Room with a View/The Little Black Bag/The Nature of the Enemy

S01-E02 of the anthology series--hosted by its creator and primary writer, Rod Serling--demonstrates what was right and what was wrong with the show (one which Serling himself had battles with behind-the-scenes). Diane Keaton co-stars in the brief opener "Room With a View", written by Hal Dresner and directed by Jerrold Freeman, in which she plays nurse to bedridden Joseph Wiseman, an old man with a stunning blonde wife, who sees an injustice (with his binoculars) and uses his unsuspecting employee to correct it. Keaton, very green but very charming in her dithering way, is the only highlight here as the plot is rather insulting, especially to her character. Burgess Meredith stars in "The Little Black Bag", written by Serling from a story by C. M. Cornbluth and directed by Jeannot Szwarc, is a fabulous tale of a medical bag from the future (2098, to be exact!) that makes its way back in time to 1971, landing in the hands of an former doctor-turned-20-year alcoholic. This episode is easily the best of the three here, as Serling's "The Nature of the Enemy", directed by Allen Reisner, is a shaggy-dog (rodent?) story about American astronauts on the moon meeting a most peculiar enemy. This closing effort begins seriously but isn't able to deliver even the semblance of irony or satire--just an eyerolling tag that elicits only groans. Had Serling lost his "Twilight Zone" touch with "Night Gallery"? No, there are better episodes to come, yet this one is indicative of the show's future troubles: a determination (it seems) to shy away from chills in place of irreverent (and corny) humor.

'Room With A View' - Joseph Wiseman plays an old bedridden invalid who uses his young nurse(played by Diane Keaton) in a cunning plan to get rid of his faithless wife using jealousy as a motive. Slight but effective story.

'The Little Black Bag' - Burgess Meredith & Chill Wills play two bums who find a medical bag from the future, and efforts to use it for good by healing local people end in betrayal, murder, and tragedy. Clever story with a most ironic ending.

'The Nature Of The Enemy' - Astronauts on the moon meet with mysterious deaths. Thin segment with a ludicrous twist ending. First two segments make up for it though.

Divided in three segments hosted by Rod Serling, "Night Gallery" presents two great stories and ends with a terrible segment. "Room with a View" tells a Machieavellian story of manipulation and revenge, with Diane Keaton in the beginning of career performing a nurse easily manipulated by her patient. "The Little Black Bag" tells a tragic story of greed with Burgess Meredith in the lead role. "The Nature of the Enemy" is a totally forgettable short story. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Galeria do Terror - Quarto com Vista / A Pequena Valise Preta / A Natureza do Inimigo" ("Gallery of Terror - Room with a View / The Little Black Bag / The Nature of the Enemy ")

"Room With a View" is an interesting short about how a bed-ridden old man (Joseph Wiseman) manipulates the lives of others. It's short and has the wonderful Diane Keaton in a small role as a nurse. Next is "The Little Black Bag". It's about two hobos (Burgess Meredith, Chill Wills) who find a medical black bag from the future. Meredith wants it to cure people--Wills wants it to make money. It has a very satisfying conclusion. "The Nature of the Enemy" starts off well about two teams sent to the moon to set up camp. They both end up disappearing and (in an unintentionally funny scene) we find out what the enemy is. Hard to believe that Rod Serling wrote it. The only good thing about it is that it's short.

The first sequence is good, the second sequence is great and the last one is very bad.

Room With a View is a good Hitchcock like sequence that is nothing special but still a good time waster. Joseph Wiseman is very good in the lead. A young Diane Keatin, who unfortunately passed away recently, is also good in one of her first roles.

The Little Black Bag is an excellent sci-fi story. The team of Rod Serling and Burgess Meredith scores again. This is well done in every department.

The Nature of the Enemy is the complete opposite. The twist ending ruins the entire story. I won't spoil it but it's ridiculous. We get a good, intense buildup and then everything is thrown out the windows when we see the way they ended it. They could have been so much more creative than they were. Awful!