This is the homage to Sunset Boulevard. Ida Lupino is playing an over the hill actress named Barbara Jean Trenton. Martin Balsam plays her manager Danny Weiss who wants her to stop living in the past and rejoin the world. But Barbara Jean wants it to be 1934 forever, back when she was a beautiful young star. So basically, this is Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard except instead of murder we get urban fantasy. So, no surprise, after she realizes she was too old for the movies the world no longer had any appeal. So, of course, she ends up entering into the 16 millimeter film of the title. She is seen walking off camera with all of her old friends from twenty five years ago.
Obviously, there are no surprises here. It’s a straight forward wish fulfillment plot. It’s a good story and I’ll give it a B. Not bad.
Didn’t Ida also direct the episode? I think I remember reading that. She directed two. This one I think she “shadow” directed. But she was a director for episodes for just about every hit show in the 60s and 70s.
She was smart. For most actresses work ended in their thirties. And she actually could act. Strange business.
The half-life on Hollywood babes is indeed short; almost like a professional athlete. Once they hit The Wall in their 30s, a lot of them fall away into obscurity. That’s when the truly talented actresses shine, though–they can be successful based on actual talent, and not just their youthful foxiness.
Or, as the Twilight Zone shows, they can also be absorbed into a 16mm print of an old film and attain immortality that way. I might be able enter into a Seinfeld episode and find a job with the Yankees.