Night Gallery: Season Two | 
 enlarge | Directors: Allen Baron, Allen Reisner, Barry Shear, Boris Sagal, Daniel Haller
Actors: Diana Chesney, Floy Dean, Patty Duke, Virginia Mayo, James Mccallion
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.98
Buy New: $37.85
You Save: $22.13 (37%)
New (33) Used (9) from $37.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 1196
Format: Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 5
Running Time: 1120
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 1.1
MPN: MCAD61101070D
UPC: 025195009003
EAN: 0025195009003
ASIN: B001DXS4DI
Release Date: November 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/11/2008
Amazon.com
Submitted for your approval, the second season of INight Gallery/I, Rod Serling's atmospheric anthology series that more often than not was in the IZone/I. Each week, Serling, acting as "an undernourished Alfred Hitchcock," played the role of host and curator of "a palladium of art treasures that range from the kooky to the uncommon, from the bestial to the bizarre." Comprised of original works and short story adaptations, INight Gallery/I's palette had many colors: touched-by-an-angel fantasy (the holiday fable "The Messiah on Mott Street"); the macabre ("Green Fingers"); the darkly comic ("The Late Mr. Peddington"); and the haunting ("The Tune in Dan's Cafe," which spawned the surprise country hit, "If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry"). INight Gallery/I has long resided in IThe Twilight Zone/I's shadow, but great art demands a second, closer look. At its best, IGallery/I featured superb writing (Serling's body snatcher gem, "Deliveries in the Rear") and great performances (Orson Welles as the narrator of "Silent Snow, Secret Snow"), but it was also a director's showcase for moods and aesthetics. A series benchmark is the terrifying, "The Caterpillar," starring Laurence Harvey as a man who gets an earful of earwig. In addition to Harvey, IGallery/I featured a stellar roster of actors who did not ordinarily do television, including Edward G. Robinson ("Mott Street"), Patrick O'Neal and Kim Stanley ("A Fear of Spiders"), and Geraldine Page ("Stop Killing Me" and the classic, "The Sins of the Fathers"). It also featured familiar faces in atypical roles, such as ILaugh-In/I's verrrry interesting Arte Johnson as a womanizing radio disc jockey in "Flip Side of Satan," Pat Boone as a callous father considering a very special school for his delinquent son in "The Academy," and Rudy Vallee as a committed doctor, or at least one who should be, in "Marmalade Wine." Comic vignettes and blackouts between offerings are more miss than hit (in one, Death, riding in a crowded elevator, chivalrously removes his skull in the presence of a female rider), but they are brief and can be easily skipped. Museum goers who like audio tours to enhance their appreciation of the exhibits will appreciate episode commentaries by Jim Benson and Scott Skelton, who literally wrote the book on the series (IRod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour/I, and IPan's Labyrinth/I and IHellboy/I director Guillermo Del Toro. A series retrospective and a featurette spotlighting the artist who created the IGallery/I paintings featured in each episode make this DVD set one that is suitable for framing. I--Donald Liebenson/I p bAmazon.com/bbr The second season of iNight Gallery/i offers 22 more terror-filled tours for those "whose tastes in art run lean towards the bizarre," as host Rod Serling described its viewership; a wealth of extras spread across the set also makes this sophomore journey into darkness a worthwhile one for series devotees and TV horror fans in general. Though Serling was the face and frequent author of iNight Gallery/i's episodes, his creative control over the series was fading by the second season (1971-1972); frequent clashes between Serling, the network and producer Jack Laird over the tone and direction of the show left the acclaimed television scribe feeling powerless over a series that used his iTwilight Zone/i pedigree as its calling card. And while the hit-and-miss nature of the second season is unquestionable--episodes like "The Flip Side of Satan," "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" and "Hell's Bells" are embarrassingly bad, as are Laird's short comic vignettes--but there are an equal number of terrific and memorable stories to be found in the set as well. Chief among them is the Serling-penned "The Caterpillar," a gruesome tale of revenge that stands as one of the most horrifying tales ever presented on television; Serling also provided the moving Christmas fable "The Messiah on Mott Street," which features one of Edward G. Robinson's last screen appearances, as well as "Class of '99" with Vincent Price and "The Academy," with a surprising and effective turn against type for Pat Boone. Other standouts include two H.P. Lovecraft adaptations, "Cool Air" and "Pickman's Model," and "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," which earns its chills from a combination of dreamlike visuals and narration by Orson Welles. For a show disregarded by critics and fans of Serling's early work (as well as by the man himself) the second season of iNight Gallery/i offers more than its share of small-screen scares. Nearly all of the 22 episodes from iNight Gallery/i's second season are contained in this five-disc set; two comic shorts, "Witches' Feast" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed," are missing or presented incomplete, respectively, though their absence has little to no impact on the set's value. Scott Skelton and Jim Benson, authors of the invaluable companion guide iRod Serling's Night Gallery: An After Hours Tour/i, provide a wealth of background information on the show in audio commentaries on three episodes, while director Guillermo Del Toro (iHellboy/i, iPan's Labyrinth/i) discusses the show's influence on his work in fascinating detail on three additional episodes. iRevisiting The Gallery: A Look Back/i is a half-hour featurette that includes interviews with show contributors ranging from director John Badham and theme composer Gil Melle to actress Lindsay Wagner, while iArt Gallery/i offers a glimpse at the show's evocative paintings with commentary by their creator, artist Tom Wright. A small battery of TV promos for the show round out the exemplary set, which should please fans who were disappointed by the lack of material in the first season presentation. i--Paul Gaita/i
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
Night Gallery December 30, 2008
This is a good show to add to any collection. This is as good as Twilight Zone. Can't wait for the next season to come out.
Night Gallery Season 2 December 12, 2008
Execellent and prompt service, will definately use again. And I was very excited to know that Season Two has been published. I think that it was the best of all the seasons.....over all.br /br /br /
Finally...and worth it!! December 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It took four years for Universal to release the 2nd season of NIGHT GALLERY, but the wait is worth it for some of the extras included. Season 1, released in 2004,was a bare-bones affair and according to one source, it's sales lagged and a release of season 2 was in doubt. In fact, the first set included two "bonus" 2nd season episode which left many to doubt if a season 2 set would even be released. However, here we are with Season 2-and it is considered by many to be the very best of the show's run. All episodes are restored and not in the truncated condition that many were seen in syndication in the mid to late 70's, when the show was edited to a half hour and,the Canadian Gary Collins show, THE SIXTH SENSE was for reasons of syndication, re-tooled to fit in as "Night Gallery" episodes, complete with new Rod Serling intros done after the original show was cancelled(and before his untimely death). The high points of this 2nd season are adaptations of some classic horror stories, several of which are by H.P. Lovecraft and the eerie "The Boy Who Could Predict Earthquakes" with it's completely unforgettable twist ending. Also, there are commentaries on episodes,by, most notably Guillermo Del Toro. And for the art fan, an entire gallery of Tom Wright's classic paintings seen on the shows is an extra. The episodes seem in fine shape with a good picture, save for two which are basically re-constructed and missing segments because the whereabouts of the masters is unknown. Some is better than none, I guess in those cases. Still, all in all, the set is a vast improvement from the first season, but perhaps the wait was worth it to re-launch it.
Season 2: Over 60 Stories!!! November 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Season 1 had only about 20 stories. Season 2 has over 60 stories! And they are not the chopped up edited versions you see on cable, these are the originals. There were 2 to 4 stories on each episode of the Night Gallery, and this is what you get here. This is the good stuff. And don't forget to get the Night Gallery book by Scott Skelton, it's huge and packed with insight on every eposide and much, much more. The book said they had enough material to go for 7 seasons, mostly short stories from horror magazines from the 1930s to the 1970s. Too bad the series was canceled shortly into the 3rd season. Nothing like it before or since.
Can't wait for season 3 November 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've almost finished watching all 5 DVD's. The show is just as good I remembered. Only second to the original Twilight Zone. br /br /I hope it is not another 4 years before they release the 3rd season.
|
|
|
