An aunt and her nephew take a ride in the country on the hottest day of the year. Along the way to a favorite swimming hole they pick up a strange passenger, a raving oldster (Robert Blossoms) who talks of 17 year locust and genetic evil. It soon becomes apparent that the old man is immersed in his own beliefs, that true evil is born and reborn out of the hot baking mud on a day very much like today. That there are alternates to traditional birth and growth...and hunger.

The first comparison which comes to mind rests with kooky character actor Blossoms and the premiere episode of Speilberg's "Amazing Stories" from the same time period, mid-80's. Both have Mr. Blossoms out for a car ride, both have him playing versions of his nom de plume off-kilter character. But while Speilberg's midnight train segment soaked with sentimentality and heavy-handedness, "The Burning Man" is a horse of another spot. For once, Bradbury's lyrical dialogue gets a proper conduit...the segment is Blossom's and he makes the most of it, eating words like fields and tarpaper. And despite the non-stop patter, the underlining story is never ham-fisted. The danger is implied. The menace is underscored. At no time does anyone say: "Hey, that nutty old guy was born out of the mud today, and by nightfall, he'll be a little boy in a clean white suit, and he'll eat us."

Great direction and editing. A truly tight segment in which every word and facial expression/reaction matters. Plus the vintage costuming and golden haze which hangs over this, adds a faded photograph quality. And the final shot of the braked car with the sound of locusts escalating...excellent. Right up there with NTZ's best ground-to-sky tilt-ups like "The Shadow Man."

What amazes me with these two segments, "The Elevator" and "The Burning Man," is the quality of acting and direction. Fluid. Tone is established with grace. Shifts too. I have actually had the misfortune to watch about 80% of "The Ray Bradbury Theater" and outside from the 1st season HBO episodes and rare
USA fare ("The Emissary"), the major fault I can attribute to "RBT" as a whole is acting and direction. Bradbury himself transcribed all the episodes but his dense, stylized dialogue sounded like a bad poetry slam in the wrong hands. Despite the fact that USA's budget for the show seemed to rock bottom every season, with proper casting and a guiding directorial hand...there could have been quality.

So in just two segments, "NTZ" outdoes Bradbury's own vehicle with simple good old-fashioned storytelling.

Review by Ted Cormey
tedcormey@hotmail.com

Last revised: Sunday, April 28, 2002

 
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