Login or register
TV
<-- Previous EpisodeNext Episode -->

The Twilight Zone: Judgment Night

Carl Lanser tries to convince those aboard a wartime freighter that the ship will be sunk by a Nazi submarine at exactly 1:15a.m., but no one will believe him.


7.3/10 (4 Votes cast)

Episode Info


Episode number: 1x10
Production Number: 173-3604
Airdate: Friday December 04th, 1959

Director: John Brahm
Writer: Rod Serling


Guest Stars
Ben WrightBen Wright
As Captain Wilbur
Recurring
Hugh SandersHugh Sanders
As Jerry Potter
Recurring
Barry BernardBarry Bernard
As Mr. McCloud
Debbie JoyceDebbie Joyce
As Little Girl
Deirdre OwensDeirdre Owens
As Miss Stanley
Donald JourneauxDonald Journeaux
As Second Steward
James FranciscusJames Franciscus
As Lieutenant Mueller
Kendrick HuxhamKendrick Huxham
As The Bartender
Leslie BradleyLeslie Bradley
As Major Devereaux
Patrick MacneePatrick Macnee
As First Officer
Richard PeelRichard Peel
As First Steward
Main Cast
Rod SerlingRod Serling
As Narrator/Host

Recap

Carl Lanser is a German on board the ship known as the Glasgow. He has no memory of how he got there, but has a strange feeling that he knows the passengers. Lanser is certain that they are being stalked by an enemy submarine. He also feels something is going to happen at 1:15 a.m. At 1:15 a.m. a U-boat surfaces. Looking through binoculars, Lanser sees that the sub's captain is himself. The U-boat sinks the ship and machine-guns down the survivors. Later a lieutenant on the U-boat suggests that they may all face damnation for their actions. Captain Lanser dismisses this idea, not realizing that he is doomed to repeat the sinking for eternity. ..

Read the full recap
Episode Notes
Nehemiah Persoff, ironically, is of Israeli descent.

This episode has British people drinking coffee instead of their normal tea, because General Foods was the sponsor.

Sets constructed for the 1959 feature film The Wreck of the Mary Deare were used for this episode.

Ben Wright returns in ''Deaths - Head Revisited'' and ''What You Need.''

Hugh Sanders also appears in ''The Jungle'' and ''Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville.''

Patrick Macnee is best known for his role on The Avengers as John Steed and was also the narrator on Battlestar Galactica.



Episode Quotes
Opening Narration
Narrator:
Her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: indeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on this ship's log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading. For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

Lieutenant Mueller: I just, I just found it difficult to …
Lanser: To what?
Lieutenant Mueller: To reconcile the killing of men and women without any warning. Makes me wonder if we're not damned now.
Lanser: In the eyes of the British admiralty, we most certainly are.
Lieutenant Mueller: I mean, sir, in the eyes of God.
Lanser: Oh, you're not only a fool, Lieutenant, but also a religious fool, and perhaps a mystic at that. Suppose we are damned. What will happen then?
Lieutenant Mueller: I have had dreams about it. Perhaps there is a special kind of hell for people like us. Perhaps to be damned is to have a fate like the people on that ship, to suffer as they suffer and to die as they die.
Lanser: You are a mystic, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant Mueller: We'll ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night, Kapitan, for eternity. They could die only once, just once, but we could die a hundred million times. We ride the ghost of that ship every night. Every night for eternity.

Lanser: It's here! That's the U-boat out there! The U-boat's here! We've got to get out of here, everybody! We have got to leave this ship! Everybody, they're going to sink us! Don't you hear me? Have you all gone out of your minds, all of you? There's a U-boat here! It's going to sink us! What do I have to do to you? Do I have to grab you and put you on deck? Do I have to grab your body and put you into lifeboats? Do I have to knock you unconscious all of you?!

Captain Wilbur: And they're out there. God knows, they're out there. Waiting, like vultures.

Closing Narration
Narrator:
The S.S. Queen of Glasgow, heading for New York, and the time is 1942. For one man, it is always 1942, and this man will ride the ghost of that ship every night for eternity. This is what is meant by paying the fiddler. This is the comeuppance awaiting every man when the ledger of his life is opened and examined, the tally made, and then the reward or the penalty paid. And in the case of Carl Lanser, former Kapitan Leutnant, Navy of the Third Reich, this is the penalty. This is the justice meted out. This is judgment night in the Twilight Zone.



Other Episode Crew

CreatorRod Serling
Executive ProducerRod Serling
ProducerBuck Houghton
EditorBill Mosher
CastingMillie Gusse (1)
Set DesignerHenry Grace
Set DecoratorRudy Butler
Director of PhotographyGeorge T. Clemens
Art DirectorWilliam Ferrari  |  George W. Davis
Production ManagerRalph Nelson
Sound EditorFranklin Milton  |  Jean Valentino
Main Title ThemeMarius Constant
Sound Effects EditorVan Allen James
 
Episode Trailer
   
Flash

Smash Gets a Shake Up Courtesy of New Head Honcho

Ask and you shall receive, as the old adage goes…but rarely does it turn out that..

Saturday Night Live: Sudeikis, Samberg Might Not Exit

Saturday's season finale of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Mick Jagger, saw the..

The Simpsons Returns To The Big Screen, At Least For A Few Minutes

Simpsons fans have long wondered whether 2007's The Simpsons Movie..
TVrage Footer