User Reviews

"The Phantom Farmhouse" - Hippie mental patient Gideon (an excellent performance by David Carradine) tells psychiatrist Joel Winter (well played by David McCallum) about a mysterious farmhouse in the woods where the beautiful and beguiling Mildred (lovely blonde Linda Marsh) resides. The only problem is that Mildred might somehow be responsible for the baffling deaths of several of Winters' patients. Director Jeannot Szwarc presents a strong rural atmosphere along with a quietly eerie and melancholy mood. This neat spin on the werewolf premise ends on a haunting sad note.

"Silent Snow, Secret Snow" - Troubled autistic boy Paul (a fine portrayal by Radames Pera) becomes so obsessed and infatuated with a special imaginary world of snow and isolation that it threatens to overwhelm him. Director Gene R. Kearney ably crafts a delicate and ethereal tone as well as offers a thoughtful meditation on a disturbed child's need and desire to escape from harsh reality. Lonny Chapman and Lisabeth Marsh do sterling work as the boy's concerned parents. Further enhanced by the gorgeously mellifluous narration of Orson Welles, this poignant tale rates as one of the stand-out segments of this series.

Patient Gideon (David Carradine) has an unusual insight into an old farmhouse he can see from the window of his sanitarium room, and a wistful memory of a beautiful woman who lives there. For anyone unfamiliar with legends of the werewolf, this story introduces an array of elements, including the French term 'loup garou' for the fabled creature. As headmaster of the Delphinium House, Dr. Joel Winter (David McCallum) decides to follow up on Gideon's mention of the beautiful Mildred (Linda Marsh), and is slowly drawn into a hopeless love affair that's destined to end in tragedy. This is one of the better told tales in the Night Gallery universe and should appeal to fans of werewolves and the weird.

On the second entry, I'm left somewhat baffled by almost every other reviewer for the episode here on IMDb for their conclusion that the young boy Paul was autistic. Perhaps he was in the original source material from author Conrad Aiken, but I didn't really get that impression while watching the story. Distracted and withdrawn to live in a world of his own imagination, I felt the young boy was on the verge of a mental instability removing him from the real world. The fascination and obsession with snow was an intriguing aspect of his delusion, though the story offers no reasonable explanation for the creation of his dream world. There really is no resolution to the young boy's story, which left this viewer somewhat frustrated with the ending. What helps redeem the story somewhat is the compelling narration of Orson Welles, whose somber voice lends a mysterious aura to the tale.

The Phantom Farmhouse: Pre Kung Fu David Carridine is in a lockdown facility. He explains to his doctor about a mysterious farm and the woman who controls it. The doctor becomes curious and it leads him to discover past truths about werewolfs.

Silent Snow Secret Snow: A young man with Asbergers illness becomes delusional about his fixation on snow. The 70's were a time when we knew very little about autism. Good episode overall.

The Phantom Farmhouse/Silent Snow was well, well not the Twilight Zone for Rod! The Phantom Farmhouse was a by the number scary abandon haunted farm house horror. Seen one seen them all. Maybe, original back in 1971, but was it evil ghost, the farm house disappears was lame and predictable. Not like the old Twilight Zone episode of Shatner on a plane seeing the creature on the wing Terror at 2000 feet episode. Silent Snow, Secret Snow I remember having to read the short story for grade 8. I guess the work was a literary classic short story. I found the short story weird in a scary way as a teenager which was lame. I preferred Too build a fire way better, as a stand out classic about the cold, but Silent Snow was stand out been creepy awful to compare. On camera Silent Snow Secret Snow just across as lame creepy in a serial killer way. 6 stars.

This is not the first time this story has been told on film. But it is the finest version.

How can one quantify what makes this episode among the finest of the Night Gallery series? The choice of a delicate and un-nerving story of a boy's journey into autism, the soundtrack which underscores the journey, the excellent acting of young Radames Pera or the sublime narration by the late Orson Welles?

The name would be unknown back then but today, it would be a journey to autism as this story tells of a boy and his journey towards loneliness and isolation, a goodbye to the world of people.

The original story was written in 1934 and still holds timeless. No matter the time and date, it holds forth the truths of the human condition and the dark and lonely corners that inhabit within all of us.

'The Phantom Farmhouse'. Scripted by Halsted Welles, based on a story by Seabury Quinn. This is an interesting way to do a werewolf tale if one doesn't have the budget for effects. The fresh spin put on the myth is that the residents and staff of a rural mental institution are drawn to a mysterious house in the woods, where the young beauty who lives there (Linda Marsh) is in actuality a feral beast. Psychiatrist Joel Winter (David McCallum) finds the house, and falls in love with the girl, who implores him to do something for her. There is great atmosphere in this tale, and an appealing, romantic feel to it. The performances are all on point, with David Carradine tending to steal the show as guitar-playing hippie Gideon, who definitely seems to know the score. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and co-starring Trina Parks, Bill Quinn, Ford Rainey, and Ivor Francis.

'Silent Snow, Secret Snow.' Scripted by Gene R. Kearney, based on a story by Conrad Aiken. A viewer could easily see this as the ultimately sad tale of a childs' descent into madness, as the dreamy Paul (the endearing Radames Pera) obsesses over snow. Even during warm, sunny summer days, he fantasizes that snow is falling and talking to him. Nobody can draw this kid out of his little world, including his father (Lonny Chapman) and doctor (Jason Wingreen). This episode goes far on Peras' performance, with lots of close-ups of his wide-eyed face. But its main asset is obviously the narration, spoken with gusto by Orson Welles. He brings this literate dialogue to life. A sobering and effective segment, also directed by Kearney.

Eight out of 10.

Night Gallery works best when it's longer stories and not - am I a broken record yet? - the excruciating black out shorts. This episode also has a more experimental first story and I love when the show tries to break new ground.

"The Phantom Farmhouse" is about a sanitarium that allows its patients to roam outside for therapy. When one of them is killed another patient named Gideon (David Carradine) claims that a girl who lives nearby named Mildred Squire (Linda Marsh, Freebie and the Bean, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home) is the murderer. Doctor Joel Winter (David McCallum, three years removed from The Man from U. N. C. L. E.) refuses to believe that this could be true once he glimpses how gorgeous she is.

Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, written by Halsted Welles and based on a short story by Seabury Quinn, this is shot in a surreal style and Carradine is perfect as a character who feels like the antagonist but stay with it. I also read this referred to as a pre-80s werewolf story, as special effects made a leap in 1981, the year of the werewolf movie, but this still works for me.

Conrad Aiken's best-known short story, "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," was originally filmed as a 17-minute short movie produced by Gene Kearney. Kearney directed this story for Night Gallery and it's a haunting tale of a boy who chooses the world of dreams and snow to the dirty real place that reality offers. It's made even better because Orson Welles is the perfect narrator.

Paul Hasleman (Radames Pera) withdraws from our world when he starts to care about just one thing: the snow. Much like other Serling presentations that used fantasy or science fiction to explain issues of racism, this is an incredibly stirring tale of a boy with developmental issues that is failed by everyone. Kearney also wrote the teleplay for this and this is perhaps his finest work and amongst the best of Night Gallery.

This whole episode is what I want this show to be. My frustration when it isn't aside, being able to enjoy this near-perfect journey into the Night Gallery is why I continue to champion this classic show.