Perchance to Dream
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Disambiguation: Perchance to Dream is also the title of a musical by Ivor Novello.
Template:Infobox TTW season one
Perchance to Dream is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Details
Episode number: 9
Production code: 173-3616
Original air date: November 27, 1959
Writer: Charles Beaumont based on his story of the same name, published in the November 1958 issue of Playboy
Director: Robert Florey
Cast
Edward Hall: Richard Conte
Dr. Rathmann: John Larch
Maya: Suzanne Lloyd
Synopsis
Hall, a man with a heart condition, believes that if he falls asleep, he'll die. On the other hand, keeping himself awake will put too much of a strain on his heart. He seeks out the aid of Psychiatrist Rathmann and explains that he has been dreaming in chapters, as if in a movie serial. In his dreams, Maya, a carnival dancer, lures him onto a roller coster and a funhouse in an attempt to scare him to death. Realizing that Rathmann cannot help him, Hall starts to go, but stops when he realizes that Rathmann's receptionist looks exactly like Maya. Terrified, he runs back into Rathmann's office and jumps out of the window. In reality, this was all a dream: Hall actually came in to Rathmann's office, lay down, immediately fell asleep -- and then a few minutes later, screamed and died.
Trivia
This was the first episode aired to be written by Charles Beaumont (and also the first that was not written by Rod Serling).
Themes
An exploration of the nature and reality of dreams and, alternately, of the real world. A theme that is revisited in Shadow Play and Twenty-Two.
Critical response
- "Throughout the TV filming, [Florey] strove for quality. It might have been the most expensive MGM feature. He rooted out the meanings of certain lines, frequently surprising me with symbols and shadings I'd neither planned nor suspected. The set was truly impressionistic, recalling the days of Caligari and Liliom. The costumes were generally perfect. And in the starring role, Richard Conte gave a performance which displays both intensity and subtlety." Charles Beaumont writing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science-Fiction, December 1959
External link
- TV Tome episode page (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-237/epid-12593)
References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 1