Cult-TV Blogging: Circle of Fear: "The Phantom of Herald's Square" (March 30, 1973)

The final episode of the 1972-1973 horror anthology Ghost Story/Circle of Fear is called “The Phantom of Herald Square,” and it’s the series’ first out-and-out romance, or love story.  And as is appropriate given the genre, it’s a tragic love story.

Here, a young artist in California, Holly Brown (The X-Files’ Sheila Larken) meets a handsome man in the park, James Barlow (David Soul).  He professes his love for her almost immediately, and Holly is resistant to his advances at first.  Over time, however, she falls in love with him.  As they grow close, however, strange incidents are also reported in the park.  A young woman dies there.  And Holly herself is accosted twice by a strange old man (Victory Jory).  He warns her not to see James again.

As it turns out, James knows the causes of these mysterious incidents very well.  As he explains to Holly, he once made a deal with the Devil to live forever so he could continue to “see the world.”  

Now, the Devil and his firm, called Gerontology, watch over James from a nearby skyscraper.  Every night, as part of the deal he signed, James must transform into his true form -- as an old man -- and also get lovely young women, like Holly, to give up their youth and very lives so he can continue eternally.

Realizing that she is indeed in love with James, Holly visits Mr. Matthews (Murray Matheson) at Gerontology and offers her soul for the same deal that James signed.  When David learns of this act, he angrily goes to Gerontology and says he is ready to cash in.  The Devil can take his soul now if only the contract with Holly is torn up.  The Devil agrees, and James and Holly are left to share a final, tender goodbye at Herald Square.

Buttressed by a seventies era folk-ballad, and stylish montages of Holly and James walking together by the glimmering (manmade) lake at Herald Square, this episode of Circle of Fear is undeniably cheesy. 

And yet, the love story is resonant.  Both James and Holly are people who don’t expect to find love, but do find it.  And then, they both make sacrifices for that love that are powerful.    The valedictory scene, with James sacrificing immortality so that Holly will never go through its torments, is enormously affecting.   

It’s not an easy choice.  James asks what will happen to him below (meaning in Hell), and Matthews paints a terrible picture.  James will serve the Devil and be tormented…for eternity. Even in the face of such unending suffering, James sticks to his guns.  He puts his love, Holly, above his desire to live.

Outside of the touching love story, “Phantom of Herald Square” is memorable since it poses the idea that the Devil works in a modern business office (as was the case in “Legion of Demons”) and that -- worse than that -- he cloaks himself behind science, under the business name “Gerontology.”

This story by Edward DeBlasio and Seeleg Lester has elements of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and is well-acted by Soul and Larkin.  Their performances skip over some of the tale’s harder-to-believe aspects, and make for a surprisingly strong and emotional hour.  It’s a good note to leave the series on…

Next week, I move to a new cult-tv blogging selection. I’ll be watching and reviewing all episodes of the Canadian science fiction series: The Starlost (1973).  It’s been called the worst sci-fi TV series ever made, by some, and for the next several Sundays, we’ll see if that’s really the case.