Green Fingers/The Funeral/The Tune in Dan's Cafe

After about 18 years of first hearing the tune "If You Leave Me Tonight, I'll Cry" by Jerry Wallace on a cassette tape of Casey Kasem's radio show, "American Top 40", from the week ending October 7, 1972, I finally watched the "Night Gallery" episode that Casey said the song originated from. The version of that song is different from the recorded version I heard so long ago in that Wallace truly sings by himself in the episode instead of with a chorus. Pernell Roberts and Susan Oliver are a tired married couple who stop at an abandoned bar with just the proprietor in attendance. When Roberts plays the jukebox, only one song is playing no matter what number is pressed. It's related to what happened to a young couple years ago when a murder took place. That's all I'll say except this was a most compelling episode that explored-via split-second cutting and some negative-inserted scenes-how explosively dangerous some couplings can be...

'Green Fingers'. Teleplay by Serling himself, based on a tale by R.C. Cook. Directed by John Badham. Cameron Mitchell plays Saunders, a stereotypically greedy developer who keeps trying to bribe an old woman (Elsa Lanchester) to leave her property; her land is essential to his plans. He's not above paying a goon (George Keymas) to throw a scare into her. But things go bad - in a very interesting way. The effects are good, and things do get fairly violent. Both Mitchell and Lanchester are very, very good here, especially her, as she plays this eccentric but endearing old biddy with an obvious talent for growing things; her garden is truly a wonder. This segment has the best twist ending of this episode.

'The Funeral'. Comic hijinks, courtesy of Richard Matheson, who adapted his own story. Directed by John Meredyth Lucas. A strange man named Asper (Werner Klemperer) goes to a funeral home to arrange a service; the proprietor (Joe Flynn) is happy to accommodate him, but is thrown for a loop when Aspers' big secret comes to light. Things get particularly wacky when the service takes place, and all of Aspers' ghoulish acquaintances attend. Needless to say, the house practically comes down. This is all pretty goofy, and silly, but it IS amusing, and hard to truly dislike. 'Night Gallery' series producer Jack Laird appears on screen here as Igor.

'The Tune in Dan's Cafe'. Teleplay by Gerald Sanford and Garrie Bateson, based on a story by Shamus Frazer. Directed by David Rawlins. Pernell Roberts and Susan Oliver play a couple going through a rough patch. Late one night they stop at a roadside cafe where only one annoying country love song ever plays on the juke box. In conversing with the owner (James Nusser), Roberts learns why this might be the case: it has to do with a doomed romance between a young man and woman (James Davidson, Brooke Mills). This segment eventually consists of quick cuts wherein we get just enough story to put the pieces together. Overall, the segment isn't *bad*, but it's resolved in a fairly unsatisfying way. Good atmosphere, in any event.

Seven out of 10.

Even though this segment seems like Jack Laird directed and/or wrote it, although he did not, he did have a small starring role as Ygor. I've read the he and Rod Serling often clashed over the direction of the Night Gallery over the comedic segments. Let me say that I enjoyed the first part of this story, which was more serious, than the second part, which was more "funny", although it's really not that funny. Horror writer veteran Richard Matheson has a writing credit, and you know he adds credibility, and I wonder if he also wrote the "funny" parts. Werner Klemperer and Joe Flynn both shine here, especially Klemperer as a cool 70's vampire. Flynn looks a lot older than 47 years old, and would tragically drown just 2 years later, but he gave a good performance as well. The funeral parlor setting was done real well, and from what I recall, it was rather eerie looking, with sinister music playing. If you paid attention, you should notice that same music was played in another episode titled "The Flip-Side of Satan", and it's perfect in both episodes. My young son was even slightly impressed with the graphics, even though it's from 1972, so there's that.

'Green Fingers' - Elsa Lanchester plays a widow who lives alone and takes pride in her beautiful garden. Unfortunately, a real estate developer(played by Cameron Mitchell) wants her land, and resorts to putting her out by force when she won't sell, but doesn't realize how close to her garden she has grown... Effective tale with two fine performances and a memorable finale.

'The Funeral' - Monsters attend the "funeral" of one of their own, putting the parlor owner on the spot... Amusing if silly segment.

'The Tune In Dan's Cafe' - Story editor Gerald Sanford wrote this ghostly tale of revenge involving a haunted jukebox and a gorgeous redhead(Brooke Mills, who steals the show).

This review is for Green Fingers, a rather memorable, if not dated episode starring Elsa Lanchester and Cameron Mitchell. Since you know the plot by now, I'll skip the details. The flowers that the widow Bowen plants grow up to be rather impressive, as the scenery is better than average(even though you can tell it's on a stage). There aren't many boring moments in this segment, and most of the lines delivered by the actors are easy to understand and very interesting. Mr. Saunders will do anything to knock this old lady off land which belongs to her, but since he's bought all the land around her tiny house, she becomes an annoying pest to him and she won't take any amount to sell the house. The last few minutes of this episode are some of the better moments of Night Gallery's controversial series, especially how Mr. Saunders rambles on and on to the camera after discovering the widow's "green fingers." All in all, one of the better episodes of this series.