Death in the Family/The Merciful/Class of '99/Witches' Feast

Brandon deWilde, Vincent Price and Randolph Mantooth gave fine performances. They all did, and so did the Asian guy (Mr. Chang"?)who was part of the dialogue, and his was not a bit part. Yet the production people chose to ignore him. Hollywood racism at its best, you must make noise to get a fair shake.

It should also be noted that when the student recited an equation for momentum (m*v) of a rocket, he cited a correction factor for fuel loss, ln(e). I don't know what these guys were smoking but that smart Asian kid would tell you that ln(e^x) = x

So 8 for the acting and 4 for the writing.

Just watched this classic episode segment from "Night Gallery" and it featured the old and now late legendary character actor E.G. Marshall(most remembered for "Creepshow" and "Christmas Vacation"). Anyway in it E.G. plays an owner of an ancient and Gothic style funeral home who he as the old wise owner takes pride in every body he gets. Only oddly the episode takes a twist when an on the run criminal takes hideout at the funeral home. And this criminal soon discovers a secret at this old funeral home as downstairs it's an upright gathering of the dead and soon he will be a member! This episode teaches to love and cherish the dead as they are less annoying than the living as they don't care about competition, greed, material things and they cause less stress than the living! Overall good clever and offbeat episode and remembered for E.G. Marshall's work.

'A Death In The Family' - A fugitive young man with a bullet wound finds sanctuary in a funeral parlor run by a lonely man who takes his job to heart... Small but effective tale is more sad than creepy.

'The Merciful' - One spouse walls up the other, but who is sealing up who? Mildly amusing short is all about the (visual) punch line.

'Class Of '99' - Vincent Price shines as a no-nonsense teacher in a "future" academy dealing with androids where not everything is as it seems... Best tale of the four hits a dramatic knockout.

'Witches' Feast' - Thought-lost tale should have stayed lost, as it's a perfectly dreadful example of all set-up with no payoff.

"A Death in the Family" Starring EG Marshall as a funeral home proprietor and Desi Arnez Jr. as an escaped convict really brings home why I love 'Night Gallery' so much. It really encapsulates the best of the series, along with several other stories, the great mood that good horror writing has. To paraphrase an author whose name escapes me, "Horror is the realization" In other words, its not th blood and guts that makes horror so good, its the full realization of what is really happening. This episode fills that bill perfectly as we see what is REALLY going on in the Soames home for funerals. Not easily forgotten, this episode.

Let me say right from the jump that E.G. Marshall is terrific as Mr. Soames, a funeral director who takes his job rather seriously, even to the extent of helping an escaped prisoner, played decently enough by a young Desi Arnaz Jr, who's on the run from the authorities. The funeral parlor and house are very creepy looking on both inside and out and makes for a fine setting; this show is known for the old mansions which appear in many episodes. Marshall is very convincing as the lonely director, whose work appears to be his life, although he could use some singing lessons. After being stopped by the police near his home and questioned about seeing the loose convict, they let him go back home; soon after, the escaped, injured, and very wet convict(Arnaz Jr.)breaks through a window carrying a gun and requests to be able to lay down on the sofa to rest. Soames is more than happy to have the young man stay, and you sense that he is fattening him up for the kill. It turns out that the director has a newly dead family propped up on a dinner table, and I wish they would've used dummies or something other than real people just staring into the camera. Soames and the convict neither had a family of their own, so the director wants to add to his make believe family, although against the young man's wishes. Other than this downer, this is still a solid episode of the best season of Night Gallery and has a fine atmosphere.