This episode is to me one of the most memorable of the Bonanza series. It reflects a successful mixture of two very distinct genres: Western and Supernatural Mystery. This is very unusual for Bonanza, and perhaps works so successfully because the locus of the intersection is a classic locus for this kind of intersection of Mystery and Western: the Ghost Town.
Another commentator says that this episode is partly a reflection of the then contemporary Twilight Zone series; hence, for example, the title of this episode, Twilight Town. That could be: this episode certainly show many elements in common with Twilight Zone.
In any event, I think special kudos are due to writer Cy Chermak. I see that this is the only episode he is currently credited as having written for the Bonanza series. He appears to have had a very successful career as both a writer and a producer, especially, in the latter role, for the TV series Ironsides.
Back to "Twilight Town," this entire episode is a really near-perfect jewel of its kind. The eeriness of the town of Martinville begins with Joe's discovery of this ghost town, of classic appearance: full of dust, banging shutters, and tumbleweed. The music throughout provides a sense of eeriness. The episode opens with several angle-shots at the beginning in the ghost town, helping to throw our expectations out of line. There's a really almost palpably strange comparison between the visual unreality of Martinville, contrasting with the dusty, bustling realism of the Cartwrights' interactions with other "real" towns and places as they look for Little Joe. There's a powerful and frightening intensity to Mme O'Brien's prophecy of doom, said with such conviction that the confidence of Little Joe visibly flags in his face as he hears her tell the story of the betrayal and death of her husband, the previous sheriff. Doris Dowling does a splendid job of portraying the widow O'Brien by the way. Near the end, there's the shadowy depiction of Matthews face. The penultimate scene, with townsfolk led by Joe attacking up the hill near the end, has a sense of unreality even as it unfolds. The battle ends with Little Joe once again unconscious, and coming to with the Town once again reverting to a Ghost Town. There are several twists near the end that really leave us wondering: was it real? Or not? What happened? And: if it happened, was the town released from its terrible curse? Or did it continue its fatal course? This is what makes a Curse so eery of course: its imposition of a Doom, a Destiny, a Fate that is ineluctable, inescapable, and very, very unpleasant. This episode gives us this sense of Doom and of ghostly fatalism with a relentlessly unsettling sense of ritualism, from beginning to end, that make this almost a perfect gem of its kind.
Kudos again to Cy Chermak and to all associated with this superb episode of Bonanza.
Another commentator says that this episode is partly a reflection of the then contemporary Twilight Zone series; hence, for example, the title of this episode, Twilight Town. That could be: this episode certainly show many elements in common with Twilight Zone.
In any event, I think special kudos are due to writer Cy Chermak. I see that this is the only episode he is currently credited as having written for the Bonanza series. He appears to have had a very successful career as both a writer and a producer, especially, in the latter role, for the TV series Ironsides.
Back to "Twilight Town," this entire episode is a really near-perfect jewel of its kind. The eeriness of the town of Martinville begins with Joe's discovery of this ghost town, of classic appearance: full of dust, banging shutters, and tumbleweed. The music throughout provides a sense of eeriness. The episode opens with several angle-shots at the beginning in the ghost town, helping to throw our expectations out of line. There's a really almost palpably strange comparison between the visual unreality of Martinville, contrasting with the dusty, bustling realism of the Cartwrights' interactions with other "real" towns and places as they look for Little Joe. There's a powerful and frightening intensity to Mme O'Brien's prophecy of doom, said with such conviction that the confidence of Little Joe visibly flags in his face as he hears her tell the story of the betrayal and death of her husband, the previous sheriff. Doris Dowling does a splendid job of portraying the widow O'Brien by the way. Near the end, there's the shadowy depiction of Matthews face. The penultimate scene, with townsfolk led by Joe attacking up the hill near the end, has a sense of unreality even as it unfolds. The battle ends with Little Joe once again unconscious, and coming to with the Town once again reverting to a Ghost Town. There are several twists near the end that really leave us wondering: was it real? Or not? What happened? And: if it happened, was the town released from its terrible curse? Or did it continue its fatal course? This is what makes a Curse so eery of course: its imposition of a Doom, a Destiny, a Fate that is ineluctable, inescapable, and very, very unpleasant. This episode gives us this sense of Doom and of ghostly fatalism with a relentlessly unsettling sense of ritualism, from beginning to end, that make this almost a perfect gem of its kind.
Kudos again to Cy Chermak and to all associated with this superb episode of Bonanza.
