MovieChat Forums > The Twilight Zone (1959) Discussion > Agnes Moorehead is awful in "The In...

Agnes Moorehead is awful in "The Invaders"


The episode has a lot going for it -- an excellent score, a mind-blowing ending, exquisite photography -- but Moorehead's central performance, replete with odd-ball facial expressions and the kind of groaning that would make an adult film star blush, is, at least for me, ill-conceived.

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I agree. I hate that episode, it's very annoying.

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Agree agree agree. Whenever it's on during a marathon, I go to the kitchen and cook or clean up.

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Hahaha good plan.

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I had no problem with her. My only problem was with the little "spacemen". I saw this when it first aired on tv. Even then, I felt that they reminded me of the little wind up toys I played with back then.
As for this episode, I think it was good. What a twist ending!

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No episode is more dependent on its twist ending than this one.

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The episode is very simplistic. She speaks no lines and relies on reactions in the tale. Not much to work with. I feel Sterling wanted a silent movie type of episode as he did once before. It feels more like a comedy instead of a terror tale.

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I never really thought of it as a silent movie type of episode like the one with Buster Keaton. This one didn't have any dialogue simply because the woman lived alone.
This isn't one of my favorites. Like I said, the space men reminded me of little tin wind up toys.
Too bad they didn't use real actors and make them appear smaller.

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I thought Agnes Moorehead was quite good in the role. She had no lines but she portrayed terror really well.

The only problem I had with repeated viewings was her modern manicure! She appeared to be a very simple farm woman, no make-up, plain clothes, etc. But the character sported a salon manicure and nail polish.

From watching Bewitched I know that Agnes Moorehead always had beautifully manicured nails. But for the TZ episode, they should have had her nix the nailpolish!

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Good eye! Now I must watch that episode again just to pay close attention to her nails. 😊
I agree. I feel that she was very good in the role.

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I never noticed that and I have the dvds, LOL. I'll keep a look out for it.

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Moorehead is simply terrific in this classic episode. Her character is just as weird and mysterious
as the invaders she is fighting, so it is a real showdown to see who - or WHAT - wins at the
end. Kudos as well to the spooky opening, in which Serling actually appears in the same shot
as Moorhead to introduce this offering. Very rare for him to do this. He was usually isolated from
the cast, as his intros were filmed weeks after the body of the episode.

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Really. It seemed so simple that I thought he filmed those as the first shot. I never knew that. Good bit of trivia.

Also does anyone have any fan theories? Those always interested me on the old site.

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Hahaha. When I saw this thread my first thought was "her nails"! WAY too modern for a poor country women who likely had to do manual labor all the time on a farm.

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I'm No a fan of her performance in this episode either.

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