Noisy nautical nut Roswell G. Flemington (John McGiver) joins Horace Ford (Season 4, Episode 15) and McNulty (Episode 4, Season 5) on my short list of Twilight Zone characters so irritating and obnoxious that I doubt I will ever watch their episodes again.
Roswell is the owner of a successful model ship company; he runs a tight ship, so tight that it's a wonder that anyone puts up with his insensitive boorish behaviour. Roswell's wife (Penny Singleton) has finally had enough of him and packs her bags, leaving him to listen to his sea battle sound effects records all by himself.
One night, Roswell is awoken by the ear-splitting sound of water... dripping from a tap. Other normally bearable noises become a deafening cacophony for the man. A visit to a psychiatrist convinces Roswell that his condition can be cured by mind over matter; sure enough, by concentrating, he is able to blot out the sound, but finds himself in a world of silence instead.
Director Richard Donner (The Omen, Superman The Movie, Lethal Weapon) proved to me that he could handle comedy with Scrooged (1988), but back in '64 he still had a lot to learn about making his audience chuckle: this episode of The Twilight Zone is even less likely to generate laughs than his previous awful effort, From Agnes - with Love (Season 5, Episode 20), which is saying something.
1/10.
Roswell is the owner of a successful model ship company; he runs a tight ship, so tight that it's a wonder that anyone puts up with his insensitive boorish behaviour. Roswell's wife (Penny Singleton) has finally had enough of him and packs her bags, leaving him to listen to his sea battle sound effects records all by himself.
One night, Roswell is awoken by the ear-splitting sound of water... dripping from a tap. Other normally bearable noises become a deafening cacophony for the man. A visit to a psychiatrist convinces Roswell that his condition can be cured by mind over matter; sure enough, by concentrating, he is able to blot out the sound, but finds himself in a world of silence instead.
Director Richard Donner (The Omen, Superman The Movie, Lethal Weapon) proved to me that he could handle comedy with Scrooged (1988), but back in '64 he still had a lot to learn about making his audience chuckle: this episode of The Twilight Zone is even less likely to generate laughs than his previous awful effort, From Agnes - with Love (Season 5, Episode 20), which is saying something.
1/10.