ORIGINALLY BROADCAST AS EPISODE 008, 20 November 1050
STARRING CAST: Burgess Meredith, Vaughn Taylor, Jacqueline DeWitt
WRITER: Rod Serling, based on short story by Lynn Venable
DIRECTOR: John Brahm
SUMMARY: Henry Bemis, a bookish bank clerk, can't find enough time to read. He reads constantly, nearly every waking minute. On his lunch hour, he reads of the H-bomb while down in the vault of the bank. It goes off suddenly, leaving him as the last man on Earth. In the ruins of a sporting goods store he finds a gun and considers doing away with himself … but when he catches sight of the remains of a public library, he has a reason to stay alive.
REVIEW: I
After doing "Time Enough at Last," Burgess Meredith gained popularity that was almost on a par with that of Rod Serling. In his first of four distinguished appearances on Twilight Zone, he played the bespectacled bank clerk who wanted nothing but time to read books, and he got his wish … only to find himself in much the same position as Mike Ferris of "Where is Everybody" as the last living organism on Earth. Replete with about the thickest pair of spectacles ever seen on TV and books glued to his being (figuratively speaking, of course). Meredith worked wonders with the part. Henry Bemis may not have been the most interesting or vivid character in all of Twilight Zone but for some reason, no one forgot him. He fit the bill of a stereotypical, identifiable character who doesn't fit in with the rest of the world for any number of reasons. In his case, it's mainly because he's saddled with a shrew of a wife and a bad obsession for books. Sadly, he ends up even worse off due to a simple twist of fate, and now won't even be able to find the gun that would have put him out of his misery for good.
MEMORABLE QUOTATIONS:
CARSVILLE: Now, Mr. Bemis, I shall come to the point of this interview. I shall arrive via the following route, which is namely what constitutes an efficient member of this organization. A bank teller who knows his job and performs it. I.e., a man who functions within an organization. You, Mr. Bemis, do not function within the organization! You are neither an efficient bank teller nor a proficient employee! You, Mr. Bemis, are a reader!
HENRY: A reader?
CARSVILLE: A reader!! A reader of books, magazines, periodicals, newspapers! I see you constantly going downstairs into the vault during your lunch hour. An ultimatum, Mr. Bemis! You will henceforth devote your time to you job and forget reading or you'll find yourself outdoors on a park bench reading from morning til night for want of having a job. Do I make myself perfectly clear?
HENRY: Oh, that's perfectly clear, sir, it's just that …
CARSVILLE: Just that what, Bemis? Make it quick and get back to your cage!
Henry : It's just that my wife won't let me read at home. See, when I get home at night and try to pick up a newspaper, she yanks it out of my hand. And then after dinner, if I try to find a magazine, she hides them. Well, I got so desperate that I found myself trying to read the labels on the condiment bottles on the table. Now she won't even let me use the ketchup.
CARSVILLE: Your wife is an amazingly bright woman. I remember last November you spent the better part of the days reading campaign buttons on customer's lapels. You will recall, Bemis, the young lady who took considerable exception to this and tried to hit you with her umbrella.
HENRY: Yes, I remember that. It's just that I never got a chance to tell her that I was only looking to see...who she voted for.
CARSVILLE: Good day, Bemis.
HELEN: (calling him) Henrrrrry!!!
HENRY: Yes, dear, I'm in the living room …
HELEN: (abruptly) You want more coffee or don't you?
HENRY: No, thank you, dear.
HELEN: Well then why don't you tell me that? And don't sneak off into the living room to bury yourself in newsprint. I think we've been over this quite enough, Henry. I won't tolerate a husband of mine sacrificing the art of conversation. Alright, what's so funny?
HENRY: No, no, dear, it was just that you said, 'a husband of mine.' Well, how many husbands have you got? You've only got me!
HELEN: I would appreciate that not being rubbed in! We're playing cards tonight. I want you to change your shirt. We're going over to the Phillips house!
HENRY: Oh dear.
HELEN: Alright, Henry. Anything to say?
HENRY: No, dear. Nothing to say. What time are we due there?
HELEN: In about 15 minutes.
HENRY: I'll be ready on time.
HELEN: See that you are!
(Henry quickly gets into decent shirt and jacket; Helen waits for him behind door, suspecting he's sneaked a book into the pocket to read at the Phillips').
HELEN: Henry?
HENRY: Yes, my dear?
HELEN: What have you got, Henry?
HENRY: Got?
HELEN: Got!
HENRY: Nothing, my dear. (she pulls a book out of his jacket pocket)
HELEN: What's this?
HENRY: That?
HELEN: This!
HENRY: Isn't that odd? Now how did that get here?!
HELEN: Would you like to read me some?
HENRY: Read you some? Do you mean read to you out loud, from the book?
HELEN: Do you want to?
HENRY: Oh, I would love to! You know, there are some lovely things in here. There are one or two things from T.S. Eliot and Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg. (Opens it and sees black X's covering each page) Helen! Who did this, Helen?
HELEN: Who do you think did it, Henry? You should thank me really. A grown man who reads silly ridiculous nonsensical doggerel!
HENRY: This isn't doggerel! There's some very beautiful things here!
HELEN: I say it's doggerel. I also say it's a waste of time. (She unceremoniously rips pages out of the book)
HENRY: Helen! Helen! Don't do that, Helen! Please don't do that. Why, Helen? Why do you do these things?
HELEN: Because I'm married to a fool!
HENRY: Collected works of Dickens! Collected works of George Bernard Shaw! Poems by Browning, Shelley, and Keats! Books! Books! All the books I'll need! All the books, all the books I'll ever want!! Shelley, Shakespeare, Shaw, ohhh! All the books I want.
HENRY: This year and the next year and the year after and the year after that and the year after that. And the best thing, the very best thing of all, is there's time now. There's all the time I need and all the time I want. Time, time, time... there's time enough at last.
(he kneels down abruptly and the glasses fall off his nose, smashing on the cement)
That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed. That's not fair, that's not fair …作者: 新来的守桥人 时间: 2010-1-26 13:38
沙发?= =作者: 吸血鬼王 时间: 2010-1-26 13:38
卧槽
大鼻子果然有考据癖!
好像你提及的美剧香港那边翻译为《阴阳魔界》的...作者: player99zyzy 时间: 2010-1-26 13:44