The Forms of Things Unknown

At least there were no hokey monsters or silly-looking aliens stumbling around in this episode.

But the poor acting of Scott Marlowe and David McCallum, the overacting of a hysterical Barbara Rush, and a confusing script make this episode frustrating to watch.

The story is told in a sort of backwards chronology, as you find out important details later in the episode. But the opening scenes are a jumbled mess and the actions and reactions of Scott Marlowe's character make absolutely no sense.

The gothic, noir feel of the episode coupled with Sir Cedric Hardwicke's grave performance are almost enough to redeem it. Almost.

This episode of "The Outer Limits" seems like a variation on the classic French film "Les Diaboliques"--mixed with the ancient Greek character, Lachesis. It pretty much starts off like "Les Diaboliques". Two women hate a blackmailer, so they kill him. However, soon it becomes obvious that one of them (Barbara Rush) does not have the stomach for murder--and she spends MUCH of the show screaming and acting scared--so much so that it was a bit of a hindrance to the viewer's enjoyment. The two ladies shove the dead guy in their car trunk and drive off--and soon are stuck in a rain storm. It's so bad, they get stuck and are forced to take refuge at a blind man's (Cederic Hardwicke) home. There they meet a weirdo inventor (David McCallum) whose experiment causes great havoc--bringing the dead guy back to life by manipulating the strings of time! When McCallum meets the once-dead man, however, he regrets bringing him back to life. What's next? See the show if you dare (or not).

While doing a variation on "Les Diaboliques" might have worked, the acting sink this one. Not only does Rush's character overact, but so does McCallum. He behaves like a weirdo--and isn't particularly believable...just weird. Had these folks acted at least halfway believably, it would have worked. As it is, it just looks like a show that was too hastily assembled and should have had a few scenes re-shot. And, perhaps, re-written.

By the way, this is one of the distinguished British actor Cederic Hardwicke's last roles. He was just fine in the show and, as always, added an air of sophistication and grace.

Two women stumble into the house of a quirky inventor, who claims to have a time machine, added complication is that they have a dead body in the boot of their car.

I purposely watched this episode twice, as after the first viewing, I couldn't really form much if an opinion, the second viewing definitely helped. I e now come to the opinion that it's a great episode.

I'd go so far as to say this is perhaps one of the best five episodes from the first series, it's very imaginative, it's well realised, and it features some of the most beautiful and creative cinematography that I've seen in any show from the 1960's.

I really liked the story, it's clever, it's pretty dark at its core, but it's delivered with true authenticity, the cast do a fine job.

Wonderful to see Vera Miles, she's very good here, and adds some real star quality to proceedings, they clearly went for a star to end the series on a high.

David McCallum steals the show for me, his previous episode is perhaps my favourite of the lot, he gets to appear in another classic.

Series one ended on a high note, on to series two.

9/10.

Vera Miles and Barbara Rush star as Kasha Paine and Leonora Edmond, two women at the mercy of a sadistic blackmailer named Andre(played by Scott Marlowe) who decide one day at a lake to poison him, which does kill him, and they put his body in the car trunk. Unfortunately, they later seek shelter at the home of an eccentric inventor named Tone Hobart(played by David McCallum) who has invented a means to tilt time, which has the effect of reversing Andre's death, bringing him back to life to torment them all. Will Hobart be able to put things right again? Cedric Hardwicke costars. Bizarre episode is a dud, with a preposterous and excessively contrived plot wallowing in mind-numbing tedium. Good cast can't save it.

The visual imagery is quite striking here. The camera uses the shadows of the black and white to create ghostly scenes. The story is, unfortunately, plodding. I have to agree with the reviewer who talked about the young woman's hysteria being a distraction. When she assists in the murder of the man who will ruin her father for some relatively innocent transgressions, she quickly falls into utter guilt ridden craziness. This is actually a good ghost story with the old house in the rain and the weird stuff at the end of the hallway. David McCallum, who has made quite a comeback, is the spooky time traveller who set about from childhood to bring people back from the dead. Vera Miles is the ice blonde who has the chops for murder (who actually set up the old man). But this goes on and on and seems to never get to the point. We are also not given a good understanding of how McCallum put this all together. Hardwick is great as the blind homeowner who spooks around the house, knowing, but not knowing. Despite its shortcomings, it is great for atmosphere and a good bit of TV.