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Rod Serling was definitely in the Zone when he penned these two Twilight Zone classics. Attention shoppers! Available for the first time on video, The After Hours stars Anne Francis as a department store shopper who is shocked to be informed that the floor on which she bought a defective item that she wishes to return does not exist. And why does that mannequin bear an eerie resemblance to her missing saleswoman? This video also contains another must-own first-season episode, Time Enough at Last, starring Burgess Meredith in a signature series role as a bespectacled, henpecked bookworm who survives a nuclear blast and finds himself alone at last with his precious books. The ending seems unduly cruel, but it's one that all Zone aficionados rave about when they compare notes (see Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks in Twilight Zone: The Movie). This is the first of three Twilight Zone collectibles: tape 2 contains Living Doll, one of the series' scariest episodes, and the thoughtful Serling-penned gem The Eye of the Beholder. Tape 3 features the alien-in-a-diner puzzler Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up and To Serve Man, which TV Guide rightfully ranked as one of TV's top 100 episodes of all time. --Donald Liebenson ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Life and Death Come in Many Forms
'THE AFTER HOURS' remains just as fresh and effective as when it was first aired on June 10, 1960 and its lingering haunting imagery remains engraved into one's subconscious. Who can ever forget Anne Francis as Marsha. Her impeccable performance and exquisite face are indelible. "Marsha" that very name and the way it was repeated over and over was so eerily unsettling sending chills down one's spine. This episode when compared to 'WALKING DISTANCE' demonstrates the great versatility of Rod Serling as a writer. 'WALKING DISTANCE' is probably the best prose that Serling ever penned where every bit of dialogue was so heartfelt and moving. In 'THE AFTER HOURS' Serling gives us a more visual tale where the storytelling is more dependent on the images. Serling gives us a story of two strikingly opposite worlds that co-exist within a department store. The vivid contrast and the realistic depiction of those two worlds is at the core of this story that has a strange tinge of melancholy about it. Thanks to effective lighting, production design, photography, Douglas Heyes' Direction and impeccable acting it succeeds on all levels and is one of the definitive episodes of the series. In 'TIME ENOUGH AT LAST' a bank teller brilliantly played by Burgess Meredith is a man whose nearsighted-ness is only matched by his preoccupation with reading. Becoming the only survivor of a devastating H-bomb catastrophe he is finally able to pursue his only real passion in life: reading and then more reading. Rod Serling's story interestingly juxtaposes the ultra-introverted world that Burgess Meredith has created for himself with a New World truly void of those human interruptions that would otherwise interrupt his self-imposed solitude. Due to a twist of fate however, the viewer must ponder how will he ever survive? 'TIME ENOUGH AT LAST' first aired on November 20, 1959.

Time Enough At Last
This video is excellent Iwatch it over and over again.

One more trip to the Twilight Zone...
One more collection of episodes from creator Rod Serling. erie story in "The After Hours" where a woman (Played by Anne Francis.) makes a purchase on the ninth floor of a department store, only to later learn that the store has no ninth floor and the woman who sold her the item is really a mannagan. "Time Enough At Last" features a book worm bank worker (played by Burgess Meredith) who likes to read books and newspapers. he survives a nuclear bomb explosion while inside the bank vault and emerges to find he has all the time in the world to finally read all the books he ever wanted. However fate has other plans in store for him. The ending is heartbreaking. Both episodes written by Rod Serling.

What Does it Mean to really be Alone
Loneliness in its many forms is a recurrent theme that somehow seems very special to Rod Serling and THE TWILIGHT ZONE. "The After Hours" is one of the most haunting and unforgettable episodes. Anne Francis as Marsha gives one of the best-remembered performances from the entire series. Rod Serling examines the form of the department store mannequin in this eerie tale. This is one episode that you just never get out of your head. There seems to be a parallel or analogy with the darker regions of a department store to those dark corners of the mind. "Time Enough at Last" is good notably for Burgess Meredith's performance as a bookworm who apparently works as a bank teller just to escape his nagging wife and squeeze in time for his obsessive reading passion. I found the ending to be a bit too bitter a twist of fate. However, "Time Enough at Last" is another very memorable episode from Rod Serling because in fact the ending is a very bitter and unique pill to swallow.

"Time Enough at Last," the quintessential Zone episode
The After Hours," scripted by Rod Serling, features Anne Francis in the memorable role of Marsha White who finds herself locked in a department store at night. Marsha might be insane, but it seems the manikins are talking to her. Of course, since this IS the Twilight Zone, there is a reasonable explanation for what is going on. But while "The After Hours" is a pretty good episode, "Time Enough at Last" is THE quintessential Zone episode, adapted by Serling from Lynn Venable's short story. Burgess Meredith, in what was surely his most recognizable role, plays Henry Bemis, a mild-mannered, myopic bank teller who only wants to read, but can never get away from this shrewish wife and demanding boss. But then Henry has the fortune of being in the bank vault reading a book when the world is destroyed by a nuclear war. Directed by John Brahm, no "Twilight Zone" episode ever backed a more unforgettable ending. As far as I am concerned, as long as this tape has "Time Enough at Last," it gets five stars. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Burgess Meredith, Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson
This is a rather odd pairing of Twlight Zone episodes to put together. First we have a rather comic little episode and then a rather serious one, but both episodes feature fine performances. "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" offer Burgess Meredith in another episode, this time as Luther Dingle, a timid salesman who is temporarily given super strength by Martians (not sure if this is plural--they have two heads but only one body) conducting an experiment. For a while the worm turns, but then the experiment is over. Of course, there are some Venusians who decide to boost Dingle's intelligence. Written by Rod Serling this episode has Don Rickles as Bettor. For my money the better episode is "Two," written and directed by Montgomery Pittman, which offers Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery as a pair of soldiers who are apparently the sole survivors of the two sides involved in World War III. Montgomery is excellent, as you would expect, but Bronson turns in a surprisingly solid performance as well.

"Mr. Dingle the Strong" the better of the two.
A decent volume of the Twilight Zone Collection. I wasn't too crazy about the second episode, "Two", but I loved the first one, "Mr. Dingle the Strong". This is a humorous story of a meek, constantly beat-on vaccuum cleaner salesman named Luther Dingle (played by the great Burgess Meredith) who happens to be the lucky test subject of a two-headed alien who, without Dingle knowing what's happening, gives him super-human strength. The humor in this episode lies in how Meredith shows off his new power. Don Rickles guest stars in this episode as a rough man named Bragg. This is the one worth watching. Enjoy!

TWO
In the second half of this tape, TWO, stars Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery as two survivors of a long war, who at last find love and companionship in the Twilight Zone, courtesy of Rod Serling. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Looking Into the Soul
THE LONELY is one of Rod Serling's classics from the series. Jack Warden convincingly plays a convict sentenced to forty years alone on a distant asteroid. A periodic supply ship commanded by John Dehner one day leaves him a companion, a robot played flawlessly by Jean Marsh. Bernard Herrmann's poignant score evokes the enigmatic inner feeling of Jack Warden's love for his companion. And subsequently Herrmann's score captures the human quality of this female robot as she reciprocates that love. The combination of scripting, acting and scoring realistically captures our perceptions of loneliness, love, loss and reality. PROBE 7 - OVER AND OUT leisurely written by Rod Serling for the fifth Season examines the relationship of two beings, Richard Basehart and Antoinette Bower, the sole survivors of their respective annihilated planets. Basehart and the much underrated and forgotten Bower give good performances.

Love is certainly something strange in the Twilight Zone
Love between the only man and only woman around is the common denominator in this pair of episodes from "The Twilight Zone." In "The Lonely" Jack Warden plays Corry, a convicted murderer sentenced to fifty years on an asteroid in this story by Rod Serling. Captain Allenby (John Dehner) of the supply ship that stops by leaves him a present: an android named Alicia (Jean Marsh). But when Corry is pardoned, he is told he must leave the "woman" he loves behind. The idea of being in love while stranded out in space is also found in Serling's "Probe 7, Over & Out." Colonel Cook (Richard Basehart) learns that a nuclear war has destroyed his planet. Exploring the new world on which he is stranded, he discovers a footprint that leads him to Norda (Antoinette Bower), the sole survivor of her own planet, which went out of orbit. Together they will start over. And you will never guess what their first names happen to be. These are pretty much average Zone episodes, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at, boys and girls. ... Read more