A Most Unusual Camera

AMG AllMovie: TV Guide:

The Twilight Zone: A Most Unusual Camera

Top

Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > TV Episodes

Plot

Having just robbed a pawnshop, two-bit crooks Chester and Paula Diedrich (Fred Clark, Jean Carson) have only one "prize" to show for their troubles -- a cheap-looking camera. By accident, Chester and Paula discover that the camera has the ability to take pictures of things that haven't happened yet, and together with Paula's cloddish brother Woodward (Adam Williams) they intend to take advantage of this phenomenon. Inevitably, the camera's fortune-telling prowess backfires on everyone concerned. Originally telecast December 16, 1960, "A Most Unusual Camera" was written by Rod Serling. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A Most Unusual Camera

Top

Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia

"A Most Unusual Camera"

The Twilight Zone episode

Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 46

Directed by

John Rich

Written by

Rod Serling

Production code

173-3606

Original air date

December 16, 1960

Guest actors

Fred Clark: Chester
Jean Carson: Paula
Adam Williams: Woodward
Marcel Hillaire: Waiter

Episode chronology

← Previous
"The Trouble With Templeton"

Next →
"The Night of the Meek"

List of Twilight Zone episodes

"A Most Unusual Camera" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

1 Plot
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Plot

Two thieves, husband and wife Chester (Fred Clark) and Paula Diedrich (Jean Carson), have just robbed a curio shop, and among the things they have stolen is a strange camera. Through accident, the pair discover that it produces photos of the future, about five minutes ahead. After Paula's jail-escapee brother Woodward (Adam Williams) shows up, Chester decides to use the camera to take pictures of the blank winner's board before races at the local racetrack and then use the camera's "predictions" in making bets. The trio win $9,500 on the first race. They bet and win on five other races and leave with a considerable load of cash.

Back at their hotel, a French waiter named Pierre (Marcel Hillaire) takes notice of their camera and its French inscription dix à la propriétaire, meaning ten to an owner. When the waiter exits, Paula, Chester and Woodward discuss the use of the camera's last two pictures and fail to come to any agreement. While tugging over the camera, a picture of Paula - screaming and recoiling in horror - is accidentally taken. In further struggle, Chester and Woodward begin to fight, and they fall out of an open window to their deaths. Paula screams - as in the picture - but recovers immediately when she realizes that all the money and loot is now hers.

She takes a picture (the last picture) of Chester and Woodward's bodies in the courtyard below the window, and begins collecting the day's winnings, planning to check out of the hotel. Before Paula can leave, Pierre returns and robs her, telling her that he knows about their crimes and will turn her in to the police if she calls them for help. He notes that her last picture shows "more than two" bodies in the courtyard. Panicked, Paula runs to look out the window, trips over a wire, and falls to her demise. Pierre then counts the corpses in the picture. "Yes, there are more than two bodies down there. Just like the picture shows. One, two, three ... four?!" In shock upon his realization, he falls out as well, leaving the camera lying on the floor.

References

DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0

External links

v t e Twilight Zone (1959) episodes

Season 1	"Where Is Everybody?" "One for the Angels" "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" "Walking Distance" "Escape Clause" "The Lonely" "Time Enough at Last" "Perchance to Dream" "Judgement Night" "And When the Sky Was Opened" "What You Need" "The Four of Us Are Dying" "Third from the Sun" "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" "The Hitch-Hiker" "The Fever" "The Last Flight" "The Purple Testament" "Elegy" "Mirror Image" "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" "A World of Difference" "Long Live Walter Jameson" "People Are Alike All Over" "Execution" "The Big Tall Wish" "A Nice Place to Visit" "Nightmare as a Child" "A Stop at Willoughby" "The Chaser" "A Passage for Trumpet" "Mr. Bevis" "The After Hours" "The Mighty Casey" "A World of His Own"

Season 2	"King Nine Will Not Return" "The Man in the Bottle" "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" "A Thing About Machines" "The Howling Man" "The Eye of the Beholder" "Nick of Time" "The Lateness of the Hour" "The Trouble With Templeton" "A Most Unusual Camera" "The Night of the Meek" "Dust" "Back There" "The Whole Truth" "The Invaders" "A Penny for Your Thoughts" "Twenty Two" "The Odyssey of Flight 33" "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" "Static" "The Prime Mover" "Long Distance Call" "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" "The Silence" "Shadow Play" "The Mind and the Matter" "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" "The Obsolete Man"

Season 3	"Two" "The Arrival" "The Shelter" "The Passersby" "A Game of Pool" "The Mirror" "The Grave" "It's a Good Life" "Deaths-Head Revisited" "The Midnight Sun" "Still Valley" "The Jungle" "Once Upon a Time" "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" "A Quality of Mercy" "Nothing in the Dark" "One More Pallbearer" "Dead Man's Shoes" "The Hunt" "Showdown with Rance McGrew" "Kick the Can" "A Piano in the House" "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" "To Serve Man" "The Fugitive" "Little Girl Lost" "Person or Persons Unknown" "The Little People" "Four O'Clock" "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" "The Trade-Ins" "The Gift" "The Dummy" "Young Man's Fancy" "I Sing the Body Electric" "Cavender Is Coming" "The Changing of the Guard"

Season 4	"In His Image" "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" "Valley of the Shadow" "He's Alive" "Mute" "Death Ship" "Jess-Belle" "Miniature" "Printer's Devil" "No Time Like the Past" "The Parallel" "I Dream of Genie" "The New Exhibit" "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" "On Thursday We Leave for Home" "Passage on the Lady Anne" "The Bard"

Season 5	"In Praise of Pip" "Steel" "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" "A Kind of a Stopwatch" "The Last Night of a Jockey" "Living Doll" "The Old Man in the Cave" "Uncle Simon" "Probe 7, Over and Out" "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" "A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain" "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" "Ring-a-Ding Girl" "You Drive" "The Long Morrow" "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" "Black Leather Jackets" "Night Call" "From Agnes—With Love" "Spur of the Moment" "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" "Queen of the Nile" "What's in the Box" "The Masks" "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" "Sounds and Silences" "Caesar and Me" "The Jeopardy Room" "Stopover in a Quiet Town" "The Encounter" "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" "The Brain Center at Whipple's" "Come Wander With Me" "The Fear" "The Bewitchin' Pool"

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Donate to Wikimedia

Help us answer these

What is the most popular speed camera?

Where are the most cameras sold in the US?

What is most unusual use of Calcium?

What is the most unusual French sport?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Cite

Wikipedia on Answers.com This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article A Most Unusual Camera. Read