Five Characters in Search of an Exit
| "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 14 |
| Directed by | Lamont Johnson |
| Written by | Rod Serling from the story "The Depository" by Marvin Petal |
| Featured music | Stock from "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" |
| Production code | 4805 |
| Original air date | December 22, 1961 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Five Characters in Search of an Exit" is episode 79 of the television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on December 22, 1961.
A uniformed Army Major wakes up to find himself trapped inside in a large metal cylinder, where he meets a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and a clown. None of them have any memory of who they are or how they became trapped. The Major, being the newest arrival, is the most determined to escape. He is told there is no way of either breaking through or climbing up the cylinder. The Major's questioning reveals that the characters have no need for food or water.
Eventually, the major suggests a plan to escape: forming a tower of people, each person on the other's shoulders. However, the dancer at the top of the tower is still a few inches short of the cylinder's top, and a loud sound shakes the cylinder and sends the five tumbling to the ground. Now even more determined, the Major fashions a grappling hook out of loose bits of clothing and his sword. By reforming the tower, he manages to grapple onto the edge of the container. As he turns to survey the area surrounding the cylinder, he tumbles to the ground outside. Inside the cylinder, the clown and the others discuss what will happen to them and realize the Major is right about it being hell to them.
The scene cuts to a little girl picking up a doll from the snow, a doll in the dress of an army Major and tells a woman what she found believing someone accidentally dropped it. She tells the little girl to put the doll back in the barrel with the rest. When she does, she notes that the woman doesn't have many dolls in the bin. The woman agrees, but also mentions it's still early and the orphanage has time as the little girl runs off towards home. The cylinder is a Christmas toy collection bin for a girls' orphanage, and all five characters are nothing more than dolls. The loud noise was the shaking of a handheld bell which the woman uses to attract donations.
The final shot is of the five characters, now seen as dolls with painted faces and glass eyes. The ballet dancer moves to hold the hand of the Major and her eyes fill with tears.
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