The Thirty-Fathom Grave

This hour long entry is very dull early on with irritating tautology in the dialogue. It only comes to 'life' at around thirty minutes in. Its at that point you'll see some eerie imagery. So for half an hour you can make the coffee, put the pizza in the oven, let the dog out the back garden etc, and all you need to know of the plot by then is the hammering sounds that are puzzling the Captain and crew.

The Captain (Simon Oakland) becomes aware that Bell (Mike Kellin-overacting) is not himself just lately. Bell is haunted by something as the hammering sounds continue to perplex the men on board.

There are some effective ghost story elements that stand the test of time, but the pace of this episode doesn't. TZ should have always been the intended half hour.

As the story slowly (very slowly...) unfolded, i had an vague impression of deja-vu. strange, the fourth season has never been aired in France, so it couldn't be one of those episodes i saw long ago...

After some important element of the plot was revealed, i knew why i had this feeling.

The writing of the story is accredited to Rod Serling, but i think it should be better to only acknowledge him the screenplay writing. The story in itself can be read in a short story untitled "The eyes of the dead", written in 1927 by Irish politician, writer and teacher Daniel Corkery (1878–1964).

I've been a huge fan of Serling's work until today. Now i wonder how many of his stories have been similarly "borrowed".

MIKE KELLEN as lieutenant Bell makes you BELIEVE this episode is really happening. The story is 100% believable and expertly written--as are ALL Rod Serling pieces--but it is Mike Kellen's acting, with an assist from Simon Oakland, that drives this story. One of my top ten Twilight Zone favorites.

While sailing in the South Pacific, a US destroyer detects the sound of beating on a metal undersea. The Chief Boatswain's Mate Bell feels disturbed and sick and is sent to the infirmary by Captain Beecham. The diver McClure finds a submarine stranded in the bottom of the sea and based on the Hull # 714, Captain Beecham learns that the submarine has sunk during the World War II. Further, Chief Bell is the only survivor and blames himself for the sinking of the submarine.

"The Thirty-Fathom Grave" is an ambiguous episode of "The Twilight Zone". The plot has double interpretation, one logical based on the feeling of guilt of the disturbed Chief Bell for the sinking of the submarine, and seeing and imagining ghosts. The other, a supernatural ghost story that would be simply that he is right and the ghosts are summoning him. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Túmulo Submerso" ("The Submerged Grave")

In the fourth season of "The Twilight Zone", they experimented by making the show an hour long instead of the usual half hour. In some cases the new episodes worked well and in other cases it really made you look back fondly at the original format. Obviously the experiment was not successful, as the next season returned to the original length. If you would ask me why I think the shows ultimately failed, I think it's because too often they were just too long--drawing out a half hour story too far--thus ruining the suspense. "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" is a prime example of a story that was harmed by this.

The episode is set on a modern US Navy ship. When they are in the middle of very routine duty, they suddenly begin hearing tapping sounds on the sonar--very much like the sound you'd hear from a crew on a wrecked sub as they tap on the ship as a distress call. The ship stops to investigate and the next 40 minutes are basically doing nothing--waiting until the ultimate twist occurs. But, because it took so long, you are left feeling disappointed.

It's a shame, really, as one of the stars is a fun actor from the era--Simon Oakland. I loved seeing him on a wide variety of shows playing gruff blow-hard characters--especially since here he is NOT that sort of fellow. Because the show was a failure, I am sure his fine performance was overshadowed by the shallow plot and overacting of the main character--who was written in a rather bizarre and inexplicable manner.

Perhaps it's worth seeing, but it is far from a classic despite some reviews giving it a 10. In fact, EVERY episode of the series has a few people giving it 10s...making you wonder if either guys like me are idiots because we don't love every episode or there are people who are such die-hard fans that you need to take these glowing reviews with a grain of salt!