The Howling Man is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Details

Episode number: 41

Season: 2

Production code: 3642

Original airdate: November 4, 1960

Writer: Charles Beaumont from his story of the same name, originally published in his 1960 collection Night Ride and Other Journeys

Director: Douglas Heyes

Music: stock

Cast

David Ellington:H.M. Wynant

Brother Jerome: John Carradine

The Howling Man: Robin Hughes

Synopsis

American David Ellington gets lost in a storm while on a walking trip through post-World War I Europe and seeks shelter in a nearby castle. The religious order occupying the castle reluctantly accepts him in, and while wandering the castle halls he comes upon a man locked in a prison cell... a man that Brother Jerome claims to be the devil himself. Ellington is skeptical and frees the man, only to find that he is the devil.

Trivia

This was the first aired episode of the second season which was not written by Rod Serling.

Themes

A European setting between the wars might suggest an allusion to Adolf Hitler, another "evil" man who was granted freedom and power after making an appeal from a prison cell claiming that he was a victim (Mein Kampf or "My Struggle"). This interpretation is further strengthened by a line in Beaumont's original story, which reads [in first person narrative from Ellington]:""When the pictures of the carpenter from Braunau-am-Inn began to appear in all the papers, I grew uneasy; for I felt I'd seen this man before. When the carpenter invaded Poland, I was sure." If this is the case, Beaumont may be warning viewers not to repeat the same mistake, to deny future dictators "man's weakness and Satan's strength," which is mankind's reluctance to see evil for what it really is. Similar themes are explored in He's Alive.

References

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

Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 2