Wesley Lau stars as Lt. Leonard Wilenski, a pilot in World War II whose plane crash lands in the harsh Egyptian desert. After surviving the crash, the poor man almost loses his life in the high desert heat to dehydration, but is fortunately rescued in time to be taken to hospital where he receives vital medical care. After he awakens bandaged from his sunburns, he believes himself to be possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian prince, but upon awakening returns to his old self, only to discover his face has changed! A later expedition to locate that prince's tomb will restore his own face, though not resolve the mystery. Effective tale nonetheless.
3 Reviews
Thought-Provoking case for life beyond death
Dejael12 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
* Warning! This review may contain spoilers! *
This episode appears to be a totally fictional story although it states that it happened in the North African rout of Rommel's troops during World War 2 in 1944, as Lieutenant Harold Wilenski is the only survivor of a P-38 airplane crash in the northern Sahara desert in Egypt, having gone off course from Libya by a large sandstorm and impacted in the desert sands hundreds of miles away from his intended destination.
When he is discovered by a passing caravan of nomadic Bedouins, they take him to a field hospital somewhere in Alexandria, Egypt where he recovers slowly from the torturous effects of wind-blown sunburn exposure and must remain covered in bandages for weeks.
When he removes his mask, his facial features have changed into those of an ancient Egyptian prince, who then regales a recovering, convalescing professor of Egyptology with tales of his nights under the moon with his beloved princess in remote antiquity. Harold Wilenski knows nothing of this, however, and seems to have a split personality.
Finally, Wilenski, under the dominant spell of the disembodied spirit of the dead Egyptian prince, begins writing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics on notepads and then his hospital room wall.
The Egyptologist, Dr. Beauvais, then takes Wilenski back to the site where Wilenski was found, near the ruins of an ancient temple, and next to a broken column base, they find the entrance to a 4,000-year-old tomb which has gone unplundered for millenia. Of course, the tomb is that of the dead monarch who has possessed Harold Wilenski, and the dead prince's spirit, apparently appeased at having his tomb discovered, goes away, and Wilenski's own facial features return once again.
A beautifully written tale, well acted and directed, is made less believable since John Newland's production staff did not think it important enough to hire a real Egyptologist as a technical consultant, so the Egyptian hieroglyphs we see in this film are just so much phony gobbledegook instead of being real, legible ancient Egyptian script.
The makeup job on the actor with his changes of faces is very impressive and the offbeat, bizarre storyline makes this episode one of the most memorable ones in the series. Highly recommended!
This episode appears to be a totally fictional story although it states that it happened in the North African rout of Rommel's troops during World War 2 in 1944, as Lieutenant Harold Wilenski is the only survivor of a P-38 airplane crash in the northern Sahara desert in Egypt, having gone off course from Libya by a large sandstorm and impacted in the desert sands hundreds of miles away from his intended destination.
When he is discovered by a passing caravan of nomadic Bedouins, they take him to a field hospital somewhere in Alexandria, Egypt where he recovers slowly from the torturous effects of wind-blown sunburn exposure and must remain covered in bandages for weeks.
When he removes his mask, his facial features have changed into those of an ancient Egyptian prince, who then regales a recovering, convalescing professor of Egyptology with tales of his nights under the moon with his beloved princess in remote antiquity. Harold Wilenski knows nothing of this, however, and seems to have a split personality.
Finally, Wilenski, under the dominant spell of the disembodied spirit of the dead Egyptian prince, begins writing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics on notepads and then his hospital room wall.
The Egyptologist, Dr. Beauvais, then takes Wilenski back to the site where Wilenski was found, near the ruins of an ancient temple, and next to a broken column base, they find the entrance to a 4,000-year-old tomb which has gone unplundered for millenia. Of course, the tomb is that of the dead monarch who has possessed Harold Wilenski, and the dead prince's spirit, apparently appeased at having his tomb discovered, goes away, and Wilenski's own facial features return once again.
A beautifully written tale, well acted and directed, is made less believable since John Newland's production staff did not think it important enough to hire a real Egyptologist as a technical consultant, so the Egyptian hieroglyphs we see in this film are just so much phony gobbledegook instead of being real, legible ancient Egyptian script.
The makeup job on the actor with his changes of faces is very impressive and the offbeat, bizarre storyline makes this episode one of the most memorable ones in the series. Highly recommended!
Different ages, different reactions
ccoutroulos30 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this episode when it first aired in 1960. I was then twelve years old. It scared the daylights out of me when the Egyptian prince possessing Private Wilenski talked in his sleep to his sweetheart ("Samara!" Your prince commands!"), when Private Wilenski's bandages were removed, revealing a swarthy Egyptian face instead of his own blond, fair one and when his face resumed its proper appearance after the discovery of the tomb. The show's claim that its episodes were based on fact fed my rather vague fears, the irrationality of which I already largely realized.
Seeing it again as an adult, I couldn't stop laughing! The "prince" spoke with a flawless American accent and the makeup was cheesy beyond belief: for Wilenski's "real" appearance, powder had obviously been added to his hair to make him appear blond and for his Egyptian scenes he had obviously been greased to make him look swarthier. The "two" faces were recognizably the same. Also, by then, I had long ago developed a healthy skepticism about such things.
Seeing it again as an adult, I couldn't stop laughing! The "prince" spoke with a flawless American accent and the makeup was cheesy beyond belief: for Wilenski's "real" appearance, powder had obviously been added to his hair to make him appear blond and for his Egyptian scenes he had obviously been greased to make him look swarthier. The "two" faces were recognizably the same. Also, by then, I had long ago developed a healthy skepticism about such things.
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