The Midnight Sun
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“The Midnight Sun” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
[edit] Details
- Episode number: 75
- Season: 3
- Production code: 4818
- Original air date: November 17, 1961
- Writer: Rod Serling
- Director: Anton Leader
- Music: Original score by Nathan Van Cleave
[edit] Cast
- Norma: Lois Nettleton
- Mrs. Bronson: Betty Garde
- The Intruder: Tom Reese
- Doctor: William Keene
[edit] Synopsis
The Earth has left its orbit and is now heading towards the sun. An artist, Norma, and her landlady Mrs. Bronson are the last people in their building, the rest having moved north (or, presumably, died from the heat). They try to keep each other company, but the landlady collapses and dies. The thermometer creeps past 140 degrees, and shatters. As her oil paintings melt from the heat, Norma also collapses.
The scene cuts to the apartment at night. In the darkness outside, it's snowing. Norma is bedridden with a high fever, and attended by Mrs. Bronson and a doctor. She was actually dreaming that the Earth was moving towards the sun. In reality though, the Earth is moving away from the Sun, which will eventually cause everything to freeze over.
[edit] Trivia
The effect of the oil paintings melting was accomplished by painting the pictures in wax on the surface of a hotplate.
[edit] Missing scenes
Serling's original script featured two characters who did not appear in the finished episode, a police officer and a refrigerator repairman. These roles are significant not only because Serling wrote them, but because he went so far as to cast them before he cut them from the script (Ned Glass was slated to be the repairman and John McLiam the police officer). Why they were cut probably traces back to Twilight Zone's budget problems, which had been growing significantly since James T. Aubrey, Jr. became chief executive of CBS in the show's second season.
- Jim Aubrey was a very, very difficult problem for the show. He was particularly tough on The Twilight Zone, because for its time it was a particularly costly half-hour show.
"I spent a lot of time with Buck [Houghton, Twilight Zone’s producer] trying to reduce scripts, some by Rod, by one speaking part or two speaking parts because we were just about to start shooting the show and we were over budget. And Aubrey was real tough on this subject even if it was a small number of dollars." —Del Reisman quoted in Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television’s Last Angry Man
Similar problems occurred during the shooting of “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross”.
[edit] Repairman scene
Mrs. Bronson: (very softly) And now we are two.
Norma: (nodding toward the door) They were the last?
Mrs. Bronson: (nods) The last. Building's empty now except for you and me.
There's the sound of footsteps from inside Mrs. Bronson's apartment. A dungareed repairman carrying a tool kit comes out into the hall.
Repairman: She's running again, Mrs. Bronson. I wouldn't sign no guarantee as to how long she'll run - but she shouldn't give you any trouble for a while. (he looks briefly at Norma then a little nervously down to the ground) Was you gonna pay for this in cash?
Mrs. Bronson: I have a charge—
Repairman: (ill at ease) Boss says I should start collectin' in cash. (then to Norma) We've been working around the clock. (he shakes his head) Refrigerators breaking down every minute and a half. Everybody and his brother trying to make ice. Then with the current being shut off every coupla hours—it's tough on the machines. (he looks back toward Mrs. Bronson) About the bill, Mrs. Bronson...
Mrs. Bronson: (softly) How much is it?
Repairman: (looking away from her) I gotta charge you a hundred dollars.
(Close shot Norma reacting)
(Close shot Mrs. Bronson. The quiet of her voice doesn't cover the dismay.)
Mrs. Bronson: For fifteen minutes work?
(Two shots, repairman and Mrs. Bronson)
Repairman: (nods) For fifteen minutes work. Most outfits are charging double that and triple. It's been that way for a month. Ever since... (he looks out toward the street) Ever since the thing happened.
Close shot with him. As he turns back toward Mrs. Bronson, stops, starts, and reacts. (Pan over to Mrs. Bronson. She’s taking off her wedding ring and holds it out to him.)
Mrs. Bronson: (quietly) I don’t have any money left, but this is gold. It’s worth a lot more than a hundred dollars.
Medium group shot favoring repairman. The repairman just stands there, obviously torn now. He makes a motion as if to reach out to take the ring, then shakes his head, lets his hand abruptly fall to his side, hoists up the tool kit under his arm and starts for the stairs.
Repairman: Go ahead and charge it. I ain’t taking a lady’s wedding ring. Goodbye, Mrs. Bronson. Good luck to you. (he pauses. He looks through the window at the landing, squinting toward the broiling white sky, very softly) I’m going to try to get my family out tonight. Drive north. Canada, if we can make it. They say it’s cooler there. (he turns to look back toward the two women, very resignedly) Not that it makes much difference. Just kind of...kind of prolonging it. (he smiles a crooked twisted smile) Like everybody rushing to fix their refrigerators and air conditioners... (he shakes his head) Like somebody drowning in the ocean and trying to get a firm grip on a piece of seaweed. (he shakes his head again) It’s nuts. It’s just prolonging it, that’s all. (he takes a deep breath, heaves a big sigh) Lordy...Lordy, it’s hot.
[edit] Police Officer Scene
Mrs. Bronson slowly rises to her feet, moves out of the room into the hall just as a policeman comes into view on the stairs. His shirt is unbuttoned all the way down and the sleeves have been cut off and are ragged and uneven at the elbows.
Policeman: You the only one in the building?
Mrs. Bronson: Just me and Miss Smith. (She nods toward the open door of Norma’s apartment.)
Policeman: You had your radio on lately?
Mrs. Bronson: It’s on all the time. (then calling toward Norma) Norma honey, what station did we—
Policeman (interrupts) It doesn’t make any difference. There are only two or three on the air now. And they figure by tomorrow there won’t be any. Point is...we’ve been trying to get a public announcement through to everyone left in the city. (he looks away for a moment as if this were difficult to say) ...There isn’t going to be a police force tomorrow. We’re disbanding. Over half of them have gone already. A few of us volunteered to stay back and tell everyone we could that... (he looks from Norma who now stands at the door, back to the old woman) To keep your doors locked. Every wild man, crank and maniac around will be roaming the streets. It’s not going to be safe, ladies, so keep your doors locked. (he looks at Norma as if this were the stronger of the two and the more reliable) You got any weapons in here, miss?
Norma: No. No, I don’t.
Mrs. Bronson: I don’t either. I don’t know how to shoot a gun—
Policeman: (looks thoughtful for a moment then unbuckles his holster and takes a .45 out, hands this to Norma) You better hang onto this. It’s all loaded. The safety’s off. Just pull the trigger. (he looks from one to the other) Good luck to you.
He turns toward the door and Mrs. Bronson rushes out to grab his arm.
Mrs. Bronson: Officer—Officer, what’s going to happen to us?
Close shot policeman, as he looks from one to the other.
Policeman: Don’t you know, ladies? It’s just going to get hotter and hotter. Then maybe a couple days from now, four or five at the most...it’ll be too hot to stand it. (he looks meaningfully toward the gun in Norma’s hand) Then you use your own judgement ladies!
He turns and goes out, leaving Mrs. Bronson leaning against the wall. Then very slowly she turns to stare fearfully toward the gun in Norma’s hand.
- End Act One
[edit] Critical response
J. Hoberman, excerpt from “America’s Twilight Zone”, published in Visions From the Twilight Zone by Arlen Schumer:
- Whether explicitly nuclear or otherwise, the apocalypse was never far away [in the Twilight Zone]. “The Midnight Sun” was telecast on the day the U.S. consolidated its drive for “push-button warfare” with the first successful launching of a Minuteman missile from an underground silo. The episode substitutes a kink in the Earth’s orbit—an analogue to what we currently call “the greenhouse effect”—for an atomic holocaust. Instead of blowing up, the planet is falling into the sun. Rape and pillage seem imminent, and even the pigment is boiling on the heroine-artist’s canvases as the radio weatherman goes nuts on the air.
[edit] References
- Sander, Gordon F.:Serling: The Rise And Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
