The Twilight Zone (1959) s02e05 Episode Script

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination.
That's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
I know it's it's an incredible story.
I, of all people, know this, that you won't believe me no, not at first.
But i'm going to tell you the whole thing.
Then you will believe, because you must.
You must believe! It happened many years ago, after the first world war.
I was on a walking trip through central europe.
But one night i one night i got lost in a storm.
Yes? What is it? Please please, let me in.
I'm lost.
I'm sorry, we don't allow visitors in the hermitage.
Oh, i'm not a visitor.
I'm i'm a stranger here.
I'm i'm lost.
No, you don't understand.
I'm lost.
I'll be all right once i dry out.
Wait here.
I have to speak to brother jerome.
Brother jerome will see you now.
What was that? The wind.
Come.
Why have you come here? My my name is ellington.
I'm on a walking trip, but got lost in the storm.
Excuse me.
I saw light here.
What do you want from us? Shelter and maybe some food.
We cannot help you.
You will have to leave.
Now, mr.
Ellington now.
The prostrate form of mr.
David ellington- scholar, seeker of truth, and regrettably, finder of truth- a man who will shortly arise from his exhaustion to confront a problem that has tormented mankind since the beginning of time- a man who knocked on a door seeking sanctuary and found instead the outer edges of the twilight zone.
Help me! No, please, in the name of mercy, help me.
You're not one of them.
No, my name is ellington.
I'm an american.
Shh! We have only moments.
Come closer come.
They're mad, mr.
Ellington all of them, raving mad.
Listen, i was in the village in schwartzwald.
I was walking in the street with my woman.
We paused to rest by a tree and we kissed.
Is it wrong to kiss? Tell me.
I i don't think so.
Of course you don't.
You don't think so, i don't think so.
But jerome the lecherous old fool.
We looked up and i saw him standing close by.
I tried to open my mouth to speak, but before i could utter a sound, he raised that heavy staff he carries.
You've seen it? And he hit me again and again.
Why? For revenge.
Because she refused his advances.
He took his fury out on me.
I i'm sorry, i i find this difficult to believe.
Of course you do, mr.
Ellington.
That's the strength of the man.
He makes his madness seem a harmless thing.
The the madness of a religious zealot.
This is not a religious order, mr.
Ellington.
These so-called brothers of truth, they're outcasts, misfits, cut off from the world because the world won't have them.
Mr.
Ellington, please.
You must believe me.
I don't say they're evil.
I say they're mad.
Where are you going? I'll speak to jerome.
No! He's the greatest maniac of them all.
But then how can i help you? Mr.
Ellington! I did not know that you were well enough to walk.
Come with me, please.
I must talk with you.
This way.
I must ask you to leave the hermitage, mr.
Ellington.
We have no facilities for the care of the ill.
Arrangements can made at schwartzwald.
Just a minute.
No, not a minute, not another second, mr.
Ellington - now! Why? I have already explained that.
No, you've explained nothing.
No one asked me to come here, i realize that, but that's no excuse for your behavior.
My son i'm not your son.
You don't understand.
That's right, i don't.
So why don't you tell me? Why are you in such a hurry for me to leave? What are you afraid i'll find out? It's the man you have locked up in the cell, isn't it, brother? Well, that isn't a secret anymore.
I know about him.
What man is this, mr.
Ellington? The one we just left.
The one who's been screaming his head off.
I'm not sure you know what you're saying.
Look, brother, i don't know much about this cult of yours- what's permitted, what isn't permitted- but i seriously doubt if you have the authority to imprison a man against his will.
That is quite true.
We have no such authority.
Then why have you done it? No man has ever been imprisoned in the hermitage, mr.
Ellington.
I was just talking with him.
You talked to no man.
You have been very ill, mr.
Ellington.
You've suffered delirium.
Oh, now don't tell me you didn't hear that.
Honest men make unconvincing liars.
I'll find out eventually, you know? What do you mean? Just what i say.
The police will be very interested to learn that you people are keeping a man in prison here.
I tell you, there is no man! All right, just forget it.
Mr.
Ellington yes? Would you really go to the police? Would you? Very well.
I have told you the truth but only a part of it.
Now i see i shall have to tell you the whole truth.
Shut the door, mr.
Ellington.
Then you do hear it? As i have heard it every hour of every day for five long years.
Why did you lie? I didn't.
When i told you that no man howled at the hermitage, i was being perfectly honest.
What you saw is not a man.
It is the devil himself.
Yes, the devil himself.
What you saw in the cell is satan.
Otherwise known as the dark angel, ahriman, asmodeus, belial, diabolus, the devil.
You asked for the truth.
Now you have it.
You do believe me, don't you? Uh sure, of course.
No, now it is you who are lying, mr.
Ellington.
You don't believe me at all.
Quite to the contrary.
You're now quite certain of what you suspected- that i am mad.
Sit down, mr.
Ellington and we'll see.
Let me tell you a story and we'll see how certain you are that i am mad- how certain you are of anything.
I suppose you fancy yourself a sophisticated man.
You consider us to be primitive because we live here in solitude, away from the so-called "real world.
" We are misfits.
No, no oh, please.
I know all the theories.
I assure you, brother, that no, mr.
Ellington.
It is i who am assuring you.
I am not the ignorant fanatic i would appear.
Oh, i coped with your world for 40 years and rather successfully at that.
The best schools, a degree in philosophy, a job that took me to the ends of the earth.
This beard this staff and this faith are merely the results of a different point of view.
If you could understand that, you could listen to what i have to say with an open mind.
Five years ago, there were no howls in the hermitage.
There was simply the bombed-out ruin of an old castle belonging to the family wolfen.
Baron wolfen gave it to the brotherhood of truth as a gesture of charity.
Our job was to tend the vineyards and save what souls we could by constant prayer.
But this isn't a religious order, is it, brother? We feel that we are recognized by god.
Truth is our dogma.
We believe it to be man's greatest weapon against the devil, who is the father of all lies.
All right, go on with your story.
You were tending the vineyards.
At that time, shortly after the great war, the world was in chaos.
Everywhere was unhappiness except in this little village below.
For some reason, the people of schwartzwald refused to yield to despair.
They lost none of their faith.
They continued as they had been for centuries- honest, god-fearing and happy.
This village was a plum to satan one he could not resist, so he came here and embarked upon a program of corruption.
But you stopped him.
Yes! You see, mr.
Ellington, he made the same mistake thatyouhave made.
He underestimatedme.
He thought he would have no difficulty in tempting the old fool.
But i had him in a cell before he knew what happened.
But if he's the devil, how do you keep him locked up? With the staff of truth- the one barrier he cannot pass.
Tell me, how did yourecognize him? He doesn't look evil.
The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape.
I had seen him before in all parts of the world in all forms and guises, wherever there was sin wherever there was strife wherever there was corruption, persecution there he was also.
Sometimes he was only a spectator, a face in the crowd, but always he was there.
Now you see, i hope, why you must say nothing of what you've seen and heard here.
Brother, it's not that i doubt you you understand, only isn't it possible you might have made a mistake? No! Think, mr.
Ellington.
Think of the peace of the world these last five years.
Think of this country now.
Is there another like it? You haven't put an end to suffering.
There's still murders, robberies.
Even now while we're talking, people are starving.
The suffering man wasmeantto endure.
We cause most of our own griefs.
We need no help from him.
It is the unnatural catastrophes, the great wars, the overwhelming pestilences the wholesale sinning that we have stopped.
I believe you, brother.
Do youtruly? Yes.
I admit, i was doubtful at first, but you've convinced me, absolutely.
I promise to keep your secret.
Good, my son.
Tomorrow, if you feel well enough, you may leave.
In the meantime, brother christophorus will look after you.
Please, go directly to his room.
Good night, brother.
He lied to you, didn't he? I can see that.
What did he say? He said you were the devil.
The devil that's good.
That's wonderful.
What a dream for an old devil- to catch the devil and lock him up.
You don't believe him, do you? No, of course not.
Then help me.
Look, here, why don't i just go get the authorities? It would be my death warrant.
The authorities would return and find nothing.
Jerome is mad but he's shrewd, too.
Brother jerome was fearful you might lose your way.
Come.
Why are you locking the door? To protect you.
Rest now, mr.
Ellington.
Remember you're still a very sick man.
You've come.
Good! What do you want me to do? Lift off the wooden bolt.
Is this all that holds you in? Yes, lift it off.
Well, why haven't you done it yourself? Please, there's no time for talk.
Mr.
Ellington, in the name of mercy.
If you fail now, they'll kill both of us.
Don't you understand that? Hurry, hurry! Stop! Stop! Put this on- the storm.
I'm sorry for you, my son.
All your life you will remember this night and you'll know, mr.
Ellington whom you have turned loose upon the world.
I i didn't believe you.
I i saw him and didn't recognize him.
That is man's weakness and satan's strength.
In that moment i decided to spend the rest of my life tracking him down to recapture the evil i'd released the evil that soon took the shape of the second world war the korean war, the hideous new weapons of war.
I swore i'd find him again as brother jerome had done.
It took many years, but i did it.
See, i have him in there now.
So you understand now? You understand why you must not under any circumstances, go near that door.
You see how important it is that he stay locked up.
Good.
I am sending him back to brother jerome.
He'll do a bit of howling, but pay no attention to that.
It's a trick, i know.
Yes, i must go now.
I must go, i i have preparations to make.
I'll be back in just a few minutes.
Remember remember keep that door locked.
You can catch the devil, but you can't hold him long.
Ask brother jerome, ask david ellington.
They know, and they'll go on knowing till the end of their days, and beyond, in the twilight zone.
Rod serling, creator of the twilight zone, will tell you about next week's story after this word from our alternate sponsor.
And now, mr.
Serling.
Next week, you'll see these bandages unwrapped, and you'll get a good, close look at the face beneath them.
It's an excursion into the odd and into the very, very different.
Our play is called "the eye of the beholder," and it comes recommended.
I hope we'll see you next week onthe twilight zone.
Thank you and good night.
Be sure and see the colgate-palmolive company's new comedy show, my sister eileen wednesday night on many of these same stations.