5/5 Volume 32 contains two of the best Twilight Zone episodes.
  by Tom Brody (Berkeley, CA)
Volume 32 of Twilight Zone contains two great episodes and one average episode.

PRINTER'S DEVIL, a 1-hour episode, is one of the greatest of all the Twilight Zone episodes. The story really cooks. The two main characters have excellent rapport with each other. In short, the story begins when a newspaper editor (Robert Sterling) finds himself burdened down with all the problems of a failing business. While contemplating leaping off a small bridge into a stream, one night, he encounters a pedestrian (Burgess Meredith) who befriends him. The pedestrian, actually the Devil, joins the failing newspaper, and takes on the chores of reporter and typesetter. Business picks up. In fact, business is so successful that the competing town newspaper, a huge syndicate, is driven out of business. The editor and his lovely secretary become suspicious of the techniques and methods used by the new reporter, and suspect that he really is the Devil. There is no filler or padding whatsoever in this 1-hour episode. Every element of the story has a purpose in driving the plot ever forward. FIVE STARS.

Burgess Meredith (1908-1997) starred in a number of movies, e.g., the first three Rocky films of Sylvester Stallone, Batman (as the Penguin), Twilight Zone (movie), Advise and Consent, Grumpy Old Men, Day of the Locust, Clash of the Titans, and many others.

Robert Sterling (1917-2006) acted in television shows, e.g., Topper and Studio One, and movies, such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Return to Peyton Place, and A Global Affair.

PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN. The main character (Richard Long)awakes at home, one morning, to find that nobody knows him. This means that his wife, co-workers at the bank, bartender, mother, and others, show no recollection of him. Eventually, the main character wakes up. It had all been a dream. However, the ending--which unfolds over the course of a minute--is one of the all-time-great endings in the Twilight Zone series. FIVE STARS for PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN.

Richard Long (1927-1974) acted in many, many television programs--The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor, Disneyland, 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, Maverick, and a few movies.

PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN is one of Twilight Zone's stories featuring an office worker, such as a bank employee. In PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN, the bank employee is a normal, assertive man. In contrast, in MISTER BEVIS (Orson Bean), A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS (Dick York), TIME ENOUGH TO LAST (Burgess Meredith), THE MIND AND THE MATTER (Shelley Berman), and A KIND OF STOPWATCH, the office worker is a milquetoast or misfit.

NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD is just an average Twilight Zone episode. It deals with flashbacks. Since the flashback concerns the murder of the main character's mother, this episode of Twilight Zone is not a "feel-good" episode. The story is a good one. There is nothing contrived about the story. NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD features a charming little girl as the co-star. But the Twilight Zone series contains other, stronger stories that center around kids, for example, LIVING DOLL and THE BIG TALL WISH. THREE STARS for NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD.


4/5 Burgress Meredith visits "The Twilight Zone" one last time
  by Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
Burgess Meredith makes another visit to "The Twilight Zone" on Volume 32 of the DVD series, but this time he is not a sympathetic character. First up is "Nightmare as a Child," written by Rod Serling. Schoolteacher Helen Foley (Janice Rule) comes home and finds a strange little girl (Terry Burnham) outside her apartment. Of course, the girl seems somewhat familiar to Helen, if only she can remember why this is all so important. An interesting premise, but the episode falls flat. Charles Beaumont turns in his version of the lost identity story in "Person or Persons Unknown," which stars Richard Long as David Gurney, who wakes up and discovers no one knows who he is any more. Even when he finds a picture of himself with his wife, the picture changes before he can show anybody and prove he is not insane. This is one of those stories that had already been done before on the Zone. Finally, Burgess Meredith stars as Mr. Smith in "Printer's Devil," a one-hour episode written by Beaumont and based on his short story, "The Devil, You Say?" Douglas Winter (Robert Sterling) is the editor of the Danzburg Courier, which is being driven out of business by a big newspaper syndicate. The mysterious Mr. Smith offers to help him and the next thing we know the Courier's circulation soars as its headlines become more and more sensational. Winter becomes suspicious when the rival newspaper burns down and his newspaper has an edition out reporting the story within a half-hour. Of course, Meredith steals the episode as the impish devil behind it all in the one episode that makes this disc worth having in your collection.

4/5 The Thin Line Between Reality & The Twilight Zone
  by William Smith (Fontana, CA United States)
Nightmare As A Child**** - I like this ep a lot. The little girl is endearing and yet there is a sort of erieness thats hard to express. This ep is from season one and is among many gems from that year ('60). The thing that really causes this to not get a 5 star is the fact that Helen didn't even know what she looked like when she was young? (I realise she was "sick" but c'mon!) Far fetched even for the Zone.

Persons Unknown *** - I bought this disc for this particular episode but was alarmed at how much I actually liked the other two! Richard Long does a fair job though I liked his performance in No. 12 Looks Just Like You ***** much more. Still, an above average ep. but not without flaw.

Printers Devil***** - Ahhh ... ya know the folks who willy-nilly give all TZ eps "5 stars" because they are "old shows" really do a disservice to the REAL gems. This is the best Burgess Meredith I've seen outside of Magic (w/ Hopkins). And the real beauty is ... I'd never even HEARD of this ep before buying this set! The beauty of dvd I guess. This is an hour long ep and it makes me laugh in the face of those who say the hour long shows were ALL padded, this is proof they weren't. "Speak of the devil" ... great line!

5/5 Should have been Vol. 1
  by Ryan M. Nakhleh (Apache Junction, AZ USA)
I own a good portion of the TZ series and this is my favorite so far. All three episodes are top notch, but The Printer's Devil is the best episode here. The only thing that could make any TZ DVD better is if they released all the Burgess Meredith episodes on one disc. Nightmare as a Child was always a favorite of mine and is a great episode. And I was surprised to find another episode I hadn't seen.Person or Persons Unknown all I can say GREAT.

5/5 Classic Episodes of a Great TV Series
  by Marietta Sabido (Long Island City, New York USA)
This review deals with the entire DVD collection of the "Twilight Zone" as well as this particular volume. First of all, all three episodes on this volume are well-done and of excellent quality. "Nightmare as a Child" is about a woman who went through a traumatic experience encounters a small girl who will take her back to that point in time and help her explain and discover the facts of that incident. "Person or Persons Unknown" concerns a man who wakes up to find a world that has no knowledge of him, including his family. It is a great episode for originality, presentation, acting, and the resolution of the plot. Finally, "Printer's Devil" portrays the owner of a soon-to-be-dead newspaper and his meeting with a man who offers to perform CPR on the failing business to turn it into a thriving one. The TZ episodes on DVD look great, with restored picture, sound, and unabridged content unavailable on syndicated television. Biographies and interviews with creator Rod Serling are included in each volume, in addition to inside information on the series. DVD is an excellent format for the series and I recommend to Sci-fi or TZ fans to buy the entire collection on DVD.