The Dead Man/The Housekeeper

'The Dead Man' - A doctor/hypnotist uses a young man as his subject to cheat death, but the man is having an affair with his wife, unconsciously forcing him to put him in a state of living death... Effective story with a most chilling ending.

'The Housekeeper' - Larry Hagman plays a frustrated yet determined man who decides to use black magic to get rid of his unloving wife, and needs a willing but ignorant woman to aid him by a soul transference, no matter how long it takes... Amusing story where the final line is the payoff.

First episode of the TV series.

Having nearly finished the excellent Thriller I'm looking for the next anthology, and gave The Dead Man a try as it's an early one with favourable reviews.

Big mistake. The only platform on which it's currently available has allowed it to be butchered by the ceaseless adverts of a well known, somewhat kitsch, entertainment/theme park company. These appeared no fewer than FIFTEEN times in 37 minutes. A particularly cruel refinement of this torture was that sometimes the programme would resume, only to return to the advert after a few seconds.

I'm not opposed to advertising in principle. Indeed, I'd prefer the BBC to be funded by it in place of the collectivist/socialist system where everyone with a television has to pay £159 pa for it whether they watch the BBC or not. But do advertisers really imagine such absurd overkill will endear them even to those who may be attracted to their products?

I refuse to watch any further episodes similarly disfigured. Alfred Hitchcock often made wry remarks about adverts but I doubt his shows had it this bad. Without the ads I'd have probably scored it 6 or 7.

Just watched this now classic episode of "Night Gallery" from season one I believe the first episode it's even more special now that TV legend Larry Hagman has passed. Anyway it was odd seeing Hagman sport a beard I was always used to him being clean shaved. Anyway again about seven years before his big role as J.R. Ewing on "Dallas", Larry was a guest star on this sci-fi, horror suspense series "Night Gallery". In this episode Larry is a man that has an attractive trophy socialite type wife, but her attitude on the inside is terrible. In a clever twist the Hagman character hires a sweet and innocent old lady as a housekeeper, once he sees this old lady's attitude is so much better than his wife's he's got a plan. It's in the form of a frog it's a strange creature transformation that you have to watch to see it explained. The body and attitude turns out to both be switched between his wife and the old lady! Overall good clever episode nice to see some Hagman work before he became J.R. and this episode had good montage editing with old "Frankenstein" clips!

The first episode of the "Night Gallery" TV series. First is "The Dead Man" where a scientist can make a man either live or die by hypnosis. He also has a lovely young wife who falls for the young man he's experimenting on. Then he wills the young man to die...but can't bring him back to life. It all leads to a downright terrifying ending. Scary and well-done with great acting.

"The Housekeeper" isn't half as good. Larry Hagman stars as a man who experiments in black magic. He also has a wife who is beautiful but cold and cruel. He wants to transfer the soul of a kind and gentle old woman (Jeanette Nolan) into his wife's body. He does but the results are not what he hoped for. Boring and silly.

Watch it for the first story--skip the second.

This is a good, if not great, official first episode to the Rod Serling series. He hosts, introducing each segment with his trademark delivery, but did not adapt these stories. They're certainly entertaining, with the second of the two having a little more "punch" with its final punchline.

'The Dead Man' (scripted and directed by Douglas Heyes, based on the tale by Fritz Leiber Jr.) stars Carl Betz as Max Redford, a doctor who's found a remarkable young patient in the studly John Michael Fearing (Michael Blodgett). Through the power of suggestion, Max can get John to simulate any disease. Tragedy arises when he tries to get John to simulate death, and John dies for good. Max's wife Velia (Louise Sorel), deeply in love with John, goes insane with grief, and his associate Dr. Talmadge (the great character actor and acting teacher Jeff Corey) realizes the mistake that was initially made. But what will the final result be, when Max tries to make things right?

'The Housekeeper') offers a nifty premise when Cedric Acton (Larry Hagman) tries to replace the cold personality of his wife Carlotta (Suzy Parker) with the much more appealing soul of kindly old housekeeper Miss Wattle (Jeanette Nolan). Miss Wattle is not happy with this idea, but Cedric is determined to see his plan come to fruition. Heyes also wrote this segment (under a pseudonym), which is directed by John Meredyth Lucas.

'The Dead Man' doesn't have a particularly imaginative conclusion, but it IS sad and creepy, with 'The Housekeeper' containing more blatantly comedic and silly touches. Cedric has a basement laboratory that would make Dr. Frankenstein proud, and as evidence of his experiments, we see a crowing pig and an oinking rooster.

Overall, the acting is excellent (horror fans will recognize Cathleen Cordell, who played the Colonels' wife in "The Return of the Living Dead", in 'The Housekeeper'), and the directors offer some good atmosphere, pacing, and humor.

Seven out of 10.