Shadow Play

We all know the clichéd plot-twist in movies or TV-series where everything that happened thus far was only a dream or a hallucination in the protagonist's mind; - and we surely all have been annoyed by it already. Well, this wondrously creative Twilight Zone episode somewhat turns the tables around. Here, the protagonist (Dennis Weaver with a downright stellar performance) desperately attempts to persuade all the other characters they only exist in his dream and that their lives will be cut short because they'll simply vaporize in case he dies. And Adam Grant most likely will die, because in his recurring dream he's sentenced to death in the electric chair and has less than 12 hours to convince everyone (and notably the district attorney) to halt the execution. Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zones" never ceases to amaze me, as this is another highly original and intelligently scripted tale. The premise is incredibly innovative, and you'll find that the script (Charles Beaumont, who else) is meticulously detailed in spite of all the complexities and paradoxes that it brings alone. John Brahm, one of the most underrated directors of all times, brings the curious tale with lots of style and an uncanny atmosphere and "Shadow Play" also features some of the most passionate acting I've seen in the entire "Twilight Zone" series.

Still, I can't help thinking about what would happen to all the people in Grant's dream in case he would be rescued. He'll have to wake up anyway, won't he?

Adam Grant (Dennis Weaver) is sentenced to death by electric chair in a recurring dream in which he tells all around him that they will die when he dies. Solipsism is an interesting concept (that all the world's back story and other people's consciousness are only plot devices for oneself, the existential being) and it gets death-row-as-in-old-movie treatment here. Probably Adam Grant should never have watched James Cagney in 'The Angels With Dirty Faces' or Susan Hayward in 'I Want To Live', as he is aware of the movie-like inaccurate details of the whole procedure. There's a great moment when the D.A (Harry Townes from 'The Four of Us Are Dying', season one) and a reporter acknowledge that it's strange that movies are 'technically accurate' in their world. Grant knows that his recurring nightmare is 'unreal' but it happens again and again.

An interesting episode well played by all. Dennis Weaver is best remembered now for starring in Steven Spielberg's 'Duel' and he did a DVD commentary for 'Shadow Play' in which he said he believed in reincarnation.

Don't have nightmares! Watch something pleasant after this.

The brief "summary"of the plot in this site - in my opinion - provides a better depiction of the essence of this story than the longer, more esoteric analyses provided.

The Weaver character - trapped in a recurring nightmare, and sentenced to be executed therein - repeatedly must try to convince the other characters they are figments of his imagination, and their on existence will cease if and when his does.

Rod Serling could convey more, in his programs, covering 20-some minutes in the show's half-hour time slot, than the big-screen, 2- or 3-hour, expensive extravaganzas do today.

And the black-and-white, small screen/noir aspects provide not only a better feel for this genre, but also a nostalgia for the way entertainment was provided nearly a half-century past.

Today, with all the advances in animation, the providing of special effects, and the seamless blending with human actors and animation, etc. -- it seems to me a price is paid in terms of the stories' effect and impact. With the tens of millions of dollars spent, the producers and directors seem to be intent of emphasizing these elements, in lieu of simply a good storyline and acting, period.

Juxtaposing the vast majority of science fiction offerings and psychological dramas, the current crop pale compared with Serling's weekly offerings. This program is simply one of the better among a host of these.

Dennis Weaver plays convicted murderer Adam Grant, awaiting execution but desperately tries to convince anyone(especially the District Attorney, played by Harry Townes) that in fact they are all a part of a collective dream he is having, and has in fact had countless times, and will quite possibly continue to have forever. Initially skeptical, a concerned newspaperman convinces the D.A. to postpone the execution, but it may indeed already be too late... Brilliant episode with a superb performance by Dennis Weaver perfectly encapsulates everything the series is about, in chilling, unforgettable fashion, and a stunner of an ending, with Rod Serling's narration being among the best.

There are times when I start thinking about strange possibilities and different experiences of existence, such as whether people with different eye colors see the world exactly the same way. Really, if blue eyed people experienced colors one way and brown eyed people experienced them another way, we would really have no way of knowing, because everything would look normal to everyone. That's a rather childish example, but when I start feeling existential I sometimes wonder if we are all part of someone's imagination or if we are some tiny part of an unimaginably bigger world. The religious implications here are pretty obvious, but Shadow Play has nothing to do with them.

The idea that we are all just figments of someone's (or something's?) imagination is not a new proposal, of course, but Serling has taken the premise and turned it into a pretty entertaining half hour story. Dreams and their meanings is an almost endlessly fascinating subject, and has been explored extensively in the annals of psychology, as well as in film, television, and literature. Wes Craven blurred the lines between reality and nightmare in his Nightmare on Elm Street films, and long before that, Serling explored the causes and effects of recurring nightmares more than once here on the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.

It doesn't seem that the show is really seeking any answers, but is instead just presenting a situation in which a man is having recurring nightmares in which he has been sentenced to death, and is basically trying to convince the people around him to help themselves by helping him.

It is a brilliantly ironclad dilemma he is in. Imagine being on death row and trying to convince the guards and police around you that if they go through with your execution, they will all disappear. "You're all in my imagination! If you execute me you'll cease to exist!" The feeling of helplessness that he must be suffering is unimaginable! Granted, I've had dreams where I sank like a rock to the bottom of the ocean or fell off a building or something, and I always wake up at the point of death, and while it's scary, it's also an enormous relief when I wake up and realize I'm safe in my bed. Still, the nightly anticipation of electrocution's gotta make it hard to get to sleep at night.

Although personally, rather than trying to convince the guards to cancel my execution, I would just stick my arm through the bars of my cell and say - "Come on, pinch me! See what happens!"