Warren Stevens (Forbidden Planet) stars as a homeless man who steals a snazzy pair of loafers off a fresh corpse, only to find himself inhabited by the soul of a gangster.
The Twilight Zone, Episode #83: "Dead Man's Shoes" (original air date January 19, 1962)
The Plot: Shadowy-looking men unceremoniously dump a dead body in a Bowery alley. The man's spiffy-looking shoes attract the attention of a homeless man named Nate Bledsoe (Warren Stevens), who snatches them off the corpse.
As soon as Nate walks away from the alley, his new shoes draw the interest of two fellow Bowery bums, but he resists their overtures. He takes a few more steps, examines himself in a mirror, straightens up his posture, and begins walking with confidence. He boldly enters the dead man's apartment and orders around his girlfriend (Florence Marley), displaying a level of arrogant hostility.
But when he takes off the shoes, his personality reverts from Dane, tough-guy gangster, to Nate, frightened homeless man.
The Goods: The episode, written by the prolific Charles Beaumont, develops slowly but surely. The pace is deliberate, yet it feels tightly-woven. The story, and its resolution, doesn't have a particular "wow" factor, but it's well put-together in its inevitability. There's no specific morality lesson, other than, perhaps, an ancient one: "Thou shalt not steal, especially from a dead man who happens to be a gangster with a grudge."
Stevens underplays nicely, first as a tremulous "bum," then as the self-confident, mean-spirited Dane, a man who has no hesitation about pushing around his girlfriend nor challenging his boss, a murderous sort who brooks no rebellion. Stevens lowers the timbre of his voice as Dane, speaking a bit more slowly and snapping out his words with an edge. It's subtle, but marvelous to watch. The episode is well-staged and directed by Montgomery Pittman.
The Trivia: With his iconic performance as Doc Ostrow, Leslie Nielsen's loyal friend in Forbidden Planet, Stevens assured himself a place in cinematic heaven. He joined the Navy in 1937, at the tender age of 17; his interest in acting was piqued early, but he did not pursue a career until after World War II. He worked initially in radio and on stage, receiving offers from Hollywood after a key role in "Detective Story." IMDB lists more than 160 films and television shows on his resume. After The Twilight Zone, he also appeared in The Outer Limits, The Time Tunnel, and Star Trek. He also appeared in the new The Twilight Zone in 1986.
On the Next Episode: A man returns from a hunting trip to discover that "no one can see or hear him," because he's dead. Bummer!
Catching up: Episodes covered by Twitch | Episodes covered by Film School Rejects
We're running through all 156 of the original Twilight Zone episodes, and we're not doing it alone! Our friends at Film School Rejects have entered the Zone as well, only on alternating weeks. So definitely tune in over at FSR and feel free to also follow along on Twitter accounts @ScreenAnarhcy and @rejectnation.