The Twilight Zone: The Purple Testament

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The Purple Testament ranks 182,699 out of all 118,840 episodes (of all shows) on TV.com.

The Twilight Zone fans have written a total of 2 reviews of The Purple Testament.

Air Date

February 12, 1960

Production Code

173-3619

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  10 Perfect

  I Have Been Watching Twilight Zone since I can Remember..It's Great, The awesome actors/actresses were always a slight surprise, never knew who would star in the next episode... hide show

  The PurPle Testament Is One Of My Alltime Favorites!!!It's A Purfect Specimen Of What The Twilight ZOne Is; A Secret Wish, Your worst nightmare, Everything you crave, All You'll Never Have..
  This Has Been The Most Constant As Far as entertainment, No Matter What My Mood The Twilight Zone Cures My Cravings.. You Never Know Who The Star OR Co-Star May Be..And No Matter How Many Times I've Seen each Episode They Are Just As Excellent.. I especially Liked This One (The Purple Testament) Because Of the War Theme..And The Fact That William Reynolds Was The Star..I Have Seen Alot Of Handsome Men From That decade But He Is JUst Too Beautiful!!!!

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  clearwatrs Added Apr 16, 2008 All my reviews
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  8.5 Great

  Ominous premonitions of doom and disaster are commonplace on the battlefront but some are afflicted with the ability to see the mark of impending death on their fellow soldiers. hide show

  A soldier sees a glow around various comrades and each one he sees in this light get killed in battle shortly thereafter. Visions and premonitions are nothing strange to Rod Serling and certainly this episode is both well written and well acted. I will admit that this episode has a very sincere tone and is difficult for me to watch - it is absolutely chilling. There are clairvoyants and mediums who claim foresight but those who truly possess the gift/curse of seeing the future are very conflicted and cautious about their vision. This is a brilliantly conceived situation and Dick York plays the concerned soldier very well. It is amazing to see a comedic talent like York, who bumbled his way through “Bewitched” as Darren, give such an insightful performance. This is an excellent episode whose plausibility is part of what makes it so hard-hitting. Many years later “Mash” had an episode with a soldier whi realizes that noone can see him and eventually realizes that he has been killed - a slightly different take on the same theme.

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  AccentCompanies Added Jun 8, 2006 All my reviews

• Guest Cast

  • Dick York Captain Riker
  • Barney Phillips Captain Gunther
  • Ron Masak Harmonica Man
  • William Phipps Sergeant
  • S. John Launer Colonel
  • Michael Vandever Smitty
  • Paul Mazursky Orderly
  • Marc Cavell Freeman
  • Warren Oates Jeep Driver

• Stars

  • Rod Serling Narrator/Host
  • William Reynolds Lt. Fitzgerald

• Sound Mixers

  • Franklin Milton Sound Mixer
  • Jean Valentino Sound Mixer

• Set Decorators

  • Rudy Butler Set Decorator
  • Henry Grace Set Decorator
Episode Cast and Crew Details »

• There is currently no trivia. Add trivia!

• This episode was removed from the schedule the night it was to air because director Bare and actor Reynolds were the victims of a disabled plane that crashed in the Caribbean. Both men were injured but were able to swim to safety. Reynolds has commented that it was classy of Buck Houghton to reschedule the episode and not take advantage of the publicity or subject their families to additional heartache. During their swim, they apparently discussed the planned airing of the episode that night to which Bare is reported to have asked Reynolds not to look at him. [edit]
• Barney Phillips appeared in three other episodes: "Miniature," "A Thing about Machines," and "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" [edit]
• Dick York later stars in "A Penny for Your Thoughts"; Warren Oates in "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" [edit]

• (Closing Narration)
  Narrator: From William Shakespeare, Richard the Third, a small excerpt. The line reads, "He has come to open the purple testament of bleeding war." And for Lieutenant William Fitzgerald, A Company, First Platoon, the testament is closed. Lieutenant Fitzgerald has found the Twilight Zone. [edit]
• (Opening Narration)
  Narrator: Infantry platoon, U.S. Army, Phillipine Islands, 1945. These are the faces of the young men who fight. As if some omniscient painter had mixed a tube of oils that were at one time earth brown, dust gray, blood red, beard black, and fear - yellow white, and these men were the models. For this is the province of combat and these are the faces of war. [edit]

• The title is taken from Shakespeare's "Richard II" The complete line reads: "He is come to open the purple testament of bleeding war". [edit]