Although episode #19 of the landmark TV program "The Outer Limits," the one entitled "The Invisibles," had been one of the scariest--and surely one of the creepiest--hours ever offered to the viewing public, the series' follow-up episode, "The Bellero Shield," was anything but. Rather than going for outright horror here, this episode, one of the more literate for the series, and first broadcast on 2/10/64, instead seemed to try to be "merely" an absolutely gripping and suspenseful sci-fi entertainment, and one featuring some of the best ensemble acting of all 49 "OL" outings.
In this outstanding and intelligent hour, one of my personal Top 10 favorite "Outer Limits" episodes, we meet Richard Bellero, Jr. (played by Martin Landau, who had also appeared in another of this viewer's personal favorite episodes, #6, "The Man Who Was Never Born"), who has invented a new type of laser device with which he is combing the heavens. His laser has the inadvertent effect of bringing down an alien being (John Hoyt), who seems to be composed of light itself. Bellero's wife Judith (Sally Kellerman, whose first TV appearance had been in episode #8, "The Human Factor"), eager for her husband to make a name for himself and prove himself worthy of inheriting his father's (Neil Hamilton, who had just appeared in the previous week's "Invisibles") business empire, shoots the alien with a gun in an attempt to prevent its departure, and then steals the mushy push-button device that controls its impenetrable shield. She sends her house servant, the barefooted Mrs. Dame (Chita Rivera), to hide the alien's body in the wine cellar, while she demonstrates the device--which she dubs the Bellero shield, claiming it was the product of her husband's labors--to Bellero Sr., who is suitably impressed. Only one problem arises: Judith is now trapped inside the shield, with no means of effecting a release....
It is hard to know where to begin in enumerating the things to love about this episode, but let's start with the acting jobs turned in by all five players. They are all absolutely superb, Emmy-worthy performances, most particularly Kellerman's. Check out how convincingly horrified she looks by the alien's initial advent (the episode's only scary moment, it is actually more startling than frightening), right before and after shooting it with a laser pistol! And her prolonged scream after first being trapped inside that alien shield is surely (for me, anyway) one of the most chilling moments in "Outer Limits" history. Kellerman is simply tremendous here. And then there is Chita Rivera, an actress more commonly identified with the stage, but whose work alongside Shirley MacLaine in 1969's "Sweet Charity" will surely linger long in the memory. Here, Rivera (a personal friend of "OL" producer Joseph Stefano, as revealed in David Schow's "Outer Limits Companion" volume) offers us a performance of laserlike focus itself, and indeed, the way she utters the words "It's got a bullet in the base of its skull" might very well be one of the most intense line readings in the history of this series. Landau and Hamilton are both as good as you might expect, and as for Hoyt, he is absolutely unrecognizable beneath his makeup but does a fine job at portraying this most gentle of space creatures. (Coincidentally, Hoyt would cowrite and costar in a murder-mystery film that same year entitled..."The Glass Cage"!) Other things to love in this episode include that wonderfully literate script by Stefano, rife with literary allusions; very well-done special FX (I love the luminescent look of the alien itself, and the way a fired-off laser impacts with the Bellero shield); the way the alien's voice hums electrically whenever it begins to speak; and the wonderful use of extreme close-ups from German director John Brahm. Brahm had not only directed the earlier "OL" episode "ZZZZZ," but also 13 episodes of "Thriller" (including two of my favorites, "The Cheaters" and "Well of Doom") and 12 "Twilight Zone"s, including such fan favorites as "Time Enough At Last" and (my pick for creepiest "TZ" ep) "Mirror Image," as well. Finally, the look of this episode is absolutely marvelous, with DOP Conrad Hall supplying outstanding effects and a most impressive use of light and shadow (just look at those shimmering lights in the wine cellar!). The net effect of all these talents both behind and in front of the camera is an hour of television that almost looks more like a short theatrical art film. To be sure, "The Outer Limits" did not get very much better than this; in other words, 1960s TV at its very finest....
In this outstanding and intelligent hour, one of my personal Top 10 favorite "Outer Limits" episodes, we meet Richard Bellero, Jr. (played by Martin Landau, who had also appeared in another of this viewer's personal favorite episodes, #6, "The Man Who Was Never Born"), who has invented a new type of laser device with which he is combing the heavens. His laser has the inadvertent effect of bringing down an alien being (John Hoyt), who seems to be composed of light itself. Bellero's wife Judith (Sally Kellerman, whose first TV appearance had been in episode #8, "The Human Factor"), eager for her husband to make a name for himself and prove himself worthy of inheriting his father's (Neil Hamilton, who had just appeared in the previous week's "Invisibles") business empire, shoots the alien with a gun in an attempt to prevent its departure, and then steals the mushy push-button device that controls its impenetrable shield. She sends her house servant, the barefooted Mrs. Dame (Chita Rivera), to hide the alien's body in the wine cellar, while she demonstrates the device--which she dubs the Bellero shield, claiming it was the product of her husband's labors--to Bellero Sr., who is suitably impressed. Only one problem arises: Judith is now trapped inside the shield, with no means of effecting a release....
It is hard to know where to begin in enumerating the things to love about this episode, but let's start with the acting jobs turned in by all five players. They are all absolutely superb, Emmy-worthy performances, most particularly Kellerman's. Check out how convincingly horrified she looks by the alien's initial advent (the episode's only scary moment, it is actually more startling than frightening), right before and after shooting it with a laser pistol! And her prolonged scream after first being trapped inside that alien shield is surely (for me, anyway) one of the most chilling moments in "Outer Limits" history. Kellerman is simply tremendous here. And then there is Chita Rivera, an actress more commonly identified with the stage, but whose work alongside Shirley MacLaine in 1969's "Sweet Charity" will surely linger long in the memory. Here, Rivera (a personal friend of "OL" producer Joseph Stefano, as revealed in David Schow's "Outer Limits Companion" volume) offers us a performance of laserlike focus itself, and indeed, the way she utters the words "It's got a bullet in the base of its skull" might very well be one of the most intense line readings in the history of this series. Landau and Hamilton are both as good as you might expect, and as for Hoyt, he is absolutely unrecognizable beneath his makeup but does a fine job at portraying this most gentle of space creatures. (Coincidentally, Hoyt would cowrite and costar in a murder-mystery film that same year entitled..."The Glass Cage"!) Other things to love in this episode include that wonderfully literate script by Stefano, rife with literary allusions; very well-done special FX (I love the luminescent look of the alien itself, and the way a fired-off laser impacts with the Bellero shield); the way the alien's voice hums electrically whenever it begins to speak; and the wonderful use of extreme close-ups from German director John Brahm. Brahm had not only directed the earlier "OL" episode "ZZZZZ," but also 13 episodes of "Thriller" (including two of my favorites, "The Cheaters" and "Well of Doom") and 12 "Twilight Zone"s, including such fan favorites as "Time Enough At Last" and (my pick for creepiest "TZ" ep) "Mirror Image," as well. Finally, the look of this episode is absolutely marvelous, with DOP Conrad Hall supplying outstanding effects and a most impressive use of light and shadow (just look at those shimmering lights in the wine cellar!). The net effect of all these talents both behind and in front of the camera is an hour of television that almost looks more like a short theatrical art film. To be sure, "The Outer Limits" did not get very much better than this; in other words, 1960s TV at its very finest....