Night Call
An elderly woman receives strange anonymous phone calls. During the first calls she hears only static. Later she hears a man moaning and she repeatedly demands to know who is calling.
Finally he says “Hello? Where are you? I want to talk to you.” Elva, terrified, screams at the man to leave her alone. The phone company traces the cause to a telephone line that has fallen in a cemetery.
A Stop at Willoughby
A stressed businessman on his daily train ride home, wakes up with the carriage transformed into one from the 1800s, pulled up at Willoughby, “a peaceful, restful place, where a man can slow down to a walk and live his life full measure.” As things progressively worsen at home and at work, his stops become longer, tempting him to step off the train and into a more peaceful era.
Eventually after having a breakdown at the office and being abandoned by his wife, he takes the final step, and climbs out of the train at Willoughby, dropping his briefcase and being embraced by the inhabitants. The scene then cuts to a train conductor standing over his body on the side of the rails, saying that he yelled something about Willoughby before jumping from the cart. With that, his body is loaded into a stretcher, and taken to Willoughby & Son Funeral Home.
Time Enough At Last
Burgess Meredith stars as a man who wants nothing more than to be left alone to read in piece and quiet, a treat denied to him at every turn. During his lunch break at the bank where he works, he retires to a vault to read undisturbed, only to be knocked out by a massive tremor.
He awakes to find himself the only living person on Earth, having being saved from an atomic bomb by the vault. Wandering the wasteland he contemplates suicide, until he stumbles across a library. Overjoyed at finally having “time enough at last” to read, he trips and falls and shatters his glasses.
Walking Distance
Walking Distance lacks the plot twist of most other TZ segments, instead laying out the general premise early on: a man traveling across the country finds himself in his childhood, and meets his younger self.
He accidentally injures his younger self at one point, causing old him to walk with a limp. Eventually he returns to the present, not really any wiser, just with the understanding that we all have a limited time on this planet, and to enjoy it. It’s a far more introspective and thoughtful episode than most, and remembered for it.
It’s a Good Life
A small town is placed under the thumb of a child with evil super powers. The inhabitants don’t even know if the outside world still exists, or was destroyed by their young tyrant, perpetually terrified and doing everything they can to please him. He’s a mind reader, they must all smile and think happy thoughts, lest they be murdered or transformed.
Eventually, at a party, someone breaks down and calls the kid out on his behavior, only to be turned into a horrific jack-in-the-box. As punishment, the boy causes it to start snowing, a move that will kill at least half the towns crops, prompting his father to say, through a terrified smile, …but it’s a real good thing you did.
> Best Classic Twilight Zone Episodes | Pop Crunch
