A Thing About Machines: Information from Answers.com

"A Thing About Machines"

The Twilight Zone episode

Scene from "A Thing About Machines"

Episode no.

Season 2
Episode 40

Written by

Rod Serling

Directed by

David Orrick McDearmon

Production no.

173-3645

Original airdate

October 28, 1960

Guest stars

Richard Haydn: Bartlett Finchley
Barbara Stuart: Miss Rogers (secretary)
Barney Phillips: TV repairman
Jay Overholts: Intern
Henry Beckman: Policeman
Lew Brown: Telephone repairman
Margarita Cordova: Girl

Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room"	"The Howling Man"

List of Twilight Zone episodes

"A Thing About Machines" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

1 Opening narration
2 Synopsis
3 Closing narration
4 Preview for next week's story
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Opening narration

“

This is Mr. Bartlett Finchley, age forty-eight, a practicing sophisticate who writes very special and very precious things for gourmet magazines and the like. He's a bachelor and a recluse with few friends, only devotees and adherents to the cause of tart sophistry. He has no interests save whatever current annoyances he can put his mind to. He has no purpose to his life, except the formulation of day-to-day opportunities to vent his wrath on mechanical contrivances of an age he abhors. In short, Mr. Bartlett Finchley is a malcontent, born either too late or too early in the century, and who in just a moment will enter a realm where muscles and the will to fight back are not limited to human beings. Next stop for Mr. Bartlett Finchley: The Twilight Zone.

”

Synopsis

An ill-tempered writer who reviles and constantly abuses machines starts to think machines are conspiring against him. The people he tells about this write him off as paranoid, but eventually every machine in his house (including his car) turns on him. Has he snapped or have the devices themselves taken it upon themselves to take revenge? His typewriter types, "GET OUT OF HERE FINCHLEY." The TV shows the same message, as does the phone. Finchley runs from the house to be confronted by his car. The car chases him to his pool and pushes him in. He sinks to the bottom and drowns. When the police pull him out of the water, they can not explain how he could sink to the bottom when he was not weighted down (normally, a body would float). They figure he may have had a heart attack.

Closing narration

“

Yes, it could just be. It could just be that Mr. Bartlett Finchley succumbed from a heart attack and a set of delusions. It could just be that he was tormented by an imagination as sharp as his wit, and as pointed as his dislikes. But, as perceived by those attending, this is one explanation that has left the premises with the deceased. Look for it filed under 'M' for machines...in the Twilight Zone.

”

Preview for next week's story

Announcer: "And now, Mr. Serling."

“

Down this hall is a very strange individual locked in a room. He's known by various names and by various forms, and next week on The Twilight Zone, you'll be close to the elbow of the people who let him out. Our story is called "The Howling Man" by Mr. Charles Beaumont. It's designed for the young in heart, but the strong of nerve. I hope we'll see you next week, along with "The Howling Man". Thank you and good night.

”

References

DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

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A Thing About Machines

The Twilight Zone: A Thing About Machines

Plot

Contents