Cheap The Twilight Zone: Vol. 4 (DVD) (Ida Lupino, Alvin Ganzer, Richard Donner, Allen Reisner, John Rich, William F. Claxton, Ralph Nelson, Bernard Girard, David Greene, Don Medford) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Twilight Zone: Vol. 4

Passage for the Trumpet- Best on the disk. great episode. (****)

Mr. Dingle the Strong- This was a fun episode. It was kind of funny. (***)

Two- Didn't care for this one too much. It was ok I guess, but I kept wondering when it would be over. (**)

The Four of Us are Dying- Didn't like this one too much either. It probably would have been better if it were longer. (**)

Good but not Compelling
Volume 4 features the various twists and turns that made the Twlight Zone famous, but this DVD does not impress as much as others will. In "Mr. Dingle, the Strong," a saleman played by Burgess Meredith, realizes that he has been blessed with awesome strength (from Martians). The story fails, however, when the Martians take back the powers they gave only to give Dingle new powers that will lead to predictable results. "Two" is very interesting dramtically. Two survivors of a nuclear holocaust, Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson, find themselves alone in a barren town. Unfortunately, there is little conflict here, and while the Bronson and Montgomery do a fine bit of acting, there is not much story for them to perform; the ending is rather anti-climatic. In "A Passage for Trumpet," Jack Klugman plays a trupet player who learns what it is like to be dead. This is possibly the best episode of Vol. 4. Possibly the most disappointing episode is "The Four of Us are Dying." Arch Hammer is able to change his face at a moment's notice, but in the Twilight Zone, such "talent" brings unexpected consequences. The ending is somewhat predictable and there is little to care for in the characters.

Overall the stories on this DVD have potential, but one suspects that given more time, they could have been polished further.

Burgess Meredith and Jack Klugman revisit the Twilight Zone
When all of the reviews for several DVDs of "The Twilight Zone" disappear, should we be surprised? In "Mr. Dingle, the Strong," written by Rod Serling, Burgess Meredith returns to the Zone as a mousy little salesman who is given the strength of 300 men by a double-headed Martian as an experiment. When his super strength goes to Dingle's head the Martians abandon the experiment, which is not the end of the story. "Two," written by Montgomery Pittman, stars Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery as the last survivors from the two sides of a nuclear war. Bronson gets all of the dialogue except for a single word in Russian by Montgomery in this surprisingly realistic and gritty little tale of survival. There is also the wonderful reversal of stereotypes: the rugged Bronson is the pacifist and the lovely Montgomery who turns to violence. The first episode of the show's third season, this is a top-rate tale.

Another familiar face in the Zone, Jack Klugman, plays Joey Crown, a down on his luck musician who decides to commit suicide in "A Passage for Trumpet," written by Serling. However, after throwing himself in front of a truck, Joey discovers he has a second chance to choose which way to go. This episode features a nice turn by John Anderson as "Gabe." Finally, we have "The Four of Us Are Dying," written by Serling from an unpublished story by George Clayton Johnson. Arch Hammer (Harry Townes) can make his face change into a trumpet player (Ross Martin), a murdered gangster (Phillip Pine) and a boxer (Don Gordon), all in order to take advantage of people. But this is the Zone and Fate conspires against Hammer in a most satisfactory manner. Volume 4 of "The Twilight Zone" DVD series has at least one outright classic episode with "Two," while "Mr. Dingle, The Strong" and "A Passage for Trumpet" are well-above average and even that last episode has some nice moments, as when Hammer's face changes while he is shaving. As a rule of thumb anything in the series with Meredith or Klugman is worth having and this disc has them both.