The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes/Miss Lovecraft Sent Me/The Hand of Borgus Weems/Phantom of What Opera?
- Episode aired Sep 15, 1971
- TV-PG
- 1h
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
486
YOUR RATING
A boy's gift for prophecy pressures him when he forecasts disaster. / A babysitter fears that the baby is a monster. / Peter Lacland asks a doctor to amputate his possessed hand. / A comic t... Read allA boy's gift for prophecy pressures him when he forecasts disaster. / A babysitter fears that the baby is a monster. / Peter Lacland asks a doctor to amputate his possessed hand. / A comic twist on "Phantom of the Opera."A boy's gift for prophecy pressures him when he forecasts disaster. / A babysitter fears that the baby is a monster. / Peter Lacland asks a doctor to amputate his possessed hand. / A comic twist on "Phantom of the Opera."
- Directors
- John Badham(segment The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes)
- Gene R. Kearney(segments Miss Lovecraft Sent Me, Phantom of What Opera?)
- John Meredyth Lucas(segment The Hand of Borgus Weems)
- Writers
- Rod Serling(segment The Boy who Predicted Earthquakes)
- Margaret St. Clair(segment The Boy who Predicted Earthquakes)
- Jack Laird(segment Miss Lovecraft Sent Me)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes", the boy is played by Clint Howard, the brother of actor/director Ron Howard. Their father, Rance Howard, plays the camera man in a bit role.
- GoofsIn Herbie's first video at the start of the first act (set in February), he tells a story about beginning a book on astronomy which has made him want a telescope and that he can get one at the end of the semester. At the start of the second act, a year and a half later per the station manager, Herbie tells the exact same thing verbatim to the researcher from the university, even though it three semesters have now passed and he would not be in school during the summer. In addition, his voice is obviously filtered, indicating that the show is using the video recording from the first act, apparently to replace dialog that was lost or unusable.
- ConnectionsFeatures Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Featured review
Three solid segments almost undone by the lousy second one.
'The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes'. An appealing, 12-year-old Clint Howard plays Herbie Bittman, a child with an uncanny knack for making accurate predictions. This ability makes him a TV star, but one day he just doesn't want to say anything. And the reason why is chilling. Well acted by all concerned (William Hansen plays Herbies' grandfather, Michael Constantine the highly agitated, skeptical network boss, Bernie Kopell his employee), this was scripted by Rod Serling himself, based on a story by Margaret St. Clair. An excellent way to open the episode. Directed by John Badham ("Saturday Night Fever", "WarGames", etc.). Clints' father, character actor Rance Howard, plays a cameraman; Constantine briefly watches the 1932 horror classic "Island of Lost Souls" in a screening room.
'Miss Lovecraft Sent Me'. Sue "Lolita" Lyon plays an airhead babysitter sent to look after the offspring of a man (an admittedly amusing Joseph Campanella) who is clearly a vampire. Short and NOT sweet at all, this is worthless stuff: all setup, and zero payoff. Written by 'Night Gallery' producer Jack Laird, who hopefully stayed away from a typewriter after this, and directed by TV veteran Gene R. Kearney.
'The Hand of Borgus Weems'. George Maharis is cast as Peter Lacland, who begins to fear that he is no longer in control of his own right hand; he believes it to be possessed. And it IS, in what is a pretty standard tale of vengeance from beyond the grave. Peter desperately turns to a surgeon (a superb Ray Milland) for help; he wants the surgeon to sever the offending body part. While this is rather familiar stuff (scripted by Alvin Sapinsley, based on a tale by George Langelaan of "The Fly" fame), the cast is strong, and the many close-up shots of the possessed hand are amusing. It's all worth it just for the twist ending. Directed by John Meredyth Lucas ('Mannix', 'Star Trek', etc.)
'Phantom of What Opera?' Leslie Nielsen is fun as a theatrical "Phantom" abducting a sweet ingenue (Mary Ann Beck) and holding her prisoner. Again, it is the twist ending (a hilarious one, in this case) that makes this very short segment work.
Seven out of 10.
'Miss Lovecraft Sent Me'. Sue "Lolita" Lyon plays an airhead babysitter sent to look after the offspring of a man (an admittedly amusing Joseph Campanella) who is clearly a vampire. Short and NOT sweet at all, this is worthless stuff: all setup, and zero payoff. Written by 'Night Gallery' producer Jack Laird, who hopefully stayed away from a typewriter after this, and directed by TV veteran Gene R. Kearney.
'The Hand of Borgus Weems'. George Maharis is cast as Peter Lacland, who begins to fear that he is no longer in control of his own right hand; he believes it to be possessed. And it IS, in what is a pretty standard tale of vengeance from beyond the grave. Peter desperately turns to a surgeon (a superb Ray Milland) for help; he wants the surgeon to sever the offending body part. While this is rather familiar stuff (scripted by Alvin Sapinsley, based on a tale by George Langelaan of "The Fly" fame), the cast is strong, and the many close-up shots of the possessed hand are amusing. It's all worth it just for the twist ending. Directed by John Meredyth Lucas ('Mannix', 'Star Trek', etc.)
'Phantom of What Opera?' Leslie Nielsen is fun as a theatrical "Phantom" abducting a sweet ingenue (Mary Ann Beck) and holding her prisoner. Again, it is the twist ending (a hilarious one, in this case) that makes this very short segment work.
Seven out of 10.
helpful•10
- Hey_Sweden
- Mar 24, 2020
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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