Escape Clause
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Template:Infobox TTW season one {{TTW episode details |episodetitle=Escape Clause |episodenumber=6 |season=1 |productioncode=173-3603 |originalday=November 6 |originalyear=1959 |writer=Rod Serling |director=Mitchell Leisen |producer= |photography= |music= }}
Contents |
Cast
- Walter Bedeker: David Wayne
- Mr. Cadwallader: Thomas Gomez
- Ethel Bedeker: Virginia Christine
Synopsis
A hypochondriac sells his soul to the devil in exchange for immortality. He uses it to collect insurance money and cheap thrills by hurling himself into life-threatening accidents. Soon growing bored with this game, he confesses to the murder of his wife... hoping to get a ride on the electric chair. His lawyer makes a good case, however, and he is sentenced to life in prison. In the last scene, the devil shows up and reminds the man of an escape clause in their contract which allows the devil to kill the man at his request. The man nods and suffers a heart attack.
Trivia
- The following is an excerpt from Rod Serling's pitch to potential sponsors of his new show, The Twilight Zone. It was included as an extra on "Twilight Zone's" DVD release, and was transcribed by Matthew Cregg.
“Object in point here, a file cabinet containing a contract, all very legal and proper except the party of the first part in this case...well, what do we call him? He has a lot of names. Beelzebub, Mr. Scratch. Well, that happens to be the party of the first part in a somewhat charred contract. Only in our story, which we call "Escape Clause," his name is simply Mr. Cadwallader. As portrayed, he has all the charm of a well-tipped waiter. He makes a deal with a little man who has a psychotic fear of dying. It's really a simple contract. Mr. Cadwallader supplies the immortality and the little man supplies his soul. And then our little man proceeds to live it up, or down depending on the moral view. But he gets bored with immortality and he then proceeds to live a very out of the ordinary kind of a life. A life best described as simply violent. He was so bored with constantly being the only survivor. So, he now turns to homicide, happily aware that while a jury might convict him there isn't a single modus operandi that the state can use to put him away. The gas chamber? Impossible. They can't kill him. Hanging, electrocution, none of these things are operative on our little friend. He's immortal. But what happens, and we'd be most appreciative if you wouldn't tell this to your friends, is that a very good lawyer pleads his case and gets him life imprisonment. Poor little guy. Yeah, he has immortality. He can live forever, right here, behind these things. We'll hold up on telling you the ending. Just think about it. It'll come to you.”
- Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has a refrence to this episode in the basement, the elevator has a plaque that says the last time the elevator was checked. It was checked on October 2nd, 1959 (the date The Twilight Zone first aired) and was checked by Mr. Cadwallader.
Themes
Death is an inescapable part of life, a theme also explored in “One for the Angels” and “Nothing in the Dark”.
Critical response
“Here was a little gem. Good work, Rod Serling. This little piece about a hypochondriac who gets tangled up with an obese, clerical devil ranked with the best that has ever been accomplished in half-hour filmed television.” —Excerpt from the Daily Variety review.
External links
References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)