The Twilight Zone: Season 2, Episode Five “The Howling Man”

Original Air Date: November 14, 1960
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Douglas Heyes

“I know it’s an incredible story -I of all people know this- and you won’t believe me, no, not at first, but I’m going to tell you the whole thing. Then you’ll believe because you must believe!”

In “The Howling Man” The Twilight Zone offers a dark Gothic folktale as the Devil is shown to be secretly roaming the world, causing some of the greatest calamities of the 20th century. This Gothic horror-inspired episode features the unique technique of a flashback within a flashback as we are transported to a medieval European castle where a strange religious order is hiding a forbidden secret. The plot for this episode is based on a 1959 Charles Beaumont short story of the same name (originally published in the November 1959 issue of Rogue). Much credit in this episode should be given to the masterful, oblong, Expressionistic Dutch-angled cinematography of George T. Clemens, as well as the shocking, disturbing make-up effects created by William Tuttle.

“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.”
-Rod Serling

A sweaty, disturbed man named David Ellington (played by H. M. Wynant) recounts an “incredible story” that happened many years ago after the First World War. While on a walking trip across central Europe, he got lost in storm. Seeking refuge, he came upon a remote hermitage. When he entered the old castle, he started hearing a deep howl emanating from within, but the monks simply pretend it is just the sound of the wind. They instruct him to leave, but in a state of complete delirium, Ellington collapses on the floor and blacks out.

When Ellington awakens, he meets a strange-looking man who is imprisoned inside the castle, periodically howling from his cell. The man explains that the monks are liars and that the elder monk, a figure who appears in the visage of Cecil B. DeMille’s Moses, named Jerome (played by John Carradine), is the maddest of them all. The man tells his story. One day, he was walking in the village of Schwarzwald with his woman and they kissed under a tree, when suddenly the “lecherous old fool” Brother Jerome suddenly appeared beat him senselessly before trying to force himself upon the woman. The man was then imprisoned in this castle by this fanatical group –before they can finish their conversation, Ellington is led away by the monks where he is confronted by Brother Jerome, who finally explains that the monks did not imprison a man, but rather the Devil himself! Jerome once hunted for years to capture and imprison the Devil. Prior to his capture, the Devil was allowed to roam the world. He caused chaos and a world war to fall upon humanity before he came upon the nearby village which refused to fall into despair. Brother Jerome then captured and entrapped him in this Germanic castle behind the “staff of truth” which barricades his door. He has been imprisoned for five years in this castle (the bombed out ruins of the former Castle Wolfen owned by the “Family Wolfen.” Donald Wolfen gave the castle to the “Brotherhood of Truth” as a gesture of charity so they might pray for people’s soul and tend to the vineyards).

Ellington is skeptical of the eccentric Brother Jerome and his fanciful story. Later that night, he decides to sneak out of his cell and set free the strange man, but the moment he does so, in a maniacal fit, the man unleashes his strange powers. He knocks Ellington down and flees. As he walks through the castle past a series of pillars we see a terrific film technique wherein he increasingly looks more and more like a malevolent goat-devil. He vanishes into thin air and Ellington suddenly realizes that the monks were right all along –he has let loose the Devil upon the world.

In an epilogue, we exit Mr. Ellington’s flashback. Mr. Ellington appears sweaty and disheveled as he explains what happened to his housekeeper. After the Devil was released from his prison cell, more chaos followed –yet another World War, the Korean War, and the rise of nuclear weapons. From that moment on, Ellington dedicated his life to tracking down the Devil again. As we pan out, Ellington shows his housekeeper where he has the Devil trapped inside his closet behind the “staff of truth.” But Ellington presently has an urgent errand to run before he transports the Devil back to Brother Jerome. He instructs his housekeeper to keep the door locked at all costs. But just as he leaves, she quietly removes the “staff of truth” and the Devil is unleashed once again.

“Ancient folk saying: “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 to the end of their days and beyond — in the Twilight Zone.”
-Rod Serling

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My Thoughts on “The Howling Man”

A classic Germanic horror folktale from Charles Beaumont (who else?), “The Howling Man” offers a truly exceptional production as the combined talents of director Douglas Heyes, writer Charles Beaumont, and cinematographer George T. Clemens are joined with flawless performances from John Carradine, H.M. Wynant, and Robin Hughes to present a new take on the Devil as the purveyor of the great evils of the 20th century. Elsewhere in The Twilight Zone, we have seen Faustian interpretations of devilish characters, such as in “Escape Clause” or “A Nice Place To Visit,” but nowhere has he seemed so menacing and terrifying as in “The Howling Man.”

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Credits:

• Director: Douglas Heyes
• Written by: Charles Beaumont (the short story was originally was published in the November 1959 issue of Rogue under the pen name “C.B. Lovehill,” and later published in Night Ride and Other Journeys)
• Music: Stock Music
• Associate Producer: Del Reisman
• Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
• Production Manager: Sidney Van Keuran and Ralph W. Nelson
• Art Directors: George W. Davis and Phil Barber
• Film Editor: Bill Mosher
• Assistant Director: E. Darrell Hallenbeck
• Set Decorations: Henry Grace and H. Web Arrowsmith
• Sound: Franklin Milton and Charles Scheid
• Casting: Ethel Winant
• Starring:
  • H.M. Wynant…..David Ellington
    • Born Chaim Weiner, H. M. Wynant (1926 or 1927-present) has appeared in films like Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973). He has appeared in television shows like Playhouse 90, Sugarfoot, The Wild Wild West, Perry Mason, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, Get Smart, Hawaii Five-O, Hogan’s Heroes, Mission: Impossible, Quincy, M.E., Dallas, The Virginian, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, among others. As of the time that I write this post, Wynant is still alive.
  • John Carradine…..Brother Jerome
    • Born Richmond Reed Carradine, “John Carradine” (1906-1988) was one of the great character actors. He was an early member of Cecil B. DeMille’s stock company and later John Ford’s company, and was known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theater. He most notably portrayed Count Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), and Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979). He played a minor uncredited role in James Whale’s classic film The Invisible Man (1934). Among his other notable roles included “Preacher Casy” in John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath and he also appeared John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Stagecoach (1939). He played Aaron in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956), and a variety of television roles on Lost in Space, Bonanza, The Munsters, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gunsmoke, Night Gallery, and of course as Brother Jerome in the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Howling Man.” His final role on television was in 1986 as Professor Alex Stottel alongside his son in the revival series of The Twilight Zone. He was married four times and had five children. Semi-retired by the late 1980s, Carradine suffered from painful and crippling rheumatoid arthritis in the years before he died from heart and kidney failure in Milan in 1988 at the age of 82.
  • Robin Hughes…..The Howling Man
    • Robin Hughes (1920-1989) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father served as head of the British Royal Wheat Commission, and Hughes spent his childhood moving from country to country as his father was transferred in government service; consequently, his early schooling occurred between South America, Canada, Mozambique, East Africa and other places. He served as a signalman in the Royal Navy during World War II. After the war, he moved to the United States where he started working in theater, television, and films. He appeared in episodes of Perry Mason, Sugarfoot, The Loner, and others; and he appeared in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954). he was married twice and had three children. He died of liver disease in Los Angeles in 1989 at the age of 69.
  • Frederic Ledebur…..Brother Christopherus
    • Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln (1900-1986) was born in Poland. He enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1916, and was an officer in the Austrian Cavalry Division during the last years of World War I. He was an Austrian actor who relocated to Hollywood and was known for playing Queequeg in Moby Dick (1956), and he also appeared in films like Alexander the Great (1955) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). He was married twice, had two children, and died in 1986 at the age of 86 in Austria.
  • Ezelle Poule…..Housekeeper

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The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• This was the first aired episode of the second season that was not written by Rod Serling.
• Charles Beaumont had originally envisioned that the monks would keep the Devil imprisoned by putting a cross in front of his cell door. Fearful of a backlash from the religious community, the producers substituted the cross for the “staff of truth” over Beaumont’s objections.
• In Charles Beaumont’s original short story, the big reveal is left somewhat ambiguous as David Ellington releases the man and he cackles before fleeing into the night. Could he have been the Devil? At the end of the story, Ellington receives a postcard from father Christophorus declaring that they have recaptured the Devil and that the war is ending. There is no epilogue sequence with Ellington’s housekeeper in the short story.
• Charles Beaumont originally rewrote the ending to the teleplay for this episode in which Ellington grabs the foot of the man as he escapes, only to find he has a hoof instead of a foot. However, director Douglas Heyes wanted a more visually dramatic reveal at the end.
• Also for this episode, director Douglas Heyes drew inspiration from films like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), as well as Werewolf of London (1935).
• Other names used for the Devil in this episode include: Satan, The Dark Angel, Ahriman, Asmodeus, Belial, and Diabolus –these are lifted directly from the short story.
• Brother Jerome mentions that he once attended the best schools and received a degree in philosophy before taking a job that led him to the ends of the earth.
• Wolfen Castle is referred to in the episode as the “Hermitage.” According to Brother Jerome, Donald Wolfen donated the castle to “The Brotherhood of Truth” as an act of charity so that The Brotherhood might pray for lost souls and tend to the vineyards.
• At the end of this episode, when the “howling man” is revealed, the same lighting technique was used as in “Long Live Walter Jameson” (in which red-to-green lighting suddenly reveals a transformation on Robin Hughes’s face on the black and white screen).

Click here to return to my survey of The Twilight Zone series.

Click here to read my review of Charles Beaumont’s short story“The Howling Man.”