Night Call is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Details

Episode number:139

Season: 5

Production code: 2610

Original air date: February 7, 1964

Writer: Richard Matheson adapted from is story "Sorry, Right Number" originally published in 1961 in the collection Alone by Night

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Music:stock

Cast

Elva Keene: Gladys Cooper

Margaret Phillips: Nora Marlowe

Synopsis

A lonely, elderly lady by the name of Elva Keene starts receiving strange anonymous phone calls. At first the caller says nothing. Then, in later calls, he can be heard mumbling. And then finally he manages to get out the words, "Where are you. I want to talk to you."

By this point, Elva has had enough of the calls and now screams at the man to leave her alone. No more calls are received, and finally, the phone company traces the problem to a fallen telephone line. They assure her, though, that since the line has fallen to the ground, no one could possibly have been calling her from that location. The location is in fact, a cemetery.

When Elva goes to the cemetery to investigate for herself, she finds that the line is resting on the grave of Elva's former fiancee from 30 years prior, Brian Douglas. She recalls how, in their relationship, she was always dominating him--always insisting upon getting her own way. And ultimately he would always do what she said. A week before they were to be married, she insisted upon driving, and had subsequently lost control of the car. The accident left Brian dead, and left her crippled and alone. Her sorrow at the remembrance, however, is tempered by her excitement at the idea of being able to talk to him again now. At last, she won't have to be alone any longer.

When she returns home, she picks up the phone and calls out to Brian. She pleads with him to answer so that she can talk to him again. In his response, though, he replies that she has told him to leave her alone, and that he always does what she says. She cries out in the horrible realization that her chance to connect with Brian and end her loneliness has been lost.

Trivia

Originally scheduled to air on November 22, 1963, it was pre-empted by the Kennedy assassination.

Themes

Vaguely suggests a "be careful what you wish for" theme, as has been explored in The Man in the Bottle, The Trouble With Templeton, The Last Night of a Jockey, Escape Clause, The Mind and the Matter, Time Enough at Last and I Dream of Genie .

References

• Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 5