In this episode of Night Gallery, the first tale called THE DEAD MAN, concerns a psychiatrist who releases all his other patients from an asylum he operates to focus on a handsome psychosomatic young man. Dr. Max Redford(Carl Betz)calls over his mentor, Dr. Miles Talmadge(Jeff Corey)to happily show him a patient named John Fearing(Michael Blodgett). Fearing's body can be inflicted with any disease and return to health! Redford has found a way to actually control Fearing's body, using a specific pattern of taps to coordinate what psychosomatic reactions the male experiment will have through hypnotic suggestion. Meanwhile, Max's wife Velia(Louise Sorel)has fallen in love with Fearing and her husband is becoming increasingly jealous. Talmadge warns Max not to use his technique to harm Fearing, no matter how he feels wronged by his wife's fondness for his human lab animal. But, Max's obsession with using Fearing's physical condition to test his theory of immortality could lead to devastating consequences. To be honest, I found THE DEAD MAN rather lackluster in it's execution. It takes quite a while to get to the macabre final image(it's obvious the show is built towards this), and Sorel goes over the top(more like melodramatically overboard)towards the end when she discovers her husband's mistake in the fate of Fearing..the wailing hysterics and flailing of the arms. The second tale, THE HOUSEKEEPER, has a devious(and cunning)Larry Hagman as a scheming husband, Cedric Action wanting to use black magic to perform a "personality transplant" on his adulterous(and beautiful)wife, Carlotta(Suzy Parker)with an "old hag"(who seems to have a sweet heart and gentle personality), Miss Wattle(Jeanette Nolan). Sufficed to say, it doesn't quite go as Cedric had planned. Sure the transplant is a success, but his wishes for a more subservient wife fails more than a bit miserably. Hagman, as some sort of mad scientist, is a hoot..not exactly a role we are accustomed to seeing Hagman portray, but he can play conniving and devilish with the best of them.
Review of The Dead Man/The Housekeeper
