For his season 4 finalé, Rod Serling delivered a tale that satirised the entertainment industry in which he worked, opening the episode with a joke at his own expense: wannabe screenwriter Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) pitches numerous ideas for shows, all of them variations of the same story.
Exasperated agent Mr. Hugo (Henry Lascoe) gives Moomer one last chance to impress him: write a pilot for a show about black magic. For research, Julius goes to a bookshop where he finds 'Ye Book of Ye Black Art'; while studying the contents of dusty tome, he accidentally conjures up none other than the great bard William Shakespeare, who he uses to write scripts that he passes off as his own work.
Shakespeare's screenplays are subject to alterations by studio executives, in the same way that I imagine Serling's own writing may have been changed against his wishes to suit the medium and to please the sponsors. Naturally, the bard isn't too happy about his art being trashed by uncultivated businessmen, and he splits. Moomer doesn't give up though: he uses his magic book to help him with his next script about American History. Cue predictable ending.
The Bard is yet another comedic episode of The Twilight Zone, and like other humorous efforts from Mr. Serling, it isn't very funny. It also suffers from an overuse of hip '60s vernacular that makes it very dated. About the only thing that this one has going for it is the amusing pastiche of Marlon Brando by a young pre-fame Burt Reynolds, who mocks the pretentiousness of method acting.
2/10.
Exasperated agent Mr. Hugo (Henry Lascoe) gives Moomer one last chance to impress him: write a pilot for a show about black magic. For research, Julius goes to a bookshop where he finds 'Ye Book of Ye Black Art'; while studying the contents of dusty tome, he accidentally conjures up none other than the great bard William Shakespeare, who he uses to write scripts that he passes off as his own work.
Shakespeare's screenplays are subject to alterations by studio executives, in the same way that I imagine Serling's own writing may have been changed against his wishes to suit the medium and to please the sponsors. Naturally, the bard isn't too happy about his art being trashed by uncultivated businessmen, and he splits. Moomer doesn't give up though: he uses his magic book to help him with his next script about American History. Cue predictable ending.
The Bard is yet another comedic episode of The Twilight Zone, and like other humorous efforts from Mr. Serling, it isn't very funny. It also suffers from an overuse of hip '60s vernacular that makes it very dated. About the only thing that this one has going for it is the amusing pastiche of Marlon Brando by a young pre-fame Burt Reynolds, who mocks the pretentiousness of method acting.
2/10.