Nothing in the Dark

An addled old lady hides in her unkempt apartment so "Mr. Death" will not find her. Just how loony is she.

Hats off to set and art decorations. The old lady's apartment cave is about the last word in grim. Frankly, I'd welcome Mr. Death as a way out of that black hole. Great acting from Cooper that carries the show, and has Redford ever looked handsomer. It's a spare, elegiac story with what I guess is an uplift ending. Still, be prepared for some really bleak visuals, as the old lady tries to keep Mr. Death away from her door. I detect a philosophical point behind the contractor's conflab. Namely, that the old must give way to the new, because that's simply the way of the world. So get used to it. None of us is special. Well, I guess that's not exactly a novel point to make, but it still works within the story's context.

My advice—don't watch the first part in the dark.

Wanda (Gladys Cooper) is an old woman afraid to go out, believing that 'Mr Death' is after her. Harold Belmont (Robert Redford) is a policeman lying in a critical state outside her dilapidated home. She fears he may be death in one of his many guises but brings him in.

TZ at its best takes you to all sorts of places and examines the deepest human fears. Gladys Cooper gives one of her three solid performances for the show here. The setting is cold and austere but this is a warm-hearted entry for the Zone. Wanda has been 'running' from death for some time. A gentle story that might take some fear out of death, reminding us its a natural and possibly peaceful process.

George Clayton Johnson wrote this one and his stories make up seven pretty consistent TZ contributions in all. 'A Game of Pool' and 'A Penny For Your Thoughts' are very good.

I am a Twilight Zone junkie and I absolutely love this episode. I'm not going to rehash the story line like others have already done however, I'd like to add my take on this one. I've always thought that when the Angel comforts her by saying, "Mother, take my hand", I believe he may actually be her son who she could have possibly lost in child birth. The way she looks at him and the trust she instantly gains at that moment. Just a food for thought.

The story of this episode was kind of heartwarming, that fear often rules us when it really ought not too. Characters were well can't and well acted. You gotta love a young Redford.

I can't believe I hadn't seen this on a top 30 favorite episodes list. I know there are so many fantastic episodes so I can see it doesn't have the impact of my other favorite episodes which I see on others lists. As I am making my way through Twilight Zone (this is the 100th ep I have watched so far) I initially picked ones that I'd heard of and now going through chronologically with the rest. Robert Redford shines in this episode, his presence as an actor just jumps off the screen. There are a few different types of twilight zone episodes and I tend to favor the tighter psychological episodes. I was feeling despondent after watching 'once upon a time' and then this left me shocked like I have before at Rod's mastery. It's funny how uneven this show can be and I mean no disrespect as it is one of my top 10 favorite shows of all time but if you were to introduce TZ with 'sounds & silences' or 'dust' as opposed to this episode, 'eye of the beholder' or 'the hitch hiker' or 'nightmare at 20,000 ft' etc you become more open to watching more. This is my first episode review and a worthy one at that.