little bit scary: she wanted to took the boy? And make him her own son? It was a little bit scary in term of intention but she finally let live the boy and made the parents go into the superstition of the telephone who symbolize the grand ma. It was kind of interesting but kind of classic anyway. I found the mise en scene quite good but not really impactful sadly. But it was a nice episode about death, son and grand ma and the desire to have a son and to lose a son. Nice.

More Than Meets the Ear

[cstotlar-1 · 10/10 · 25 November 2010]

I saw this when it first appeared back in the early '60s and it had the entire family riveted to the set. Back in those days, there weren't any doom-ridden voice-overs with the endless (and sometimes pointless) morals that inevitably followed. It was a beautifully thought-out episode with three-dimensional characters and their unexpected interactions, The grandmother who gave her grandson the toy phone was unlikeable to begin with, selfish and completely wrapped up in herself. The father had all the answers, none of them right and the wife was quite upset, of course. I particularly enjoyed the part where she grabs the phone from her son and thinks she might have heard something from the other side... The ending could have benefited from some tidying up, perhaps and something less histrionic but please remember I'm recalling something from a long time back. I haven't seen it since. That's precisely how affecting it was!

Curtis Stotlar

Not the best call to make

[gregorycanfield · 6/10 · 14 August 2022]

This could have been a better episode, except for two factors. First, it was filmed on video tape, which gave it a cheap, unappealing look. Second, the casting of some unlikeable, unappealing actors. Billy Mumy was the greatest child actor of all time. However, even Billy's participation adds only so much. Philip Abbott was acceptable as the father. Nothing more. The unlikeable, unappealing actors are, specifically, the mother and grandmother. Patricia Smith, as the mother, had a facial expression that never changed. It would have been better if her expression had changed. Lili Darvis, as the grandmother, was the biggest flop of all. She was both unlikeable and ineffectual in the part. The story of the boy talking to his dead grandmother on a toy telephone is creepy. Different actresses as the mother and grandmother might have made a big difference. Billy Mumy couldn't carry the whole show by himself.

A far cry from The FBI

[tforbes-2 · 10/10 · 4 July 2009]

"Long Distance Call" is one of the rare videotaped episodes from "The Twilight Zone." Some people dislike this quality, but this took place 49 years ago (1960). IMO, people should cut these episodes slack.

And you can thank the late James Aubrey for this sad situation. He ordered this episode and some others to be taped, in order to contain costs. He no more valued this series than he did other quality shows.

And that is a fact.

That said, this episode has excellent performances. Philip Abbott is a far cry from his role as Assistant Director Arthur Ward in "The FBI," since he shows a much larger emotional range. He gives the most powerful performance here. Lili Darvas gives a creepy performance as the Grandmother, whom Billy Mumy's character adores. He also shines, even at age 6.

Clearly one of the best episodes from the series!

Letting go is never easy

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 6 October 2017]

Little boy Billy Bayles (a fine and engaging portrayal by Bill Mumy) receives a toy telephone as a gift from his beloved grandmother (an excellent performance by Lili Darvas), who dies shortly thereafter. However, Billy continues to speak to his grandmother over the phone.

Director James Sheldon relates intriguing story at a steady pace and ably crafts a delicate atmosphere that's in equal degrees sinister and melancholy. The thoughtful script by Charles Beaumont and Bill Idelson delivers a poignant central message on death, loss, mortality, and the difficulty in letting go. Moreover, there are sturdy acting contributions from Patricia Smith as Billy's concerned mother Sylvia, Philip Abbott as pragmatic father Chris, and Reid Hammond as upset motorist Mr. Peterson. A touching show.

Rotten.

[bombersflyup · 2/10 · 10 September 2019]

Long Distance Call is one twisted and messed up episode. Stop talking gibberish Serling and get off the screen! Patricia Smith's good as Sylvia, the rest of the acting's awful. Some of the worst child acting I've ever seen.

The Twilight Zone - Long Distance Call

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 1 January 2015]

I think the "videotaped" series of Twilight Zone episodes might have been raped of their ability to truly deliver beyond the restrictions of "what appears before a live camera" as if watching something on a stage setting, however, the stories and performances of many of them were so good that I was often able to look past the limitations placed on those who had to deal with the inferior television format. The "Long Distance Call" episode is one of the best (if not the best; although I thought "Static" and "The Silence" were really both good as well) within the videotape format and deals with the loss of a parent and potential suicide of a child at the urging of the spirit of his grandmother through the use of a toy telephone. The use of a device to channel communication between the living and the dead really fascinates me; so apply this to the influence a grandmother (who never quite recovered from the loss of her son to his wife) over her beloved grandson, and you have quite a gripping Twilight Zone tale. The parents learning of their son's attempted suicide by leaping in front of a neighbor's car, the long conversations between him and grandmother across the toy phone she bought him for his birthday, and the ultimate near-drowning in the pool are potent scenes. One that really stood out to me was the grandmother's dying and how she claimed hold over her grandson, proclaiming that she may have lost her son but desiring his child to be with her after death…to join her, that yearning, accompanies her into the afterlife and so she is motivated to urge him into dying, too. Despite the format's handcuffing them, those involved in the production/direction didn't allow this to deter them from delivering a top notch episode. Good performances, a clear concern and worry etched realistically on the faces of the parents, and the pleas to the dearly departed to allow them to keep their son; "Long Distance Call" authenticates the helpless feeling that could exist if a loved one from beyond the grave (with a significant relationship with their child) was slowly talking a child into something quite horrible. Pretty much any other show with a finale that has a grown adult man talking into a toy phone to a mother that had passed away would probably leave the viewer rolling their eyes or considering what they were seeing positively too silly to take seriously, but The Twilight Zone pulled it off without a hitch. And the desperation in a father's voice towards his mother to allow him to hold onto his boy due to his not even being able to truly live a fulfilled life really hits home. Strong episode in the long-running series.Good work by Philip Abbott and Patricia Smith as the Bayles parents, with Lili Darvas using her short time to explain to us her attachment to young Billy Mumy (before his most memorable Twilight Zone performance in "It's a Good Life") and resistance towards having to pass on.

Disturbing, frightening and spooky

[salmasakr-82890 · 8/10 · 11 September 2023]

Extraordinary episode with some serious goosebumps.

At first, it might seem sentimental and sad, until the boy's first attempt of suicide hits you with no warning. Couldn't agree with the mother when she said their close relationship wasn't the right thing to do, but later on I quite agree that it shouldn't have gone that far.

Whenever I suggest "The twilight zone" for any of my acquaintances I always describe it as a warmly horrified TV Show, but this one here isn't warm at all, this is pure horror. Starting from the acting that was unique compared to other episodes, aside to the music and the plot. All these factors worked their way on to create this specific vibe that no one can never forget once they watch "long distance call".

There's no-one quite like grandma.

[BA_Harrison · 9/10 · 10 March 2022]

Having thus far presented more duds than gems in Season 2, Rod Serling pulls a corker out of the bag with Long Distance Call, a genuinely creepy tale about a old lady whose obsessive love for her grandson extends beyond the grave.

Shortly before carking it, doting Grandma Bayles (Lili Darva) gives little Billy (Billy Mumy) a special birthday gift, a toy telephone that she tells him will enable him to talk to her 'even when she has gone'. Sure enough, after the old woman dies, Billy begins to hold conversations with her over the phone, much to the concern of his mother Sylvia (Patricia Smith).

Matters become more serious when grandma asks Billy to come and stay with her, the young boy following her instructions to throw himself in front of a car, and, when that fails, drown himself in a pond.

As medics fight to save the lad's life, his father Chris (Philip Abbott) picks up the toy phone and tells his mother that if she really loves Billy, she must give him back...

With a genuinely unsettling vibe, and sterling performances all round, this is easily one of the most effective stories of season two and could only have been better had it not been one of the handful of episodes that were recorded on videotape.

Keeping with the theme of death, those with a morbid fascination will be interested to know that Jenny Maxwell, who played Billy's pretty babysitter Shirley, was shot and killed in 1981 during an alleged botched armed robbery (according to reports, half of her head was blown away). The case remains unsolved.

Love across the generations and horizons...

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 23 April 2019]

Profound or selfish?

One must decide through their own instincts whether or not grandmother Lili Darvas is being vindictive or just lonely when she dies on her beloved grandson Billy Mumy's fifth birthday. For his birthday, she presents him with a toy telephone and after she quietly passes away after declaring that he is her son, Mumy begins to claim that he's talking to her on the phone every time he is left alone with it. Parents Philip Abbott (her only surviving child) and Patricia Smith (the daughter-in-law she is kind to but claim stole her son from her on her deathbed) are concerned when Mumy is nearly killed running out into the street. An accident with the phone later leaves Billy fighting for his life and Abbott must put aside his feelings of reality and confront the toy phone that seems to have a life of his own.

This is a complex episode in many ways, touching because it shows the love between a little boy and his grandmother which is genuine. When Mumy declares that he wants to join his grandmother, you can almost believe that he is begging to die to be with her. Parents obviously see things in a different sense than children do, and it takes the surviving son to reach back to his memories of his mother having lost two children to understand why she would want her grandson to join her on the other side. Darvas is not presented as nasty in anyway, completely loving but obviously feeling that she lost a part of herself when her son chose a wife.

This has the potential of Gothic melodrama although presented in the current time of when this was made. It is one of a handful of videotaped episodes from season two, appropriate with its themes, and one that any viewer who has a profound memory of a lost grandparent from their childhood can relate to.