Escape Clause
- Episode aired Nov 6, 1959
- TV-PG
- 25m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
4.7K
YOUR RATING
A hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.A hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.A hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.
Rod Serling
- Narrator
- (voice)
Nesdon Booth
- Guard
- (as Nesden Booth)
George Baxter
- Judge Cummings
- (uncredited)
Paul E. Burns
- Janitor
- (uncredited)
Allan Lurie
- Subway Guard
- (uncredited)
Robert McCord
- Man in Subway
- (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey
- Onlooker in Subway
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- Rod Serling(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt the time this series first aired, it was commonly believed that a frequent cause of hypochondria was a desperate need to find something to occupy one's mind, a combination of boredom and a lack of imagination about how to counter that boredom. Several TV series of the time had episodes involving a one-off character whose hypochondria was cured by finding something else of interest to replace the hypochondria.
- GoofsWhen the protagonist proclaims, "...the new Walter Bedeker!", part of the footage is run in reverse.
- Quotes
Ethel Bedeker: Walter, please come back to the apartment. I'll make you potato pancakes. Remember, you always used to love potato pancakes.
Walter Bedeker: Ethel, *you* are a potato pancake. You're as tasteless as a potato pancake.
- ConnectionsEdited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: Escape Clause (2020)
Featured review
A Painful Illustration of How the Effect of Unintended Consequences Can Work in the Twilight Zone!
Escape Clause (EC) is Rod Serling's first (but certainly not his last) attempt to incorporate elements of the Faust legend into a Twilight Zone episode. While this legend has appeared in many forms, the basic idea is that a person out of dissatisfaction with the course of his/her life is willing to swap his/her soul for the gift of immortality -----and thus be able to experience unlimited pleasure in that life. Usually this situation involves a glorification of secular/narcissistic earthly values, with an emphasis on human rather than divine personal satisfaction.
In EC, our "hero" (Walter Bedecker, amusingly played by David Wayne) is a self-absorbed hypochondriac, who is agreeable to trading his soul to Mr. Cadwallader (the Devil, acted very slyly by Thomas Gomez) in return for eternal life and indestructibility. An "escape clause" in the deal allows Bedecker to summon Cadwallader in the event that he tires of his life under this arrangement. Bedecker soon learns that it is rather boring to routinely and consistently be able to cheat death. Serling's resolution of Bedecker's frustration and dilemma is quite clever, and aptly shows us what might follow from an imperfect human negotiation with the Devil.
EC was the second produced episode in TZ's remarkable First Season schedule, although it was the sixth one to be actually broadcast.. While it was surpassed by others, EC helped to establish a high level of quality and production values thar soon became one of TZ's hallmarks. EC also presented us with the work of a major film director----Mitchell Leisen, as well as a top notch contribution by veteran cinematographer George T. Clemens. All of these efforts soon became the accepted norm for episodes from the First TZ Season.
A few brief comments are offered here on behalf of EC's two excellent starring actors. David Wayne was a celebrated and much admired stage and screen actor, who enjoyed a long and successful performing career. He had the good fortune to be featured in three of Broadway's biggest hits of the late 1940s and early 1950s: as Og the Leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow (1947), winning the first ever Tony Award for an Actor Supporting or Featured (Musical); as Ensign Pulver in the famous stage success Mister Roberts (1948); and as Sakini in The Teahouse of the August Moon (1953). Alas, Wayne had the bad fortune to be denied the opportunty to repeat any of those roles in the filmed versions of these Broadway landmarks. They were assumed by Tommy Steele, Jack Lemmon and Marlon Brando respectively. As for Thomas Gomez, he became a stage actor at the age of 19----and successfully launched a busy film career in the early 1940s that extended to 1970 (the year before his death). Gomez's performance in the 1947 film Ride a Pink Horse earned him a nomination for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
No wonder that TZ remains one of the most acclaimed anthology series in television history, and continues to be relevant to this very day!
In EC, our "hero" (Walter Bedecker, amusingly played by David Wayne) is a self-absorbed hypochondriac, who is agreeable to trading his soul to Mr. Cadwallader (the Devil, acted very slyly by Thomas Gomez) in return for eternal life and indestructibility. An "escape clause" in the deal allows Bedecker to summon Cadwallader in the event that he tires of his life under this arrangement. Bedecker soon learns that it is rather boring to routinely and consistently be able to cheat death. Serling's resolution of Bedecker's frustration and dilemma is quite clever, and aptly shows us what might follow from an imperfect human negotiation with the Devil.
EC was the second produced episode in TZ's remarkable First Season schedule, although it was the sixth one to be actually broadcast.. While it was surpassed by others, EC helped to establish a high level of quality and production values thar soon became one of TZ's hallmarks. EC also presented us with the work of a major film director----Mitchell Leisen, as well as a top notch contribution by veteran cinematographer George T. Clemens. All of these efforts soon became the accepted norm for episodes from the First TZ Season.
A few brief comments are offered here on behalf of EC's two excellent starring actors. David Wayne was a celebrated and much admired stage and screen actor, who enjoyed a long and successful performing career. He had the good fortune to be featured in three of Broadway's biggest hits of the late 1940s and early 1950s: as Og the Leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow (1947), winning the first ever Tony Award for an Actor Supporting or Featured (Musical); as Ensign Pulver in the famous stage success Mister Roberts (1948); and as Sakini in The Teahouse of the August Moon (1953). Alas, Wayne had the bad fortune to be denied the opportunty to repeat any of those roles in the filmed versions of these Broadway landmarks. They were assumed by Tommy Steele, Jack Lemmon and Marlon Brando respectively. As for Thomas Gomez, he became a stage actor at the age of 19----and successfully launched a busy film career in the early 1940s that extended to 1970 (the year before his death). Gomez's performance in the 1947 film Ride a Pink Horse earned him a nomination for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
No wonder that TZ remains one of the most acclaimed anthology series in television history, and continues to be relevant to this very day!
helpful•40
- malvernp
- Jun 5, 2022
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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