Line #4 Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E4TheSixteenMillimeterShrine


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sixteen_millimeter_shrine.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Barbara Jean Trenton and Barbara Jean Trenton.]]
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4	->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Picture of a woman looking at a picture. Movie great of another time, once-brilliant star in a firmament no longer a part of the sky, eclipsed by the movement of earth and time. Barbara Jean Trenton, whose world is a projection room, whose dreams are made out of celluloid. Barbara Jean Trenton, struck down by hit-and-run years and lying on the unhappy pavement, trying desperately to get the license number of fleeting fame.
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6	Air date: Oct. 23, 1959
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8	Aging film star Barbara Jean Trenton (Creator/IdaLupino) secludes herself in her private screening room, where she reminisces about her past by endlessly watching her old films. In an attempt to bring her out into the real world, her agent Danny Weiss (Creator/MartinBalsam) arranges a part for her in a new movie and brings a former leading man—now also older, many years retired from acting, and managing a chain of grocery stores—to visit her. This horrifies Barbara Jean and only drives her further into seclusion. Then one day, Barbara Jean's maid finds the screening room empty—and is shocked by what she sees on the screen. Danny comes over and sees on the screen the front hall of the house, filled with movie stars and Barbara Jean as they appeared in the old films. He pleads with her to come back, but she throws her scarf toward the camera and departs just before the film ends. In the living room, Danny finds Barbara Jean's scarf. "To wishes, Barbie," he says wistfully, "to the ones that come true..."
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10	!!The Sixteen Millimeter Tropes:
11	* DamnedByFaintPraise: International Studios head Marty Sall's idea of a good part for Barbara is to cast her as a forty-something ''mother''. A vibrant mother, but a mother nonetheless.
12	* DramaticDrop: Barbara's maid drops her tea tray when she enters the projection room and realizes Barbara has willed herself into the movies.
13	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Barbara is visited by former leading man Jerry Hearnden, who comes to her as an old-but-content man running a chain of grocery stores. Rather than teach her how she could potentially be happy in her current state like Jerry (living life to the fullest despite having lost their fame and youth), the visit only makes Barbara ''more'' frightened of growing old and obscure, prompting her to further isolate herself.
14	* {{Foil}}: Jerry Hearnden is one for Barbara. While Barbara is tortured by her lost youth and fame, Jerry appears to have largely moved on and isn't upset about the loss of his fame and looks, now living a happy, successful life running a chain of supermarkets in Chicago.
15	* GloryDays: Barbara is hounded despair that the days when she was young, beautiful, and famous are now long over. Her misery becomes so profound that she ends up willing herself to enter the world of her films, where she can re-live her glory days indefinitely.
16	* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: Barbara really disliked Marty Sall, head of International Studios.
17	* ImmortalityField: The symbolism of Movie Land, preserving a moment on celluloid forever, is willed into reality by Barbara, who moves there with a newfound endless life.
18	* IRejectYourReality: It becomes increasingly clear how unstable Barbara is when she tells Danny to call up her old co-stars, only for Danny to remind her that one has been dead for five years and the other two have long since retired.
19	* IWasQuiteALooker: Jerry Hearnden. Once a handsome leading man, now an average looking old timer with grey hair and glasses. While Barbara is clearly shaken to see how he looks now compared to their glory days, he doesn't seem especially bothered by his appearance or his lost fame.
20	* JerkassHasAPoint: While Barbara is offended that Marty Sall wants to cast her in a new movie as a mother, it's not like someone her age could play a younger role, even if they tried.
21	* KickTheDog: When she turns her nose up at the role, Marty twists the knife about how Barbara is just a washed up has-been, and any part she'll ever get will just be "charity". This sends her running out the door in tears.
22	* LadyDrunk: Barbara is bitter and disappointed, and shows it off by drinking at 11 am.
23	* LovingAShadow: Barbara remembers her lead actor Jerry Hearnden as being a handsome Casanova who swept her off her feet. When she meets him years later as an old man, she comes up to a picture of his younger self and sadly muses to herself: "''He's'' the one I was expecting..."
24	* MediumAwareness: An odd InUniverse version. After Barbara goes into Movie Land, she's definitely aware that she's not in the real world anymore, as she can hear Danny calling to her from her living room and throws her scarf at him.
25	* {{Metaphorgotten}}: The end of Rod Serling’s opening monologue (see page quote). Played for tongue-in-cheek laughs.
26	* NostalgiaFilter: Somewhat downplayed when Barbara has a clear recollection of her dislike for International Studios head Marty Sall. Played straight when she remembers Jerry Hearnden as being a dashing Casanova who was just as passionate about acting as she was. Sadly, despite what she remembers about the actor, he's now an aged, humble man who contently owns a chain of grocery stores.
27	* ProsceniumReveal: The first scene is Barbara having an emotional farewell with her man, a soldier going off to war. It's soon revealed to be a scene from ''Farewell Without Tears'', one of Barbara's old movies.
28	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In response to Marty's rather harsh comment, Barbara's agent Danny sincerely hopes that one day Sall will know what it's like to be past his prime and be figuratively kicked in the mouth.
29	* ShowWithinAShow: Barbara Jean Trenton starred such films as 1933's ''Farewell Without Tears'' and 1934's ''A Night in Paris''.
30	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Most ''Twilight Zone'' episodes have a paranormal premise setting up the story, but this one has zero otherwordly aspects until the TwistEnding. As such, it's almost impossible to summarize it without giving it away, whether you're a DVD back-cover writer or Rod Serling himself giving the traditional OnTheNext spiel.
31	* TrappedInTVLand: Barbara voluntarily wills herself into Movie Land, where she can escape the ravages of time that have left her old and forgotten in the real world.
32	* UpTheRealRabbitHole: Played with in how Danny's reaction changes. Barbara living in her past isn't emotionally unhealthy insofar as she can do it "for real".
33	* VagueAge: Barbara Jean's exact age is never stated. Ida Lupino was forty-one years old at the time but Barbara is talked about as though she were considerably older and is considered to play the mother of leading ladies. While that could just be sexism on the part of the studio, one of her old co-stars looked to be in at least his mid-fifties and others are said to be retired or dead.
34	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Barbara. It's not just that she misses being a star; she won't even take supporting parts, angrily refusing one.
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36	-----
37	->'''Rod Serling''': To the wishes that come true, to the strange, mystic strength of the human animal, who can take a wishful dream and give it a dimension of its own. To Barbara Jean Trenton, movie queen of another era, who has changed the blank tomb of an empty projection screen into a private world. It ''can'' happen – in the Twilight Zone.

Context Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S1E4TheSixteenMillimeterShrine