Dust (The Twilight Zone)

Last updated
"Dust"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 12
Directed by Douglas Heyes
Written by Rod Serling
Featured music Jerry Goldsmith
Production code173-3653
Original air dateJanuary 6, 1961 (1961-01-06)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Night of the Meek"
Next 
"Back There"
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series, season 2)
List of episodes

"Dust" is episode 48 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone . It originally aired on January 6, 1961, on CBS, and was the 12th episode of the second season. The episode was written by series creator Rod Serling, and was directed by Douglas Heyes. It starred Thomas Gomez in his second appearance on the show following "Escape Clause", as well as Vladimir Sokoloff, in the first of his three appearances on the series. It is one of the few episodes that does not contain any fantasy or science-fiction elements.

Contents

Opening narration

There was a village. Built of crumbling clay and rotting wood. And it squatted ugly under a broiling sun like a sick and mangy animal wanting to die. This village had a virus, shared by its people. It was the germ of squalor, of hopelessness, of a loss of faith. For the faithless, the hopeless, the misery-laden, there is time, ample time, to engage in one of the other pursuits of men - they begin to destroy themselves.

Plot

In the Old West, in a desolate barren town, the sadistic and unscrupulous peddler Sykes mocks Luis Gallegos, who is due to be hanged. Luis is guilty of driving drunk and accidentally killing a child. Luis' father arrives in the village and pleads with the mother and father of the dead girl to spare his son the hanging. His pleas fall on deaf ears. After selling the executioner some five-strand rope needed for the hanging, Sykes sells a bag of dust to the condemned man's father, collecting ordinary dirt from the ground and insisting that it is magic dust that will spread good will throughout the crowd and make them feel love and sympathy for Luis.

As the crowd gathers for the hanging, Luis' father cries out and starts sprinkling the dust everywhere. He hears the trapdoor drop behind him and turns to see that the fresh and sturdy rope has snapped above the noose, and Luis is unharmed. When asked if another hanging attempt should be made, the girl's parents decide that it should not, that Luis has suffered enough and maybe they have had a sign from God. As father and son walk home, Sykes rechecks the rope which appears to be in perfect condition. Then he throws his gold pieces from the sale of the dust to the poor children of the town, insisting that they have them. He walks away from the scene bemused, stating that the dust must have been magic after all.

Closing narration

It was a very small, misery-laden village on the day of a hanging and of little historical consequence. And if there's any moral to it at all, let's say that in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human heart. For inside this deep place is a wizardry that costs far more than a few pieces of gold. Tonight's case in point - in the Twilight Zone.

Cast

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Serling</span> American screenwriter (1924–1975)

Rodman Edward Serling was an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the "angry young man" of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues, including censorship, racism, and war.

"Walking Distance" is episode five of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on October 30, 1959. The episode was listed as the ninth best episode in the history of The Twilight Zone by Time magazine.

"Long Live Walter Jameson" is episode 24 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

"Execution" is episode 26 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It features Albert Salmi, who also plays the lead character in the Season 4 episode "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Big Tall Wish</span> 27th episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"The Big Tall Wish" is episode twenty-seven of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, with an original score by Jerry Goldsmith. It originally aired on April 8, 1960, on CBS. This was one of a few Twilight Zone episodes to feature black actors in lead roles, a rarity for American television of the era.

"The Man in the Bottle" is episode 38 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on October 7, 1960, on CBS.

"The Night of the Meek" is episode 47 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on December 23, 1960, on CBS. It was one of the six episodes of the second season which were shot on videotape in a short-lived experiment aimed to cut costs.

"The Mirror" is episode 71 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, and the sixth episode of the third season. It originally aired on October 20, 1961 on CBS. The episode was written by Rod Serling, who described it as "the story of a tyrant and his assassins, a shattered dream and the death of a cause."

The Grave (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>) 7th episode of the 3rd season of The Twilight Zone

"The Grave" is episode 72 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on October 27, 1961 on CBS. This is one of two episodes that were filmed during season two but held over for broadcast until season three, the other being "Nothing in the Dark".

"Deaths-Head Revisited" is episode 74 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The story is about a former SS officer revisiting the Dachau concentration camp a decade and a half after World War II. The title is a play on the Evelyn Waugh novel Brideshead Revisited, and the SS "Death's Head" units who administered the camps. In Germany this episode was never brought to TV.

<i>Twilight Zone: The Movie</i> 1983 American science fiction anthology film

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American science fiction anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.

"I Am the Night—Color Me Black" is episode 146 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 27, 1964 on CBS.

"Caesar and Me" is episode 148 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone starring Jackie Cooper as a ventriloquist. It is not to be confused with a similar episode "The Dummy", starring Cliff Robertson as a ventriloquist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In Praise of Pip</span> 1st episode of the 5th season of The Twilight Zone

"In Praise of Pip" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, after learning that his soldier son has suffered a mortal wound in an early phase of the Vietnam War, a crooked bookie encounters a childhood version of his son.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a 1961 French short film, almost without dialogue. It was based on the 1890 American short story of the same name by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was directed by Robert Enrico and produced by Marcel Ichac and Paul de Roubaix with music by Henri Lanoë. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards. The film was later screened on American television as episode 22 of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone on 28 February 1964.

"Valley of the Shadow" is a 51-minute episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a reporter is held captive in a small town after he discovers its incredible secret.

"Passage on the Lady Anne" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a couple whose marriage is struggling travel aboard an aging ocean liner, unaware that the ship is on a final voyage into the afterlife. The cast features Lee Philips, Joyce Van Patten, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Cecil Kellaway and Alan Napier and the script was written by Charles Beaumont.

John A. Alonzo, ASC was an American cinematographer, television director, and actor known for his diverse body of work in both film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Scott Zicree</span> American novelist

Marc Scott Zicree is an American science fiction author, television writer and screenwriter. Zicree has written for major studios and networks including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, MGM, New Line, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, WB, UPN, Showtime, PBS, Turner, USA Networks, Syfy, Discovery, Nickelodeon, the BBC, Marvel and NPR. His credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, The Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Beauty and the Beast, Forever Knight, Sliders, Friday the 13th: The Series, Liberty's Kids, Super Friends, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Real Ghostbusters, The Smurfs and many others, as well as pilots for CBS, NBC, ABC and Showtime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Sokoloff</span> Russian actor

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff was a Russian actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, he began his professional film career in Germany and France during the Silent era, before emigrating to the United States in the 1930s. He appeared in over 100 films and television series, often playing supporting characters of various nationalities and ethnicities.

References