I've always found "Night Gallery" to be one of the most frustrating series to watch. Far too often, the series' episodes would do a fine job of setting up their stories, then ultimately bungle the payoff. "A Question of Fear" is a perfect example.
While regaling club members with stories of a haunted house that turned his hair white, a visiting doctor (Fritz Weaver) is ridiculed by one of the club's members (Leslie Nielsen), an arrogant career soldier who has no respect for those who exhibit fear. The two then make a bet, that Nielsen cannot spend a full night in the house without experiencing fear. Once we get inside the house, the story goes through a few twists -- unfortunately, the last of these twists makes absolutely no sense, and cheats the viewer.
The problem comes with establishing Nielsen's character -- despite the negative traits we learn later (particularly, arrogance and sadism) -- he is otherwise presented as highly intelligent, resourceful and essentially fearless. Despite this, the final twist requires that the character be a fool and utterly gullible. Rather than the utterly fantastic scenario Weaver spins for Nielsen (with minimal to non-existent corroboration), it would have made far more dramatic sense to created a more realistic scenario that brings out a different type of fear (i.e., in response to a different, more realistic form of danger). Instead, the writers opted for the former, playing off the ghoulish nature of many episodes, betraying the strong story they've set up.
All of this is a real shame, because Nielsen gives a strong performance as a character in whom there's just as much to admire as detest. Weaver, too, is dependable (as always), and director Jack Laird does a good job of building suspense during the night in the haunted house. It's just a shame the writers and/or producers (including Laird) didn't have sufficient confidence in their characters and premise to see them through to a logical conclusion.
While regaling club members with stories of a haunted house that turned his hair white, a visiting doctor (Fritz Weaver) is ridiculed by one of the club's members (Leslie Nielsen), an arrogant career soldier who has no respect for those who exhibit fear. The two then make a bet, that Nielsen cannot spend a full night in the house without experiencing fear. Once we get inside the house, the story goes through a few twists -- unfortunately, the last of these twists makes absolutely no sense, and cheats the viewer.
The problem comes with establishing Nielsen's character -- despite the negative traits we learn later (particularly, arrogance and sadism) -- he is otherwise presented as highly intelligent, resourceful and essentially fearless. Despite this, the final twist requires that the character be a fool and utterly gullible. Rather than the utterly fantastic scenario Weaver spins for Nielsen (with minimal to non-existent corroboration), it would have made far more dramatic sense to created a more realistic scenario that brings out a different type of fear (i.e., in response to a different, more realistic form of danger). Instead, the writers opted for the former, playing off the ghoulish nature of many episodes, betraying the strong story they've set up.
All of this is a real shame, because Nielsen gives a strong performance as a character in whom there's just as much to admire as detest. Weaver, too, is dependable (as always), and director Jack Laird does a good job of building suspense during the night in the haunted house. It's just a shame the writers and/or producers (including Laird) didn't have sufficient confidence in their characters and premise to see them through to a logical conclusion.