The Twonky (1953 d-Arch Oboler)

[Ollie]

TCM showed this Apr 15 as part of Hans Conried's birthday celebration. What a strange film. Some alien presence or future robot inhabits a 1953 TV set and can walk around, talk and shoot a ray out to accomplish whatever it wants. It can help homeowner Hans Conried in some daily chores (lighting ciggies, cooking, housekeeping) and protect itself against all who realize they should destroy it.

At 84 minutes, the film hits several 'boring stretches' but in this time, we see ample demonstrations of how pervasive the device becomes, almost to omnipotence.

The film is comedic mostly, with a lot of quirkly music filling in long stretches of no-dialog realizations as The Twonky displays its capabilities. It might have been an excellent 30-min TWILIGHT ZONE episode, very taut at that time, but maybe another editor or a more attentive writing staff might have saved the good parts, written in much more reasonable dialog and still finished it in 45-50 minutes.

As is, there are a lot of holes and weaknesses, I thought, but this is another great example of TCM unveiling some lost jewel.

Bill Lynn plays The College Coach as an almost perfect replica for Henry Travers. The TV repairman (Edwin Max) looked and sounded like an excellent duplicate for Robert Strauss (the wonderful character actor, often cited as the deep-voiced goofy "Animal" in STALAG 17).

[jdb1]

I'm very sorry I missed this, as I am a long-time Conried fan. Wonder if the Canadians who write the TV show Eureka knew of this movie when they devised the omnipotent, labor-saving and protective talking house the sheriff lives in.

Thanks for the critique -- I hope TCM puts this one on the roster.

[Dewey1960]

I'm a big fan of THE TWONKY (and just about every other Arch Oboler film, including and especially FIVE (1951) and BEWITCHED (1945)). All during the 60s THE TWONKY was a staple on Detroit area TV stations and I must have seen it at least a dozen times. And yes, your likening it to a Twilight Zone episode is absolutely apt. I had marked my calendar to record this, but in true fashion, forgot to do so. Like Judith, I'll look forward to a repeat performance.

[MikeBSG]

"The Twonky" is based on a story from 1943 or 1942 by Henry Kutter (perhaps with some help from his wife C. L. Moore). It is a very good story, one of their best. It has a rather dark ending.

A few years ago, another Kuttner-Moore story from the Forties, "Mimsy were the Borogroves" was turned into a movie, "The Last Mimzy." The Kutter-Moore story is tragic in its overtones. "The Last Mimzy" was billed as a family film.

[Ollie]

Mike, thanks for that. Another feather in my education cap!

[mrsl]

Mike BSG said: "A few years ago, another Kuttner-Moore story from the Forties, "Mimsy were the Borogroves" was turned into a movie, "The Last Mimzy." The Kutter-Moore story is tragic in its overtones. "The Last Mimzy" was billed as a family film."

I watched most of The Last Mimzy and it was the movie that caused me to write the post to parents to be careful of what they let the kids watch, just because it's billed as family fare, doesn't mean it is. It was sad, tragic, and a bit horrifying.

Anne

[klondike]

"The Twonky" is based on a story from 1943 or 1942 by Henry Kutter (perhaps with some help from his wife C. L. Moore). It is a very good story, one of their best. It has a rather dark ending.

Kuttner's pen also gave us the sci-fi novella "Dr. Cyclops", providing the inspiration for the famed 50's matinee flick of that name.
The Twonky is an amazing, quirky, fun-&-funky little film, playing out a lot like a super-droll Serling production.
I recall visiting a store called The Great Wind-Up at the Pike Place Market on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Seattle back in the late 80's, a tourist magnet little place whose entire inventory was clockwork/wind-up toys & novelties; as my kids drifted around saucer-eyed at the dancing, flipping, chattering, marching menagerie, I looked up past all the cowboys, monkeys, dinosaurs, firetrucks, bunnies & storm troopers, and spotted a little, tiny, red & yellow plastic Twonky, silent & lonely at the back of an overlooked shelf.
I picked it up and called-out to the Mrs. "Hey, Hun, look, a Twonky!"
Like a shot, here comes the store's owner, out from a rear office, dashing up to me like he was 8 years old again, whispering fervently: "You've seen The Twonky?!" After a sanguine sharing of neat-o childhood movie memories, he insisted I take that tiny, wind-up Twonky with me, his personal gift to a kindred Boomer.
Where is it now? Somewhere out there, to be sure, lovingly hijacked on some backyard adventure by one of my buzz-bomb bairns, probably laying between a lucky nickel & a pair of vice-grips, just south of a moldy X-Men comic, in a patch of weeds somewhere on Vashon Island.
But the memories . . those I kept!

[Ollie]

This film's weaknesses are obvious to see. I'm not sure why I like it so much. It's achieved a rating that sounds like, "It's fun - who cares about being good?"

I think this is an essential ingredient of all cult films. They have some element that, in the audience's mind, outweighs whatever flaws occur. Often, those are technical - direction isn't crisp, scenes or dialog may not flow, acting can be stiff or not-natural. But if some element - the Fun aspect as in TWONKY, or maybe Tension or Suspense in horror films - is so dominant, they may swing the film's enjoyment factor in its favor instead of being considered as 'flawed' or 'low production values'.

Hans Conried, by his appearance, donates an historically whimsical nature to the film. Oboler obviously knows all about use of sound and soundtracks, too, and his choices for TWONKY show how silly he's willing to be for the mood. There are a lot of ingredients that pile on the "Fun" side of the ledger, but I'm still uncertain why this film - and a handful of others - can be so easily enjoyed while others with 'low production values' achieve so much less.

[MikeBSG]

Is anyone here a fan of Oboler's radio work, particularly for "Lights Out"?

Some episodes of "Lights Out" strike me as really first rate. There is a version of "The Dream" with Boris Karloff as the main character that is very effective. And then other episodes really seem to be lame, with characters acting very stupidly. (Hint, if you think a giant panther is outside your bedroom door, don't open the door to make sure. You won't get eaten that way.)

Oboler acted as host of "Lights Out" and sometimes came across as extremely self-important.

[Ollie]

Yes, we're a big fan of Oboler's radio work. Having seen FIVE as my first Oboler film, and being disappointed in it's construction and flow, I was quite surprised by this 'failure' considering his long background of putting pieces together.

On the radio, at least.

I can't say that FIVE or THE TWONKY were really that far off of Oboler's traditional radio work. Both suffered, I thought, from almost a luxury of time - almost as if Oboler didn't know what to do with that extra 60 minutes. Both films make me wonder what would have happened if he'd been sucked into the OUTER LIMITS original TV series, which had 51-52 minute shows, or that one season of TZ's 60 minute shows. He might have converted both tales into tighter-playing TV contributions, but I'm glad he didn't remake them.

I've also got the MP3s of one of his late '50s or early '60s LP, whose name escapes me totally. Skull in shadows, on the cover. Great fun.