The Twilight Zone - Vol. 37

Comme-ci, Comme-ca
This is not one of the better volumes in the Twilight Zone collections, but I still enjoyed it. In the first story, "Hocus-Pocus And Frisby"(good title), Andy Devine plays Frisby, a big blowhard whose boasts force aliens to kidnap him. In the second story, "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", Albert Salmi plays William Feathersmith, a financier who the Devil(a very fetching Julie Newmar) sends back in time to 1910 to start over. In the final story, "Mr. Garrity and the Graves", John Dehner plays Mr. Garrity, a con man who claims he can bring back the dead. But the townspeople pay him, not to resurrect the dead, but to unresurrect them. There was only one episode I didn't like here: "Of Late..." wasn't a good story; it was predictable and I didn't like the age makeup, it wasn't convincing enough. However, I enjoyed the two other stories. "Hocus Pocus and Frisby" was a comedy/fantasy that had a good ending, similar to "the boy that cried wolf". "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" was funny,...

"Of Late..." is a gem...
..."Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" is the reason for this DVD to be sought after...Julie Newmar of course steals the show, though Albert Salmi is not without interest (but it is his weakest TZ episode...see "A Quality of Mercy" for his best TZ performance [there were three total]). Unfortunately "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" and fifth season "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" are not as commendable. However, like almost all TZ episodes, they are of great merit in comparison to the vast majority of things being aired on television then or now. The hour long episode DVD's are especially valuable because these fourth season episodes are rarely shown at all in syndication (and of course TZ is always cut in syndication anyway).

One of the best of the Twilight Zone discs.
HOCUS-POCUS AND FRISBY is a science fiction story starring Andy Devine. Howard Near, famous for his roll of Floyd the Barber in the Andy Griffith show, has a minor part in this story. The story is a fine one. It is not a great story, but it is fun watching over and over, in view of the abundantly likeable Andy Devine. In a nutshell, Mr.Devine is the owner of a small shop in a country village, some time in the present era (early 1960s). Some aliens drive up in an automobile, and they request a fill up. The aliens look like ordinary businessmen, but they are really aliens. Their goal is to confirm that the man they met is really Andy Devine. This goal arose from their intelligence sources who informed the aliens that Mr.Devine is the smartest human being on earth. This information arose from the fact that Mr.Devine had a habit of bragging of his remarkable accomplisments in the fields of science, politics, and the humanities. At any rate, the aliens make a mistake in thinking...

Click to Editorial Reviews