episode #65 - The Obsolete Man

Air Date: 6/2/61    written by Rod Serling    Directed by Elliot Silverstein

Burgess Meredith! victimized by Fritz Weaver!
If you need an actor to play an obsolete librarian - the last person into books - the best choice would be to get the one who played the bookish Bemis in Time Enough at Last; how can you do better? This one carried overtones of the famous Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, though it's more didactic in its approach; by the end, I felt like I've been given a strange lecture...

This was a bit heavy-handed, demonstrating the power of faith (God - spirituality - or the right of an individual to express such faith) over the weaknesses of a godless, totalitarian government. But, it's Meredith vs. Weaver - that's hard to beat for dramatics. What's memorable about this one is the cinematography & lighting; the government set is almost just abstract shadows and genuinely creepy, with the government drones/sheep just as freaky. This one would really make you leery of Soviet dictatorships - probably the target back then of such stories. BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

http://www.cbs.com/classics/the_twilight_zone/video/?pid=yoOMIq0utv_XnymFmH6948IuIbbMyOkI