Tales of Tomorrow

Watching this program back in the early 50's was a real treat; to say it scared the hell out of me would be an understatement. Here we had a live show with minimal sets and special effects; yet the writing was such that every story was totally believable. This caused me more than a few sleepless nights! I'm sure Rod Sterling learned a thing or two; some of his Twilight Zone episodes are eerily similar. Later anthology programs (Science Fiction Theatre, One Step Beyond, Outer Limits, etc.) never had the same impact on me (perhaps because I was older), though the more recent 'Tales from the Darkside' seemed to stir up a little emotion. I haven't watched any of the 'Tales from Tomorrow' tapes; maybe some memories should remain 'just a memory'.

The episode titled "A Child is Crying" provides a striking example of what can be achieved by good writing. "A Child is Crying" guest-starred Robin Morgan of "Mama" in a "Children of the Damned" style Cold War message story. There were maybe four actors in the cast and a single set. In the words of my best buddy: "It scared the Hell out of me!"

The classic January 18, 1952 live TV broadcast of "Frankenstein" with Lon Chaney, Jr. is finally available on DVD!

I had never even heard of this program until I was browsing in my local dollar store and happened to flip through their bin of dollar DVD's and saw a black and orange package bearing the title Tales of Tomorrow with a picture of three men in space suits staring at me.

I picked it up and immediately spotted Thomas Mitchell on the back cover photo. Any television appearance with Thomas Mitchell is worth seeing, but when I saw that the first episode was "Frankenstein," I knew I had a genuine find on my hands!

The three episodes are as follows:

Frankenstein (1-18-52) Starring John Newland and Lon Chaney, Jr. This, of course,is the prize of the lot. Chaney's performance (drunk or not) still hints at the sensitivity and greatness he was capable of. I'm left wondering what he might have done during an "actual" performance.

The Crystal Egg (2-29-52)Stars Thomas Mitchell and is based on a story by H G Wells. Mitchell sees Mars inside the titular crystal egg -which promptly goes missing and there's dirty work afoot!

Appointment on Mars (6-22-52) Leslie Nielsen (looking unusually young and virile) appears as one of a trio of space explorers in this weirdly disturbing drama which comes across as a low-rent adaptation of The Martian Chronicals.

Here's a bit of trivia for anyone who's a fan of Universal monsters or Lon Chaney:

Lon Chaney starred in this TV show's rendition of the horror classic, and it was filmed live. Unfortunately, when Lon Chaney got dressed up in the Frankenstein Monster makeup (looking similar to Robert DeNiro's incarnation, by the way) and began performing the role live before millions of watchers, he didn't realize that it was the actual performance. He was dog-drunk and was sure that this was only a rehersal. Therefore, instead of smashing chairs and tables, he merely picked them up, pretended to throw them, and then put them back down on the ground....to be smashed for the actual performance. As a result, the episode didn't make a lot of sense, but it sure was fun on a camp-level.

Just figured someone might enjoy this bit of information.

I picked up a dollar DVD of TALES FROM TOMORROW especially for the Lon Chaney "Frankenstein" episode (yeah, everyone knows he was drunk and thought it was a rehearsal --- he was pretty good nonetheless). I must have a different DVD from the previous posters because everyone else mentions "The Crystal Egg" and "Appointment on Mars" but no one has said anything about "The Dune Roller" which, to my mind, is the best episode of the four. Of all three it suffers most from its low budget. When your title menace is a huge, terrifying "creature" at some point the audience expects to see it, even if it turns out to be only a crude puppet. In this case the menace remains off screen at all times but the story is still very effective, thanks to good writing (reminiscent of 50s British Sci-Fi like X THE UNKNOWN and THE CRAWLING EYE) and a very strong central performance by Bruce Cabot, who up until now I'd never thought of as a particularly impressive actor. "The Dune Roller" would make a good feature film, or would have when modestly budgeted science fiction thrillers were still a commercially acceptable genre.