A Quality of Mercy

On eve of WWII's end a war-weary platoon is ordered into combat.

Interesting concept that takes literally the admonition to put yourself in the other man's shoes, in this case an enemy soldier's. Good characterizations. Salmi shines as the battle-hardened grunt who knows when to stop. In fact, the whole platoon exudes a sweaty, dirty battle fatigue that makes their resistance to the fresh-faced lieutenant very believable. Dean Stockwell's gung-ho officer is also well done, the kind of uncaring-about-the-cost glory-hound, who ended up getting fragged in Vietnam. Also, Salmi's dressing down of the lieutenant's selfish ambition amounts to a classic version of the enlisted man's grudge. One real flaw-- did the producers have to cast a racial stereotype as the Japanese major, even down to the buck teeth? Nonetheless, this remains an entry with a humanely worthwhile message well delivered.

On 06 August 1945, an American platoon keeps under siege a group of about 20 or 30 Japanese wounded and starving soldiers in a cave under the command of the veteran Sgt. Causarano. Unexpectedly, the rookie Lt. Katell arrives and orders that the platoon shall attack the Japanese. His orders are questioned by Sgt. Causarano and his men that tells that all those deaths will not make the allied win the war, but Lt. Katel is resolute in his decision to kill the enemy. Out of the blue, the situation reverts and Lt. Katel is a Japanese lieutenant and the American team is trapped in the caves. What will happen next?

"A Quality of Mercy" is an intriguing episode of "The Twilight Zone" with Dean Stockwell very young in the lead role. Leonard Nimoy has also a minor participation in this show in the role of a GI. The intriguing plot teaches the meaning of the word mercy with one weird situation only possible in the Twilight Zone. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Valor da Piedade" ("The Value of Mercy")

I have to disagree with the poster who wrote that Dean Stockwell doesn't look remotely Japanese. It was great casting, as Stockwell's eyes didn't require that much makeup to look Asian, and the work that was done on them was done extremely well. In fact, I caught this episode on TV in the middle and thought that they had cast a Japanese actor in the second part! The episode itself falls prone to Serling's not uncommon habit of hitting you over the head with his point. The American Stockwell and the Japanese commander are so extreme as to be cardboard cutouts. But I guess subtlety wasn't really the point of "The Twilight Zone".

A good TZ episode. Especially good acting by Albert Salmi. I won't rehash the plot. Serling served in the Philippines during the later part of WW2 and saw some heavy combat with the Japanese Army. It is interesting that several episodes take place there. Also kind of surprising that he takes a merciful and humane view of his enemy that he personally fought in such a hellish experience.

This is to his credit. I've read that soldiers in combat for long periods will come to regard their enemies more often than not as fellow victims of the same evil- war itself.

I agree with a poster that telegraphing the date at the beginning was a mistake, right before Hiroshima was bombed.

I also can't see how it was relevant since nobody here knew the war was about to end. This could have been set in April 1945 for the difference it would make to the characters and story.

Anyway, the story's pretty basic, the rookie Lieutenant gets to see the war from the other side, and that's about it.

It was weird how well Stockwell was made up to be Japanese. Like another reviewer, I thought it was a different character in those scenes!