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Five Characters in Search of an Exit

 
TV Episode:

The Twilight Zone: Five Characters in Search of An Exit

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  • Movie Type: Anthology Series
  • Director: Lamont Johnson
  • Main Cast: William Windom, Murray Matheson, Susan Harrison, Kelton Garwood
  • Release Year: 1961
  • Country: US

Plot

This episode was adapted by Rod Serling from Marvin Petal's short story "The Depository," but it could easily have been inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. Five people from various and assorted walks of life -- an Army major (William Windom), a clown (Murray Matheson), a ballerina (Susan Harrison), a tramp (Kelton Garwood), and a bagpipe player (Clark Allen) -- find themselves trapped in a huge, cylindrical prison. They don't know where they are or how they got there, but it soon becomes painfully clear that they'd better escape, lest they be driven crazy by the deafening peal of bell which periodically interrupts their conversation. Mona Houghton, daughter of Twilight Zone producer Buck Houghton, appears in the final scene. "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" first aired December 22, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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"Five Characters in Search of an Exit"
The Twilight Zone episode
SusanHarrison.JPG
Susan Harrison as the Ballerina in Five Characters In Search Of An Exit
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 79
Written by Rod Serling from the story "The Depository" by Marvin Petal
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Featured music Stock
Production no. 4805
Original airdate December 22, 1961
Guest stars

William Windom: Major
Murray Matheson: Clown
Susan Harrison: Ballerina
Kelton Garwood: Tramp
Clark Allen: Bagpiper
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Once Upon a Time" "A Quality of Mercy"
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"Five Characters in Search of an Exit" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

Opening narration

About this sound Opening Narration (help·info):

“ Clown. Hobo. Ballet Dancer. Bagpiper. And an Army Major. A collection of question marks. Five improbable entities stuck together into a pit of darkness. No logic, no reason, no explanation. Just a prolonged nightmare in which fear, loneliness, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we'll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not end the nightmare, we'll only explain it, because this is the Twilight Zone. ”

Synopsis

A uniformed Army Major wakes up to find himself trapped inside in a large metal cylinder. With him is a Hobo, Ballet Dancer, Bagpiper, and a Clown. None of them has any memory of who they are or how they became trapped. The Major, being the newest arrival, is the most determined to escape. He is told there is no way out except the ceiling, which is too high to reach but nonetheless he investigates and perseveres. The Major's questioning reveals that the characters have no need for food or water and indeed feel nothing in general.

The characters question, where, what and who they are, with The Major being told, “we are in the darkness, nameless things with no memory – no knowledge of what went before, no understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.” Guesses are made about the nature of where they have been placed: the Ballet Dancer speculates that they’re on a spaceship, the Clown believes they’re in a dream, while the Major believes that they are in Hell.

Eventually the Ballet Dancer suggests a plan to escape: forming a tower of people, each person on the other's shoulders. The plan almost works, but a loud sound shakes the cylinder and sends the five tumbling to the ground. Now even more determined, the Major fashions a grappling hook out of loose bits of clothing and his sword. By reforming the tower, he manages to grapple onto the edge of the container. He escapes and tumbles to the ground outside.

The scene cuts to a little girl picking up a doll in the snow: a doll in the dress of an Army Major. A kindly woman tells her to "put it back in the barrel with the rest of them." It is revealed that the cylinder is a toy collection bin for a girls' orphans home, and that all five characters are nothing more than dolls. The loud noise was the shaking of a hand held bell which the woman used to attracted donations. The final shot is of the five characters, now seen as dolls with painted faces and glass eyes. The ballet dancer moves to hold the hand of the major and her eyes fill with tears.


About this sound Closing Narration (help·info):

“ Just a barrel, a dark depository where are kept the counterfeit, make-believe pieces of plaster and cloth, wrought in the distorted image of human life. But this added, hopeful note: perhaps they are unloved only for the moment. In the arms of children, there can be nothing but love. A clown, a tramp, a bagpipe player, a ballet dancer, and a major. Tonight's cast of players on the odd stage known as the Twilight Zone. ”

Preview for next week's story

Announcer: "And now, Mr. Serling."

“ Next week, Mr. Dean Stockwell makes his journey into The Twilight Zone playing the role of a platoon lieutenant on Corregidor during the last few hours of World War II. What happens to him provides the basis of a weird, and yet, we think, haunting excursion into the shadowland of imagination. On The Twilight Zone next week, Mr. Dean Stockwell stars in "The Quality of Mercy". ”

Production notes

The last shot of the episode, in which the five characters are seen in doll form, does not feature the actors; rather, specially made dolls were crafted that closely resembled the five actors who played the parts are shown.[1]

The little girl who appears at the end of this episode was portrayed by the daughter of longtime Twilight Zone producer Buck Houghton.[1]

Impact

The death metal band Five Characters in Search of an Exit[2] took its name from the title of this Twilight Zone episode.[3]

The TV fiction "Child's Play" from the "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" series seems based on this episode but with a more futuristic setting.

Allusions

The title for the episode likely refers to the play by Italian writer Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author.

Some speculate that the episode also alludes to the play No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, in which a character famously concludes: "Hell is other people."

References

  1. ^ a b Zicree, Marc Scott (1982). "The Twilight Zone Companion" (Second ed.). Sillman-James Press. p. 234. 
  2. ^ http://www.myspace.com/insearchofanexit
  3. ^ http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=111527

External links


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

 
 

 

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