The Twilight Zone: "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"

September 3, 6:34 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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              Portrait of Ida Lupino from The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine (CBS)

Given the unenviable task of coming up with between two to three dozen stories per season, it’s understandable that many television writers will occasionally turn to classic movies for inspiration. Indeed, these TV pseudo-remakes are a time-honored tradition. One of the earliest examples of these is Rod Serling’s first season Twilight Zone episode The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine (originally broadcast on Oct. 23, 1959), which, in essence, is Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) with a supernatural twist.

Ironically, The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine was directed by Hollywood veteran Mitchell Leisen whom Wilder detested. (When they both worked at Paramount Pictures, Wilder hated the way Leisen directed his scripts so much that he demanded to be promoted to director so he could film his screenplays the way he intended them to be.) Another irony is that the music scores for both Sunset Boulevard and The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine were the work of the same composer, Franz Waxman.

The leading role in The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine was played by the multi-talented Ida Lupino who held the unique distinction of being the only person to both star in a Twilight Zone episode and direct one (the fifth season episode The Masks). Lupino plays once famous movie star Barbara Jean Trenton whom Serling describes in his opening narration as having been “struck down by hit-and-run years and lying on the unhappy pavement, trying desperately to get the license number of fleeting fame.”

Now retired and no longer in demand, Barbara spends her days sitting in the den of her Beverly Hills mansion downing cocktails and watching her old movies from the 1930s on a 16mm projector. Her loyal mensch of an agent Danny Weiss (Martin Balsam) constantly tries to convince her to get out of the house and live in the present day, but to no avail.

One day, Danny brings news that her old studio International Pictures has a role for her, but it turns out to be a middle-aged character part, not a romantic lead. When Barbara bridles at this, her former employer studio chief Marty Saul (the wonderfully slimy Ted de Corsia) cruelly reminds her that she is a washed up old has-been. (Balsam has the script’s best line when he retaliates with: “Saul, remind me someday when you’ve gone over the hill and are down on your hands and knees, remind me to give you a swift kick in the teeth so that you know exactly how it feels!”)

More of a mental basket case than ever, Barbara retreats even further into her shell. An attempt by Danny to cheer Barbara up by arranging a visit from her former leading man Jerry Hearndan (Jerome Cowan) fails miserably when she is shocked by how old he looks. She continues to watch her old films over and over again and wishes that she could just stay in a fantasy world where nobody ages and she can party with her old friends for eternity. As the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for…

By the way, Sunset Boulevard is not the only Billy Wilder classic that became television fodder. A 1998 episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys called Men in Pink is, believe it or not, a miniature 45-minute version of Wilder’s Some Like it Hot with Bruce Campbell and Robert Trebor in the Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon roles. But that’s another story.