Rod Serling: Good evening, and welcome to a private showing of three paintings displayed here for the first time. Each is a collector's item in its own way; not because of any special artistic quality, but because each captures on a canvas, suspends in time and space, a frozen moment of a nightmare.
The Cemetery
Written By: Rod Serling
Directed By: Boris Sagal
Rod Serling: Our initial offering: a small gothic item of blacks and grays. A piece of the past known as the family crypt. This one we call simply: The Cemetery. Offered to you now, six feet of earth and all that it contains. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Night Gallery.
Jeremy Evans (Roddy McDowall), the greedy ne'er-do-well nephew of paralyzed artist William Hendricks (George Macready), murders his uncle to inherit his fortune and estate. After his late uncle's butler Osmond Portifoy (Ossie Davis) quits for what he did to his uncle, Jeremy can't help but notice a painting that his uncle made hanging near the stairwell, depicting the cemetery just outside his mansion. Before Jeremy's eyes, the painting begins to change, gradually depicting the reanimated corpse of his uncle rising from his grave, approaching the mansion, and banging on the door. At first, Jeremy believes this to be a joke, but the door begins shaking as the painting changes.
Tropes
- Asshole Victim: Jeremy murders his stroke-ridden uncle and treats Portifoy like shit. No tears are shed when he falls down the stairs and breaks his neck. Subverted with Portifoy himself, who staged the incident to get rid of Jeremy, not only to inherit William's fortune (which would've gone to him if Jeremy never entered the picture), but also to avenge his former employer against his murderous nephew.
- Creepy Changing Painting: Jeremy notices the painting of the mansion's cemetery changing every time he looks at it, showing his undead uncle rising from his grave and making his way to the front door. It's actually revealed near the end to be a trick played by Portifoy, both to avenge his former employer and gain the old man's fortune himself. After Jeremy's death however, the painting suddenly changes for real...
- Gaslighting: As it turns out, the whole situation with the changing painting was staged by Portifoy to get rid of Jeremy and inherit William's fortune himself, as well as to avenge the old man. But as soon as his painter friend leaves, the painting changes for real, and this time it's Jeremy who's out for revenge.
- Murderer P.O.V.: The undead Jeremy's attack on Portifoy is filmed from Jeremy's point of view.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We never get to see any corpses brought back from the dead (even during the second time, where it happens for real), but the reaction from the characters is enough to paint a decidedly ugly picture.
- Oh, Crap!: Portifoy's reaction when he sees the painting changing on its own, knowing full well what's coming for him.
- The Power of Hate: Portifoy deliberately plants the idea that William's hatred for his nephew may be strong enough to outlast death inside Jeremy's head. The idea turns out to be true, but it's not William who has said hatred.
- Real After All: The second time the painting changes.
- Uncertain Doom: What happens to Portifoy at the end is uncertain, as the episode cuts to black the minute the door opens.
- Wham Shot: Once Portifoy is left to marvel at his fortune, he takes a glance at the supposedly haunted painting, only to notice it's beginning to change for real.
Eyes
Written By: Rod Serling
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Rod Serling: Object d'art number two, a portrait. Its subject, Ms. Claudia Menlo, a blind queen who reigns in a carpeted penthouse on Fifth Avenue. An imperious, predatory dowager who will soon find a darkness blacker than blindness. This is her story.
Claudia Menlo (Joan Crawford) is a wealthy, vindictive, and tyrannical woman who has been blind since she was born. Desiring the sense of sight she's been denied all her life, Claudia summons her personal doctor, Frank Heatherton (Barry Sullivan), and tasks him with completing an experimental surgery where functioning optic nerves can be transplanted into different peoples' eyes, giving them only 11 to 12 hours of sight. She finds a donor in Sidney Resnick (Tom Bosley), a man who's glimpsed history unfolding many times with his own eyes, who signs up for the surgery to pay back some hefty gambling debts. Once the surgery is complete, Claudia prepares to take in the limited time she has to see, but her timing couldn't have been worse.
Tropes
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Sidney giving his eyesight to Claudia is essentially the only way he has to pay off his gambling debts.
- Asshole Victim: With the cruel and callous way she treats everyone around her, as well as the fact that she blackmails her doctor into surgery and renders Sidney permanently blind just so she can see for 11 hours, Claudia loses the vast majority of those 11 hours due to a city-wide blackout, and falls out the window to her death when she tries to hold onto her fading eyesight.
- Big Blackout: One of them occurs at the worst possible time for Claudia, as she misses most of the eleven hours of sight the surgery gives her because of it.
- Blackmail: Claudia convinces Frank to perform the experimental surgery by presenting him a folder of information about Grace Rearden, the woman he had an affair with behind his wife's back. Grace became pregnant with his child, so Frank secretly sent her to a back-alley abortionist who killed her through his lack of proper medical training, and Claudia threatens to release the whole story and ruin his marriage, his reputation, and his medical career unless he performs the surgery
- Hope Spot: Happens twice to Claudia. The first instance occurs right after she removes her bandages. She's able to see for a second, but then a blackout hits the city. When the power finally comes back on, she enjoys the sight of the sunrise, only for the effects of her surgery to wear off.
- It's All About Me: Claudia outright tells Frank that the only person she cares about is herself.
- Last Note Nightmare: As Claudia (evidently) falls to her death, the segment ends with a loud and furious collection of jumbled music box notes, set to images of breaking glass.
- Rich Bitch: Claudia, who's been blind since birth. In exchange for having Sidney's optic nerves implanted in her eyes, she only pays him just enough to pay off his gambling debts.
- Uncertain Doom: It's unclear what happens to Claudia at the end of the segment, though it's strongly implied by the sounds and images of shattering glass that she broke through the window and fell to her death.
- Unique Moment Ruined: Claudia finally receives the gift of sight by having Sidney's optic nerves implanted in her eyes, though her newfound sight will only last for eleven hours. When the operation is completed and she removes the bandages, a power failure in the city leaves her completely unable to see, and when the power comes back on, she loses her sight just as she takes in the sunrise.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once the surgery is complete, Claudia fires Frank after he finally gives her what she wants. When the blackout hits, she furiously demeans Frank for supposedly bungling the surgery, then pleads with him to come back.
Escape Route
Written By: Rod Serling
Directed By: Barry Shear
Rod Serling: And now, the final painting. The last of our exhibit has to do with one Josef Strobe, a Nazi war criminal hiding in South America. A monster who wanted to be a fisherman. This is his story.
Josef Strobe (Richard Kiley) is a former Nazi who served as director of Auschwitz. Having been hiding out from a pair of federal agents in South America, Josef becomes captivated with a painting in the local art museum, depicting a tranquil scene of a man fishing on a river. The more Josef stares at the painting, he finds that he can gradually will himself inside it. Wanting to evade both the agents and Bleum (Sam Jaffe), a Holocaust survivor who recognizes him, Josef tries his hardest to escape into the painting, only to learn that it was replaced with something much less idyllic.
Tropes
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Josef is played in the segment by Richard Kiley, making him look pretty attractive for his age. In the short story, he's described as looking like a pig.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: With the authorities closing in, Josef is reduced to begging God, or whoever else might be listening, to be allowed inside the painting. Too bad the one he wants was replaced.
- All Germans Are Nazis: Gretchen plays with the trope. She knows full well who Josef is and doesn't report him (since she sees having a war criminal for a neighbor an amusing novelty), but she does make it clear she's just as repulsed by his lack of ethics as anyone else.
- And I Must Scream: Josef ends the segment being forever trapped in the painting of a crucifixion victim during the Holocaust, a fitting punishment for his sins.
- Argentina Is Nazi Land: Josef has been hiding out in Buenos Aires since World War II ended. In the short story, there's two other Nazis hiding there with him.
- Asshole Victim: Especially evident in the original story, where it's repeatedly made clear that Josef has absolutely no remorse over his crimes, just regret about how he has to live in hiding. He wants to be forgiven, but he doesn't understand that there are just
some things that can't be atoned for. - Be Careful What You Wish For: Josef wishes and concentrates with all his might to escape into his dream painting, only to find too late that the painting was switched, and the new one is much less comfortable.
- Canon Foreigner: Gretchen and Bleum, respectively, take the place of Strobe's Nazi buddies and one of their personal slaves from the camps.
- Chekhov's Gun: The painting of the concentration camp inmate burning on the cross, which Josef is stuck inside in the end of the segment.
- Establishing Character Moment: We first meet Josef as he is kept awake by the sounds of his fan and his dripping faucet, the sounds turning into those of a concentration camp execution and a Nazi rally, showing how he struggles living with his "painful" past.
- Exact Words: The climactic scene where Josef frantically prays to the powers that be to "Get me into the picture!" unfortunately has him forgetting to specify which picture he wanted to enter.
- Nazi Protagonist: Josef Strobe, who doesn't change his ways despite wanting to be forgiven.
- Oh, Crap!: Josef screams in horror when he sees the painting he wanted to escape into was replaced with the crucifixion one, and it's too late for him to back out.
- Portal Picture: Inverted. The painting itself isn't a portal, but Josef has the power to phase in and out of it on his own.
- Red Right Hand: Josef has a nasty burn over one eye.
- Too Dumb to Live: As soon as Bleum said he looked familiar, Josef should have gotten out of Dodge.
- Uncertain Doom: Averted. Unlike the previous two segments, where it's possible the characters may have survived, Josef is most certainly stuck in that crucifixion painting.
- Wham Shot: The final shot of the painting of a concentration camp inmate being crucified Josef saw earlier, with Josef having taken the inmate's place.
Rod Serling: Good evening. (walks off)
