4/5 Two are better than average, while two are worse than average.
  by Tom Brody (Berkeley, CA)
Volume 17 contains two stories that are better than average, and two below average stories. WHAT YOU NEED features Ernest Truex (1889-1973), an adorable old man having the starring role in the magnificent Twilight Zone episode, KICK THE CAN. In WHAT YOU NEED, Ernest Truex is a peddler. He totes a box of knick knacks containing things such as matches, thread, a bus ticket, cleaning fluid, shoes, and scissors. WHAT YOU NEED begins when the peddler enters a café, approaches various customers, and selects a knick knack and gives it to the customer. As it turns out, even though each item seems inconsequential, the item is found to be useful in the immediate future. In other words, Ernest Truex has the ability to see the future, and to give any person an item that can serve the person's future needs. To give an example, the peddler gives a man a pair of scissors. Even though the man scoffs at this gift, he changes his mind in the next scene, when his scarf gets caught in the door of an elevator. The various elements in WHAT YOU NEED fit together rather well. FOUR STARS.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX concerns an elderly married couple. The man is a taxi driver, who likes to have girl friends on the side. The wife is a plump, brassy blond. The initial issue is that their television set is broken. The TV repairman is Sterling Holloway (voice of Winnie the Pooh, and Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book). Sterling Holloway also stars in a black and white Superman T.V. episode about a computer, named Mr.Kelso, that plans crimes.

After the TV is "fixed," the TV acquires the strange property of disclosing secrets and of predicting the future. While the man (William Damarest) is relaxing with a can of beer in front of the TV, he notices that the screen shows him with one of his girlfriends. William Damarest drops his beer in surprise. Later on in the story, the screen shows him fighting with his wife, pushing her out the window, and then going to the electric chair.

The well-choreographed fight scene is amazing. It is rare for any movie to show an elderly couple fighting with each other. Here, they throw books, lamps, chairs, at each other. The aggression that the pair shows towards each other is so over-the-top, that it is funny (and much better than any Three Stooges episode).

William Damarest is so shocked by this depiction on his television that he faints. When he revives, he decides to turn a new leaf, to express sorrow for his dilly-dallying, and to express his devotion to his wife. But his attempts at expressing devotion backfire, and the film ends with a gargantuan ironic twist. FIVE STARS.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX features Joan Blondell (1906-1979), who acted in 100 movies, including Sinner's Holiday (1930), The Public Enemy (1931), The Perfect Specimen, The Blue Veil (1951), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Nightmare Alley (1947), Desk Set (1957), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) and The Cincinnati Kid (1965).

WHAT'S IN THE BOX also stars William Damarest (1892-1983), who acted in 140 films. His films include, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Romance on the Run (1938), One Wild Night (1938), Josette (1938), Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938), While New York Sleeps (1938), The Great Man Votes (1939), King of the Turf (1939), The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), On Our Merry Way (1948), Here Come the Girls (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

THE MIRROR is a tedious story about a dictator in Central America and his henchmen.

THE OLD MAN IN THE CAVE is also tedious. THE OLD MAN IN THE CAVE is one of Twilight Zone's stories about the apocalypse. Generally, Twilight Zone's apocalypse stories are enormously tedious, for example, ONE MORE PALLBEARER and TWO (with Charles Bronson). A notable exception is TIME ENOUGH AT LAST (with Burgess Meredith), which is one of the very best in the Twilight Zone series.


2/5 A bad one
  by
This is one of the worst. "What's in the box" is terrible. You can laugh at the end. "The Mirror" is terrible, it's their impression on Castro, "What you Need" is good. And "The Old Man in the cave" is good. This one has two bad ones and two good ones. Which ones do you like better? Take your pick.....

5/5 The Real Castro
  by
I read one review from someone who thought it did not show dictator Castro very good. I saw this video and I think it showed him like he must be. I think the rest also show how people should think before they do anything to hurt others they don't understand and not act like a mob in a riot in the cave episode.