"The Twilight Zone" Time Enough at Last (1959)

Director:

John Brahm

Writers:

Lynn Venable (short story)
Rod Serling (teleplay)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

20 November 1959 (Season 1, Episode 8)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A henpecked book lover finds himself blissfully alone with his books after a nuclear war. |

Plot Keywords:

Book | Nuclear War | Post Apocalyptic | Apocalypse | Character's Point Of View Camera Shot

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Jan. 1

10:21 PM

SYFY

Time Enough at Last

#1.8

Cast

Burgess Meredith	...	Henry Bemis
Vaughn Taylor	...	Mr. Carsville
Jacqueline deWit	...	Helen Bemis (as Jaqueline deWit)
Lela Bliss	...	Mrs. Chester

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Cayuga Productions

Trivia:

Rated #25 on TV Guide's "100 Most Memorable Moments in Television".

Quotes:

[SPOILER]
Henry Bemis: And the best thing, the very best thing of all, is there's time now... there's all the time I need and all the time I want. Time, time, time. There's time enough at last.
[goes to pick up a book, but in doing so his glasses fall off and break. He slowly raises his glasses to his face, seeing they are completely broken]
Henry Bemis: That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was, was all the time I needed...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Possibly the Most Horrific Half-Hour of Television Ever.

Such a powerful piece of drama this. It gives us a character so vulnerable and sympathetic that we, perhaps, see a little of the dreamer within ourselves in him. A small, mousy, child-like man at the mercy of his grouchy employer and domineering wife until World War III gives him a world of his very own.

This, like most Twilight Zone episodes, begins with a vaguely light-hearted feel that could go either way but by the end we are exposed to a reversal of fortune so tragic and so deeply ironic that I for one have never been able to return to watching this episode; the best laid plans of mice and men gone horrible awry.

Presumably this is meant as a warning against letting our dreams and fantasies get the better of us or perhaps it is intended to condemn those who force us to live too much in the real world. Stirling was always one to say the things we did not want to hear but in this, he succeeded only too well. It is perhaps merciful that Stirling had a sense of humour (let alone a heart) because if every episode of The Twilight Zone had reached this standard it would, conversely have been unwatchable because an audience cannot put up with this much cruelty every week.

If you see, it will affect you. I was left shattered and I don't intend to sit through it again. You may may only be able to take it once, but do see it.