With a good set up and good pay off the middle section of this episode falls a little bit flat. It's a courtroom drama with the seemingly pointless twist of an actor father defending his son but there's a reason to it all. Director Pevney doesn't add much flash to this episode but Basehart has a good and unusual opportunity in this episode that puts it as an above average episode that could have used a bit more flash and snap to the courtroom aspects to make it better. Mild spoiler follows to explain what I mean about Basehart's role. I won't try to spoil it but you have been warned.
The whole key to the dad character deals with a speech his gives as his son's lawyer that is revealed to be from one of his father's old movies. Basehart plays the role of the dad as roughly his own age so this "0ld" movie shows him younger. What's really good about this is the way Basehart plays two versions of the same scene. In the old movie he plays it with an almost faux English accent and in a slightly higher voice--which would be true of both a younger man but also of a earnest, if not very good, actor playing a scene. This comes after we've seen him give the speech to sum up and try to save his son for what we thought was real. He's much more convincing in that version of the speech. It's a master stroke from Basehart and or director Pevney. But whoever had the idea, could have been suggested in the script it's Basehart who pulls it off and it would belong on his acting reel.
It's too bad Pevney visually doesn't do anything differently in the film and in the real trial that's a missed opportunity on his part. Instead the real trial and the reel trial are filmed as if he directed both at the same time--which of course he did--but it shouldn't look that way.
BIGGER SPOILER: It's too bad the sort of double twist way the end works out, which is quite clever, isn't built up and paid off as well as it could have been, again Pevney isn't in top form here. You sort of feel how good the ending is after it's over rather than having the true "ah ha, wow." moment that a true powerful twist can have.
The whole key to the dad character deals with a speech his gives as his son's lawyer that is revealed to be from one of his father's old movies. Basehart plays the role of the dad as roughly his own age so this "0ld" movie shows him younger. What's really good about this is the way Basehart plays two versions of the same scene. In the old movie he plays it with an almost faux English accent and in a slightly higher voice--which would be true of both a younger man but also of a earnest, if not very good, actor playing a scene. This comes after we've seen him give the speech to sum up and try to save his son for what we thought was real. He's much more convincing in that version of the speech. It's a master stroke from Basehart and or director Pevney. But whoever had the idea, could have been suggested in the script it's Basehart who pulls it off and it would belong on his acting reel.
It's too bad Pevney visually doesn't do anything differently in the film and in the real trial that's a missed opportunity on his part. Instead the real trial and the reel trial are filmed as if he directed both at the same time--which of course he did--but it shouldn't look that way.
BIGGER SPOILER: It's too bad the sort of double twist way the end works out, which is quite clever, isn't built up and paid off as well as it could have been, again Pevney isn't in top form here. You sort of feel how good the ending is after it's over rather than having the true "ah ha, wow." moment that a true powerful twist can have.