La quatrième dimension A Thing About Machines (1959–1964) watch online HD

This truly not one of the better episodes, but what is of interest is that Bartlett Finchley is almost certainly modeled after the humorist and movie personality Robert Benchley.

Benchley, who died in 1945 or thereabouts, became topical in 1960 as the result of the publication of a collection of his best humor by his son Nathaniel Benchley. Benchley fought an unending war against the inanimate objects around him, which he chronicled in a number of delightful and very funny pieces. Serling, who was hard up for ideas by that point, must have been as impressed as I was.

Or so I do believe. In any case, I have always thought the similarity between the characters name 'Finchley' and 'Benchley' is no coincidence.

OK, maybe this isn't the best TZ episode ever. But reviews (including one here) often completely miss the intended tone of this episode.

Take Barbara Stuart's line for example: "In this conspiracy, this mortal combat between you and the appliances... I hope you lose!" The first time I heard that line, I laughed so hard I spit water out my nose.

It wasn't supposed to be anything other than funny.

Of course the shaver is absurd. It's supposed to be. As is the dancing woman on TV, the typewriter etc. Serling doesn't give it away at the end, but clearly Finchley had a much deserved nervous breakdown and was delusional.

I'll give this an 8 plus. (The following might be a spoiler) Mr. Bartlett Finchley is a snob and a sort of a Luddite who has through isolation & a miserable attitude about people, driven himself insane. Of course you have to ask yourself, "Why if he so despises mechanical things does he have so many of them?" Even if it's fairly clear what's going to happen by the end, definitely watch it. This episode is amusing, bordering on the hilarious and spiced with wonderful language and believable acting. Richard Haydn as Mr. Finchley is extremely entertaining. There are so many amusing touches in this episode. For example when Rod Serling is setting up the story he is telling it from Mr. Finchley's TV set. They must have had ball with this one.

The lonely and snobbish forty-eight year-old food critic Bartlett Finchley has paranoia with his appliances and machines. He has problems with his television, radio, clock, electric razors, typewriter and car. When he receives the message "Get out of the house" from his appliances, he decides to stay home with tragic consequences. "A Thing About Machines" is a pointless and silly episode of "The Twilight Zone". It is not clear whether Finchley was delusional in his paranoia or whether he was attacked indeed by his car and appliances. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sobre Máquinas" ("About Machines")

I raised this point after various "Twilight Zone" episodes already, but it always remains relevant: many, many of cinema's greatest and most famous film concepts featured here first in this magnificent TV- Show, albeit in short and more modest versions. The story of "A Thing about Machines" can easily be considered as a blueprint for James Cameron's awesome "The Terminator"; as it's centered on a man – Bartlett Finchley – who painfully experiences how all types of machinery in his house, including his car television set and even his electrical shaving device, violently turn against him. Of course, it might just be his imagination, as Mr. Finchley is an obnoxious and self-indulgent individual who's against all forms of technological progress and also leads a very secluded life without friends or family. It starts with the television switching on and off and alarm clocks continuing to ring even though they lie broken on the floor, but pretty soon the typewriter sends him messages to get out of the house and his car is chasing him up and down the driveway. This is only the fourth episode of the second season, but I can already safely claim that it's one of the most suspenseful and unsettling ones of the whole franchise. There's something genuinely disturbing and petrifying about machines operating themselves and attacking their proprietors. James Cameron knows it, and various other movies also used this idea already like "Killdozer" and "Maximum Overdrive". But remember, it featured first … in "The Twilight Zone". "A Thing about Machines" features a few very powerful sequences, like when the typewriter delivers an unfriendly message. Also, as silly as it may sound, there's something very scary about a shaving machine slithering down the stairs like a snake.

I'm wondering if Stephen King ever got a chance to see this episode of The Twilight Zone". The repeated refrain of "Get out of here Finchley" might have served as the model for the demonic typewriter in 1980's "The Shining", with it's 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Probably not, but that's what I thought about when I saw the show a while ago.

Hard to say whether Rod Serling was making a serious statement here or just doing it for grins. The line from Barbara Stuart about Finchley's (Richard Haydn) mortal combat with his appliances was classic, and that cobra inspired electric razor was a blast. You had a pretty good idea how this one was going to end for a curmudgeon like the Finch-man; you know, he didn't exhibit even the least bit of a redeeming quality.

Well, maybe not one of the better episodes, but what I'm for is having some of these lesser known stories show up on those Twilight Zone marathons they run on the cable channels every now and then. I'm sure many newer TZ fans haven't seen this one yet, and it's a great way to see how folks of an earlier generation had to put up with things like dial phones and writing machines that used real paper.

Bartlett's fear of the machines around him seems to be an analogy for our relationships with those around us. He's a bit of a jerk that treats his employees, neighbors, and random citizens terribly. He treats his secretary as if she were a machine herself. Similarly, he treats his machines roughly, throwing them, kicking them, breaking them.

I guess the lesson here is don't be rude to those around you. People are not machines, we have emotions and feelings. If we are ill-treated, we won't work in the ways expected of us. We have a tendency to fight back.

Okay, I have trouble with screw top lids and when the can opener balks, I call the wife. Last time I fixed anything was replacing batteries in my TV wand. So, all in all, I sympathize with Finchley, but I do try to take my ineptitude with some humor. Not Finchley. He's an intellectual snob, certainly dislikable, thanks to an excellent performance by actor Haydn. He not only treats mechanical things with contempt, but people too. So no wonder a reckoning is at hand. But this being the TZ, it's the mechanical world that rebels. Cars, razors, clocks, TV's, even typewriters-- all find a voice and rebel against the insufferable tyrant. The special effects are mostly good, and I really like the first eruption of the electric razor looking just like a coiled cobra. From now on, you can bet I'll keep mine well cleaned. And catch that driverless car-- I was rooting for it.

All in all, it's an unusual episode with what I think is a good moral—something about being kind to our cutting-edge creations and they'll be good to us. I expect that goes for our computerized world as well. Uh oh!— now what's the problem with my keyboard. Guess I'll have to call the wife.

Richard Haydn plays Bartlett Finchley, an acid-tongued but unhappy man who lives alone in his mansion, and constantly complains about evil machines that not only won't work for him, but are conspiring to kill him. Barney Philips is most amusing as his long-suffering TV repairman who has grown tired of constantly repairing perfectly good televisions that Finchley has kicked in. Turns out the machines are out to get him after all... Heavy-handed yet still entertaining episode has a singularly unpleasant lead character that it is difficult to build any sympathy for, but of course it's possible he doesn't warrant any; in any case, it is a memorable effort.

I should explain that when I say "overused," I don't quite mean that it has been done to death, because even though there have been countless examples of sci fi TV show and movies about machines coming to life, they are not necessarily all the same or rip-offs of each other. Besides, if any TV show ever had the right to do a show on the topic of machines coming to life, the Twilight Zone is it.

The main characters in the show are Richard Haydn as Bartlett Finchley and Barney Phillips as a TV repairman who, I have to say, must certainly act in a certain way that no TV repairman has ever acted toward a customer. Of course, I wasn't exactly spending much time hiring repairmen back in the 1960s, nearly 20 years before I was born, but I would think that, even if he was called repeatedly to Finchley's house to fix the most mysterious and suspicious damages, it's probably generally not such a good idea to openly criticize and insult one of your best repeat customers!

At any rate, it sets up the situation that we need to know about. Finchley has to call repeatedly to have his various machines and appliances fixed because, for example, he is provided with reason to put his foot through his TV set. I've heard about that being done in several movies and TV shows, and it always strikes me as something that would be exceedingly difficult to do. Have you ever imagined how much force would be needed to drive a foot through a TV set? This man's foot certainly had some momentum behind it!

And the question, of course, is what could possibly have led him to such a state as to cause him to make such a vicious kick? Babara Stuart shows up briefly to angrily quit her job as his secretary, once again hinting toward the reality of his state of mind. Once she threatens to quit because of his ill treatment, he panics at the thought of being left alone in his house, and we begin to understand what is really going on. Well, we already knew what was going on because we know the title of the episode, but you get the idea.

Sadly, the second half of the episode is where the show starts to falter. The main reason, I think, that the threat of the machines becomes a problem is because the threat is just never made realistic enough. At the time of this writing, there is only one other IMDb reviewer who has reviewed this episode, jcravens42, and he (or she) notes the hilarity that may ensue at things like the attack of the killer electric shaver.

And on this point Craven is exactly right. I didn't quite laugh out loud, but I did smirk a bit, and not just because it's so ludicrous that you have to laugh, but because such a thing could never be a real threat. What could it do? Give Finchley razor burn? Why not just grab it out of the air and toss it into the tub? Or out the window? But then again, imagining yourself in the situation of the characters in many Twilight Zone episodes is a great way to ruin the experience.

But it's the same thing with the climax of the show, the car chasing him around outside. It's not just placing yourself in his situation that could ruin the suspense, but I have never been able to feel any sympathy for people in movies being chased by cars (manned or otherwise) when all they do is run right up the middle of the road or, in this case, back and forth. Avoiding a car at close range would be FAR too easy for it to ever be able to generate any suspense.

But in the show's defense, it is also an illustration of Finchley's state of mind, which is not exactly allowing for rational thought. You could call this one of the Twilight Zone's weaker episodes and probably be right, but it's also an almost required theme for the show and is well made enough, I should think...

This is the story of a bitter man who hates technology. Of course, the technology of his day is a razor, a toaster, a television. Well it's the story of the Good Little Toaster that has had enough. The typewriter writes threatening notes. We've all imagined if our appliances or our toys came to life and began to try to do us in. In this, the plot is OK, but the effects and the resolution are so bad, it's laughable. There is a great deal of ranting and threat. And why is this man so angry? Has he been chosen for his fate, or has he brought it upon himself? Anyway, given the fact that he doesn't listen to the threats and stays put, he eventually must confront the situation in which he finds himself. The acting is hammy and over the top. Watch this only for its quirky amusement value.

With the legendary Richard Haydn as the lead in this episode, I expected better things. But a weak script, poorly executed, pretty much sinks this episode entirely. It always takes some suspension of disbelief to watch the Twilight Zone now, given how slickly produced movies and TV shows are now, with incredible special effects, but with good episodes, I can see past the low-budget production values. Not with this one. I actually laughed out loud over the electric shaver attack, not only because of the visible string but also because it was so absurd. This is an episode that could have been made much more effectively, even with the budget restraints. Oh, well, given the brilliance of the other episodes, it's hard to criticize... just don't let this be the first Twilight Zone you ever watch (or it will be the only one).

In some episodes of the Twilight Zone, creator/writer Rod Serling would expound on the destructiveness of machines, modern science and progress because of their accumulative damage to human dignity. In "A Thing About Machines," he takes the complete opposite approach to the subject. Richard Haydn stars as Bartlett Finchley, a fellow who can't adjust to all the electronic gadgets at his disposal and turns them into objects of spite. The simple answer for him would be get rid of his television, radio etc. But then we wouldn't have much of a story. As it is, there isn't much here to begin with anyway. Naturally, the machines begin to have a life of their own and start to rebel against their abusive owner. Even his trusty secretary (played by Barbara Stuart) can't handle Finchley's psychotic behavior and decides to root for the machines. Soon, Finchley is on the run as his appliances gain the upper hand and send him scurrying into oblivion.

There's a moral to the story here somewhere, but it's mostly obscured by a wholesale lack of enthusiasm from the cast and a lackluster script. Haydn was a fine actor in his day and he does what he can playing the despicable Finchley, but his heart doesn't seem to be in it. Veteran Twilight Zone regular Barney Phillips has a few notable scenes as a TV repairman who isn't enamored with Finchley the Customer. Their interplay in the opening sequence is the only witty dialog to be found in the episode. I guess Serling wanted his viewers to believe that inanimate objects have feelings too. But only in the Twilight Zone.

According to the TV repair man, Finchley (Richard Hayden) once called him out after kicking-in the TV screen. I would never kick a screen in, but this entry would be the nearest possible reason for justifying Finchley's own wretchedly stupid action. There's not an ounce of humanity about the nasty, soulless prig whose utterly insane and pointless world this extremely lame story is about. I was hoping a washing machine would swallow Finchley within five minutes as this is unfunny and dreadfully tedious. Fifth dimension? - One dimension! Other episodes where a machine takes on human qualities at least have a strong reason, like the driver's guilty conscience in 'You Drive', and the gambling addiction depicted in 'The Fever'. Finchley is simply boring and unwatchable. Machines here are a self perpetuating plot device in what can barely be described as a story. Perhaps the moral is don't upset your toaster, it might harbour a grudge?- I give up.

Please do not confuse this with the great, or the good, or the fair, or even the bad with some quality entries in the best TV show ever.

Richard Haydn who did a lot ofs that Clifton Webb turned down was the guest star in this story.

Haydn plays the part with sophistication of Clifton Webb together with the cheapness of Jack Benny. It's never really explained but he hates paying repair bills for household appliances.

Soon enough however the appliances take on a life of their own.. The results are predictable.

Not one of the better Twilight Zone stories, I doubt if Clifton Webb could have improved it.

This episode features a guy named Mr. Finchley who is afraid of technology. This includes everything from his car to his electric razor. It's later shown that his fear is quite real. First, the machines just tell him to go away. They then start actually attacking him. A lot of it does get pretty silly.

A electric razor going down the stairs just seems too goofy to take seriously. The best part is probably the end. He dies, but the closing narration leaves open the possibility that the whole thing just took place in his imagination. It would be hard to explain how his car got near the pool. Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane can work well. This was just a little weak. **1/2

Obnoxious and ill-tempered writer Bartlett Finchley (a nicely fussy and irritating portrayal by Richard Haydn) has an increasingly difficult time dealing with all the mutinous machines in his house to the point that he thinks that there are conspiring against him.

Director David Orrick McDearmon keeps the enjoyable story moving at a steady pace and maintains a pleasant lighthearted tone throughout. Rod Serling's amusing script gets a lot of inspired comic mileage out of Finchley's ridiculous predicament. The persnickety Finchley makes for a fun guy to hate; it's a treat to see the machines get the best of him. Moreover, there are neat supporting turns from Barbara Stuart as Finchley's long-suffering assistant Edith, Barney Phillips as a smartaleck TV repairman, and Henry Beckman as a hard-nosed cop. A real hoot.

Richard Haydn is a writer for gourmet magazines. Pretty well off. But he's having trouble with the appliances in his house. They've begun to turn themselves on and off at odd hours, and the clock chimes over and over -- even after he destroys it.

He's driving his secretary bonkers so she decides to quit. Haydn suddenly becomes human and bets her to stay, but turns so angry that she tells him to see a doctor and then leaves.

Things go from bad to worse, ending with Haydn at the bottom of his swimming pool.

The story is only a trifle, a bagatelle, an amuse bouche, with nothing much of substance behind it, but it's rather fun to see Haydn being chased around his property by his own sporty little care. Like all persons in all movies in such situations, he runs down the center of the road with the vehicle in hot pursuit. Best of all: the electric razor hovering like a cobra in front of his bathroom mirror, then slinking its way down the stairs.

Richard Haydn plays Finchley, a man who hates electrical devices--plus he's a nasty old jerk to boot! When he has trouble with them, he smacks them around and wonders why they don't work! Eventually, however, the machines have had enough and begin to rebel. At first, it's one or two machines--such as the typewriter that tells him to leave or the television. But later, it's practically everything--they are all ganging up on him and have had enough.

Talk about a weak show. The premise is pretty thin and the special effects are rather poor. The scene where the razor is chasing him down the steps and you can CLEARLY see the 'invisible' string pulling it is particularly awful. It's a shame, really, as Haydn was a good actor and I wish the material had been more to his ability. As it is, this is a crappy and ultimately forgettable episode. No brilliant or nice twist here--just a surprisingly dopey show with a rather mean-spirited ending.

**minor spoilers** Viewing each episode from TZ Season 1 Episode 1 through to "A Thing About Machines" had me scratching my head over its ending. I played back part of the episode's intro several times during the start up trying to understand Serling's remark "adherents to the cause of tart sophistry" which I thought was funniest thing I never understood from him. Finchley (Haydn, Sound Of Music) is a hit, he can act well. The episode's overall absurdity was more profound than previous episodes, and it very much had me laughing. I loved the dancer in the TV set making sport of Finchley. But then it seems to end unfinished, and especially in that manner, it's unlike any other previous episode. Reading other reviews here about the history of when this was made explains some of the show's finish. I'm now taking that as part of the fun in it. Maybe I didn't want it to end.