★★★★★ November 03, 1961 Season 3 Episode 10
If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.
This is a great episode with a wonderful twist. The third season was uneven but it did have some remembered episodes. During the first season, Serling had explored the end of the world in Time Enough at Last. In The Midnight Sun he returned to that theme, but with mother nature as the culprit. Lois Nettleton plays Norma who is a painter living in an apartment and looking after her neighbor Mrs. Bronson as the earth is hurdling toward the sun.
The Twilight Zone can make you feel the discomfort of the characters more than most shows. In this one… extreme heat. The episode plays on our fears of the stability of our natural environment. Something we cannot control takes over and we are left for it… to decide our fate.
Tony Leader Director: In those days, they had no air conditioning on the set and we shot in summer, so it was hot enough to give you the initial feeling. I remember that there were a couple of scenes in which I asked the electrical grip to add heat, not so much heat that it would show on the film, but heat that we would feel on the set. It made us distinctly uncomfortable, but I think it helped us develop the feeling that we had of heat. I didn’t do that throughout, because its effect would have been lost eventually. We would have just been plain simply miserable and angry with each other for being involved in this thing.
To create the melting painting effect, the painting was reproduced in wax and mounted to a hotplate.
This show was written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
The word that Mrs. Bronson is unable to put into the hot, still, sodden air is ‘doomed,’ because the people you’ve just seen have been handed a death sentence. One month ago, the Earth suddenly changed its elliptical orbit and in doing so began to follow a path which gradually, moment by moment, day by day, took it closer to the sun. And all of man’s little devices to stir up the air are now no longer luxuries—they happen to be pitiful and panicky keys to survival. The time is five minutes to twelve, midnight. There is no more darkness. The place is New York City and this is the eve of the end, because even at midnight it’s high noon, the hottest day in history, and you’re about to spend it in the Twilight Zone.
Summary
In a world that is getting ever nearer to the sun, people are trying to find ways to deal with the extreme heat. Most people have gone north with Norma and Mrs. Bronson the only two people left in their apartment building. There is little or no infrastructure remaining and water is one commodity that is very much in demand. They panic when an intruder breaks into Norma’s apartment and holds them, at least for a few moments, at gunpoint. All is not as it seems however.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
The poles of fear, the extremes of how the Earth might conceivably be doomed. Minor exercise in the care and feeding of a nightmare, respectfully submitted by all the thermometer-watchers in the Twilight Zone.
CAST
Rod Serling…Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Lois Nettleton…Norma
Betty Garde…Mrs. Bronson
Tom Reese…Intruder
Jason Wingreen…Mr. Shuster
Juney Ellis…Mrs. Shuster (as June Ellis)
William Keene…Doctor
Ned Glass…Fridge Repairman (uncredited)
John McLiam…Cop (uncredited)
Robert Stevenson…Radio Announcer (uncredited)
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One of the handful of my favorites. No FX, no action, just good directing and acting, and as you say, you felt their misery. Try and find a show as good today, it doesn’t exists.
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Exactly…like the old Star Treks…you don’t have to have computer animation to covey the story.
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interesting, sounds like a compelling story. I bet some see parallels with these days with the temps earlier this summer in Washington and BC.
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It is really good…the twist at the end… it is pure Twilight Zone
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that seems like an episode for modern times;
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I was thinking that because of Global Warming. The ending I did not see coming…great twist.
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Florida is hot enough for me and we are finally getting some days that are not in the 90s.
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This is one of my all-time favorites. Such a great episode.
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MIne also…it’s one I never get tired of.
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They did an excellent job with this one. The black and white starkness removes anything that would take the focus on the heat and the suffering by the women. Nettleton and Garde are both excellent actors and play their roles to perfection. The way they had the sun blazing in through the window and then panning to the painting was such a nice touch. The terror of the guy breaking in and how that scene was played took the viewer’s emotions on a rollercoaster ride. I never expected that ending! I agree with your rating, Max. One of the best episodes so far. (The one with Billy Mumy as the little monster is also up there in my episodes Top 10 so far.)
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I agree totally….I could feel the heat with this one. There were three in a row that were excellent…the one with Billy Mumy, the Nazi one, and this one. Superb episodes.
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focus on the heat should say focus OFF the heat
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Yeas really enjoyed the acting – you can feel their misery and hopelessness. I liked the effect of the thermometer bursting and the painting running down. And agree – great twist at the end ! Not sure which is better way to go – I think for me it would be cold
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YES…you can cover up in cold! I liked that trick of the paintings melting.
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Right cover up and then just go to sleep….
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FANTASTIC episode!
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One of my favorites!
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I remember as a kid right before I saw it we had learned about the solar system in school. In fact we had to make a model of the solar system. So I’m that episode I knew exactly what the hell was going on!
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LOL…well my favorite was Pluto..now it’s not considered a damn planet!
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BULLSHIT! It’ll always be a planet to me!!
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I concur! Bullshit on them…it’s a damn planet!
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I’ve actually seen ever planet except Pluto. I worked the night shift for a long time, and used to subscribe to this newsletter called Dr. Sky. Everyday he’d tell you what you could see, and where to look that night to see it. All you needed was a pair of binoculars.
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Oh wow…binoculars? That is really cool
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I think I only needed them to see Neptune. When you find it you know you’ve got it because of the color. All the rest of the planets can be seen with the naked eye.
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I have to check that out. The solar system and dinosaurs are two loves of mine from childhood.
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Click on home. Looks like there’s a bunch of food links.
https://drsky.com/about/
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Thanks dude!
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