With writers Rad Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and the prolific Rod Serling spinning their tales of mystery, magic, horror, humanity and intrigue, the Twilight Zone dominated the early years of television with stories that probed the human spirit and challenged our perceptions of the dimensions in which we live. Serling bent the time/space continuum and invaded the deepest parts of the human mind, and took all of us along for the ride.

Serling, creator of the acclaimed CBS show that ran from 1959-64, wrote 92 of the 156 stories that aired on this acclaimed series. The series drew not only the best writers but many acclaimed actors — those well established and those on the precipice of fame — newcomers including Robert Redford, William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Carol Burnett, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, and Peter Falk as well as such established stars as silent-film giant Buster Keaton, Art Carney, Mickey Rooney, Ida Lupino and John Carradine.

Here are some of the Twilight Zone stories that are one our favorites list:

Judgement Night has a former U-Boat captain turned eternal passenger wandering the decks of a ship he sank, condemned to cruise on the Queen of Glasgow with his victims for eternity.

The Escape Clause puts us into the mind of hypochondriac who makes a deal with the Devil to live forever. But forever takes on a whole new meaning when he in sentenced to life in prison.

The Midnight Sun takes us into a future in which our displaced sun is moving closer and destined to broil the earth — or is it? We watched as humanity in the form of two woman, one young, one old, struggle to survive the blazing heat and unrelenting thirst. In typical Serling fashion, there’s a punch line that turns even this upside down world upside down.

The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street (a personal favorite) explores our deepest and most primal fears when one small community is cut off from the world and left to sort out the loss power and communication on their own. It’s really an alien experiment, a test that unleashes prejudice, primal fears and suspicions — all manifested as neighbor turns on neighbor, proving that what we are our own worst enemies.
Odyssey of Flight 33 takes us on a journey through time when an otherwise non-eventful flight suddenly passes through time. Without communication, and suddenly flying over a landscape of vegetation and dinosaurs, the pilots realize they cannot land, and must try to find the hole in time that will bring them back to the 20th century. But where in the 20th century?

A Stop At Willoughby is a manifestation of one man’s desire for the peaceful life of yesterday, an escape from the bustle of modern life and a chance at love in a less complicated time. This train ride home has an unexpected stop in that alternate dimension of the Twilight Zone.

Third From the Sun, like all twilight Zone scripts, seems amazingly normal in the beginning. Here we watch as a panicked family steal a spaceship and make their escape from a dying planet — heading — Earth.

To Serve Man (which redefined “serve”). A close encounter with alien life in the form of a high-browed giant alien garbed in long white robes isn’t all that it seems, and even as his his peaceful and conciliatory appeals to a United Nations is put forth, scientists struggle to decipher an alien book that unlocks a deadly secret about serving man — as dinner.

Ray Bradbury’s I Sing the Body Electric features a robotic grandmother created to take care of two children who have lost their own mother. This story was a predecessor to Maureen Stapleton’s marvelous portrayal of the lifelike robot The Electric Grandmother).

Richard Donner’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet has a young as a nervous passenger imagining a creature clinging to the wing of a plane ouside his window. William Shatner is the man on the edge of sanity, trying to save the plane and its passengers from disaster.

The Eye of the Beholder has a beautiful woman seeking endless surgery change her appearance; but in this society, beauty comes of the form of pig-faced people. The surgery is unsuccessful and relegated to a leper-like colony of other people like herself, considered too “ugly” to mix with normal people.

Time Enough At Last has a book-wormy bank teller (Burgess Meredith) with heavy-lensed glasses sneaking into the bank vault to read. He’s there when the worst happens – a nuclear holocaust. As he roams the rubble, he finds the remnants of a library and all the books he could ever want to read. In the ultimate irony, his glasses break.

During that era of early TV, the screen was filled with an abundance of good story-telling through shows that included The Outer Limits, Boris Karloff and his classic tales of horror, Alfred Hitchcock’s collection of mysteries, One Step Beyond and the British sci-fi/fantasy series Dr. Who (now a new sci-series for the 21st century) and that vintage time-traveling phone booth . Many of these shows are now available on DVD as collections, and they are worth watching, and as entertaining as they were when television was new.

Though day was ghastly hot, well over 100 Clarksville residents came to “Cooling at the Cave” for that natural air conditioning to be found at the mouth of Dunbar Cave. Some tables had to be moved away from the cave entrance because guests were freezing there (due to the 58 degree air coming out of the cave!).

Many people began playing board games just as soon as they found a nice table to claim for their own for the day. They knew what they were doing because they’d done it before. People played games, listened to the band and socialized. The cookies were wonderful, the lemonade great and the helpers (Friends of Dunbar Cave) attentive, refilling my cup if I even looked like I was a bit thirsty.

It was a day of nostalgia for many folks; organizer Barbara Wilbur was right when she thought that this would attract a lot of people. I heard stories about how Dunbar Cave used to be. Many visitors remember the days when Roy Acuff owned Dunbar Cave and they came to the swimming pool, bowling alley, the lake with its paddle boats, and the sounds of music at the cave.

This event wasn’t planned as a fund raiser, but the volunteers were so generous in their cookie making, music playing and sweet smiles that the visitors donated generously to the Friends of Dunbar Cave. Special thanks was offered to Barbara Wilbur for organizing the event, Suva and Jack Bastin for the ice, lemonade and food set up, and the volunteers who set up chairs & tables. Kudos to the staff and Park Manager at Dunbar Cave who are committed to protecting the resources.

As for the band, they don’t have to and don’t usually play for free, but they did for us. Some came great distances and gave up their day to be with us. The music was excellent.

Special special thanks to Bill Larson of Clarksville Online, who asked Swan Lake Golf course for the loan of a golf cart, which they offered with a “Sure! No charge!” Bill then spent his time driving people out to the cave and back. Everyone who got a ride and respite from the hot muggy weather really appreciated it. Extra special thanks to Swan Lake Golf Course for loaning the golf cart.

This event was created with Dunbar Caves enthusiast Marguerite Rubel in mind. A guest told me that you can’t talk with Marguerite for five minutes without her bringing up Dunbar Cave. Marguerite used to play piano and sing at the Hotel that was on the property. She is an active member of Friends of Dunbar Cave. Sorry you missed the event, sweet lady, and hope you feel better soon.

Thanks to all who came. It really makes the effort worthwhile when so many people come to enjoy it. All day long I heard this question repeated: “When are you going to do this again?”

In the style of Alfred Hitchcock, Wise opted to let the mind, the imagination, be the biggest instrument of fear. The haunting has a prologue the outlines the shadowed history of the house, a haunted mansion  in old New England (the film was actually shot in a British manor), where four guests are about to gather with the intention of debunking, demystfying a haunted home. Julie Harris leads the cast a Eleanor Vance, a believer in the supernatural and unsettled by the recent death of her mother. Richard Johnson is Dr. Markway, the requisite anthropologist, the science behind the sensory. The beautiful and elegant Claire Bloom plays an eccentric, free-living lesbian (a role a  ahead of time in the conservative sixties) with extra-sensory abilities, and the equally requisite playboy, Luke Sanderson (played by Russ Tamblyn, dimples intact). Sanderson is the prospective owner of Hill House via inheritance.

From the get-go, The Haunting is a spook fest of odd noises, doors that breathe, writing on walls, and spiral cases with a mind and movement all its own.  Sound is a key player in the madness. Wise was smart enough to wield the effects with subtlety and let the degradation and disintegration within the guests psyche scare the daylights out of the viewers. As with all good horror stories, what we imagine is far more terrifying than anything a director can put on screen.

Lady in White (1988) is a low-budget work of art and love from directorFrank LaLoggia, that mixes small town charm with absolute terror. It’s a Halloween tale rooted in LaLoggia’s upstate New York homeland. Young Frankie (Lukas Haas) is locked in a cloakroom on Halloween circa 1962., where he sees the ghost of a little girl and is nearly strangled by an unseen someone. Convinced that ghostly antics are at play,  Frankie is convinced that the ghost is somehow connected to the Lady in White of local legend. Though a man is tried and convicted in Frankie’s attempted murder, there’s a lot more to the story … and LaLoggia lays it out before us in a mix of mystery and a young boy’s sense of grief and loss with the death of his mother.

In the Sixth Sense, action actor Bruce Willis takes the low key road in this subtle horror of a young boy who sees the “other side,”  a ghostly tale replete with subtleties and overflowing with mood. Again, what is untold, what is unseen, is more frightening that anything laid before us as Willis, playing a psychiatrist adept at rooting out childhood trauma, tries to uncover the mysteries surrounding a child living in terror. This 1999 movie is among the best “haunting” stories in decades.

Stephen Spielberg took horror to new heights with the “crossing over” film Poltergeist in 1982. He mixed the greed of developers with the ghosts who should be resting peacefully in hallowed ground with one all-American family pays the price in fear and abject terror. The arrival of academic ghost-busters documents the escalating haunting and the search for a missing child. What starts as seemingly magical pranks quickly become a matter of life and death, a test of faith, and a challenge to one family’s courage and love. Like most Speilberg films, the “normalcy” of community and the ordinary-ness of the lives about the turned up side down is all part of the set-up. What could possibly be so wrong in this community? The answer unfolds to a stunning conclusion.

Devastated by the tragic and unexpected death of his wife and daughter in a car crash, composer John Russell (George C Scoot) rents a century old home away from it all. So begins The Changeling, This  1980 haunted house tale is overflowing with decades of lies and dozens of  secrets to be revealed. John, initially intent on writing and composing in solitude, soon realizes he is not alone in this rambling mansion.

Drive-In Saturday Night runs weekly on Fridays through Dabor Day. It’s a look at old and few new classics, the kind of popcorn movies that dominated drive-in theaters and Saturday matinees a generation ago.

The Russian captain is scared death, and he’s not sure if it’s of the Americans or of what will happen if his own superiors find out he grounded their sub. Carl Reiner is Walt Whittaker, all-American family man first convinced there’s an invasion about to begin, then becoming an ally with his new found Russian visitor. Toss into the mix a light romance between young Russian sailor Alexie (John Philip Law) and Alison Palmer (Andrea Dromm), and supporting performances by Eva Marie Saint, Theodore Bikel and Brian Keith — each manifesting precise comic timing in this old-fashioned slapstick oceanfaring adventure. It’s a got a message too, as exemplified in this tidbit of dialogue between the young couple:

Alexei Kolchin: “In Union of Soviet, when I am only young boy, many are saying, Americanski are bad people, they will attack Russia. So all mistrust American. But I think that I do not mistrust American… not really sinceriously. I wish not to hate… anybody!
[He throws a stone into the sea]
Alexei: This make good reason to you, Alison Palmer?
Alison Palmer: Well, of course it does. It doesn’t make sense to hate people. It’s such a waste of time.

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World leads veteran actor Spencer Tracy into temptation. He a detective on the brink of retirement, a detective who for years has been chasing one big-time gangster with one big stash of stolen money. Greed rules. The crook bites the dust (literally) but first reveals his deathbed secret to passers-by who stop to rescue him. So begins the race to find a treasure that might change their lives. It does, but not quite how they imagined.
This is one of Hollywood’s “if you put every star ever known into one film, everyone in the movie-going public will come.” They did, and they did. Emphasis on comic superstars. Milton Berle gets to float downstream in his vintage convertivle. Ethel merman gets puts the full brassy range of her voice to work as the nagging mother-in-law, Jonathan Winters and Buddy Hackett fly high and low in a race against time, Mickey Rooney, Sid Ceasar and a cast of the best of a generation try to stay one step ahead of the law (Tracy) and each other.

George Clooney did again, the original 1960s Ocean’s Eleven was the famed Vegas rat pack, the real life buddies also known as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, et all. It was old Vegas, before the grandeur MGM and the Bellagio and the Venetian. It was a times of jazz big bands and smaller combos, cigarettes for every mood and level of stress, a drink in every room and a plot to releive five casinos of millions in one fell swoop. It was a slick, low key film with the mandatory songs showcasing rat pack talent and a a whistling, humming theme song E-O-Eleven. Sinatra was Danny Ocean, who looked at theft as a military operation: “Why waste those cute little tricks that the Army taught us just because it’s sort of peaceful now.” Grand Theft Vegas was proof that even the best laid plans can go awry. And as with most good, fun films, the original is still the best, and proof positive that good movies existed long before slick computer-generated special effect came along.

If you like these films, you may want to revisit (or visit for the first time) these other classic comedies:

The Great Race

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines

Drive-In Saturday Night appears weekly on Fridays through Labor Day to celebrate the vintage movies shown in drive-in theaters and at Saturday matinees, the best and worst of movies that we’ve known and loved anyway.

I’m starting with Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn (her first starring role) and Gregory Peck co-star in this Roman romp as an enchanting runaway princess and a struggling reporter steal a day together and fall in love. Apart from the typical touristy Roman landscape, there’s a hint of subterfuge, a case of hidden identities and agendas that tease and taunt. But class, power and personal responsibility temper what should have been, and the ending is bittersweet. Director William Wyler used a lighter hand here and his touch was impeccable. Beautiful locations. And that Hepburn fashion designed by Edith Head … How can you not love this picture? (1953)

Rome Adventure. Because Rome (here we go again) is gorgeous. Susan Pleshette is beautiful and has a sexy voice. Troy Donahue (at that time of my life) could have come home with me anytime. And Emelio Pericoli can sing Al-Di-La (which I memorized in Italian after I saw the film the first time) whenever he pleases. Preferably all the time. Even today. So what if it’s a Harlequin Romance on steroids. It still gets me every time. Susan Pleshette is Prudence, a teacher turned librarian who sails for Italy, opting to work in a bookstore there. She meets and falls in love with Don, touring Italy with him. With Angie Dickinson and Rossano Brazzi rounding out the cast, and that blessed candalabara … (1962).

Three Coins in the Fountain: Back to Italy for still more romance (who says Paris dominates this genre?) American girls — Anita and Maria — head to Rome in search of jobs and romance. Tossing coins in the fabled Fountain of Trevi, they wish for love. Maria meets a prince who squires her around Europe. Frances, who has worked in Rome for 15 years, finally catches the eye of her writer/boss. Anita wins the heart of a gorgeous law student (Rosanno Brazzi). Early cinemascope did more than justice to the Italian landscape and the sights and sounds of Rome. The theme song became a classic. (1954).

How to Steal a Million: Finally, Paris. Slick and polished and highly underrated, this film offers Peter O’Toole is Simon, a “society burglar” hired by Audrey Hepburn (as Nicole) to steal back a fake Celini statue her art forger father has sold to a Paris museum. It’s a romp, a lighthearted romantic comedy skillfully presented by tow of the “beautiful people” of the 60s. I spent years copying Miss Hepburn’s Givenchy wardrobe when I was young as as skinny as she. (1966)

A Summer Place: Two generations falling in love, with dire consequences for both. This was Troy Donahue’s first starring role, played out against the backdrop of the Maine coastline. Co-starring Richard Egan and Dorothy MaGuire. The song “Theme from A Place” was a top musical choice when the movie was released — (1959)

Sabrina: Two wealthy brothers with very different takes on life — Linus is the corporate workaholic and sustainer of family fortune; David is the lightweight playboy always looking for the next conquest. Enter Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn), the chauffeur’s daughter, forever in love with playboy (William Holden) and unconcerned with Linus (Humphrey Bogart) who is slowly falling in love with her. The gawky girl heads to Paris and culinary school, returning as a cultured and sophisticated lady with men falling at her feet. Will she win David? Or does fate have something else in mind? (1954)

Love is a Many Splendored Thing: “Once on a high and windy hill — two lovers kissed and the world stood still …” so goes the title song for this love story based in Hong Kong in the Korean War years. An Asian/American doctor and an American war correspondent are caught up in the culture and controversy of interracial relations, falling in love amidst the horrors of war. (1955)

Parrish: Set in tobacco growing Connecticut River Valley, it’s the story of Parrish McLean (Troy Donahue), who lives with his mother on Sala Post’s plantation. Parrish’s mother marries a rival grower, but Parrish stays with Sala, learning the tobacco business from the ground up. The book is every bit as good as the movie. (1961)

Other fabulous love stories include the following (from a slightly older time period):

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: Gene Tierney is the impoverished widow who settles into a haunted house by the sea. Rex Harrison is the ghost, gruff and grumbling and grudgingly accepting the human occupation of his seaside house. This is classic haunting and classic fantasy — and a damned good love story that spans that mystery of time and place. (1947)

Rebecca: based on Daphne Du Maurier’s classic novel of the wealthy widow, the young woman he marries, and the mystery surrounding the mansion called Manderly. Love, hate, family secrets, and maybe a crime entwine the characters in this gothic tale. (1940)

Now Voyager: Bette Davis is Charlotte vale, a frumpy rich girl dominated by a cruel and abusive mother. Committed to an institution, she emerges as a new woman, confident, capable and about to fall in love. With a married man (Jerry, played by Paul Heinreid.). With a troubled daughter not too unlike what Charlotte herself had been. It offers the classic line: Don’t ask for the moon … we have the stars…” (1942)
Laura: The glamourous and mysterious Laura (Gene Tierney) is believe murdered, but it’s a case of mistaken identity. Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates. Of course there love, and jealously, and a lot of high society. (1944)

Okay guys, you can come back now.

From now through Labor Day, Drive-In Saturday Night offers movie options listed on Fridays so you’ll have time to browse, rent or buy some weekend films. Popcorn. And, at least for this weekend, a large box of tissues.

The movies that we watched live on, though, some offered for rental, some order-able on online, and others now living in “public domain” and available for free downloads. Over the course of the summer, I’ll be taking a look at some of them. Might not be a bad idea to have your friends “drive” to your home on a Saturday night, pop up some fresh popcorn, order a pizza, and kick back for the best of the “B” (and a few “C’ and “D”) movies.

Horror and Science Fiction were standard fare at the drive-ins. The original mutant Jello flick was The Blob with a handsome Steve McQueen as the disbelieved teenager battling an alien glowing, growing glob of a creature (Jello will never be the same) in this black and white film circa 1958. I had nightmares for weeks of living alien gelatin oozing out of the projection booth in my little hometown theater…

And if The Blob (the old version, not the modern remake) makes you munch the popcorn faster, try these classic alien/horror flicks as well:

The Beast from the Haunted Cave (There’s always a beast, and caves are a staple in the “B” movie line-up)

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Lizard-like creature obsessed with beautiful girl)

Forbidden Planet (rampaging alien monsters kill of scientists in space)

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (Don’t ask – so bad it’s good!) And the name says it all!

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Self-explanatory)

Tarantula (Mutant irradiated spiders this time)

The Mole People (Three guesses…)

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (You can guess where they are going and what they will find)

When Worlds Collide (Yes, the Earth is threatened by a rogue comet about to strike)

These films may seem tame to those who grew up on this side of Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they are campy, fun, and a bit of nostalgia for those of us who remember, who are sci-fi junkies, or simply “old movie” buffs.

Amazon.com has several collections of the best and worst of old sci-fi and horror — as many as fifty films in one package for under $21. Nightmare Worlds 50 Movie Pack Collection is $20.99; Chilling Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection is $16.47; Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection is $20.99; and SciFi Classics Collection 50 Movie Pack Collection (1953) is $14.99. Plus the cost of popcorn. Or the pizza you order in.

Drive-In Saturday Night will be posted weekly on Fridays through Labor Day. May the Gods be kind to those who celebrate a little bit of yesterday in films now showing in your living room.