- Mute (The Twilight Zone)
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"Mute" The Twilight Zone episode 
Scene from "Mute"Episode no. Season 4
Episode 107Directed by Stuart Rosenberg Written by Richard Matheson Featured music Fred Steiner Production code 4858 Original air date January 31, 1963 Guest stars Ann Jillian: Ilse Nielsen
Claudia Bryar: Frau Nielsen
Robert Boon: Holger Nielsen
Frank Overton: Harry Wheeler
Barbara Baxley: Cora Wheeler
Irene Dailey: Miss Frank
Oscar Beregi, Jr.: Professor Karl Werner
Percy Helton: Tom Poulter
Éva Szörényi: Frau Maria Werner
(credited as Eva Soreny)Episode chronology ← Previous
"He's Alive"Next →
"Death Ship"List of Twilight Zone episodes "Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was written by Richard Matheson, based on his own short story of same name.
Synopsis
Ilse, a twelve-year-old girl, is orphaned when her parents die in a fire. She is left in the care of others unaware of her true condition. It seems that her parents raised her in ignorance, and did not even teach her to talk. In actuality, Ilse was raised (along with other children in far-away Europe) by parents who subjected her to a language deprivation experiment in which no one spoke (verbally) with her. The intent was to draw out inherent telepathic abilities that the parents believed all people once possessed, but which had been repressed after the development of spoken language.
The experiment with Ilse was particularly successful: Ilse communicated well telepathically. But after the death of her parents, Ilse lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds, and her life is turned upside down. Her teacher also possesses telepathic abilities but believes they are a corruption to be overcome and works vehemently to destroy them.
By the time she is found by a couple from Germany who also raised their child as part of the experiment, Ilse's telepathic capability has been ruined by her public school experience and the genuine love of her normal, adoptive parents. Ilse also wants to stay.
It is explained at the end that Ilse's parents, while being nice to her, had not loved her, but viewed her primarily as a living experiment.
References
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
- Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090
External links
- "Mute" at the Internet Movie Database
Richard Matheson Novels I Am Legend (1954) • The Shrinking Man (1956) • A Stir of Echoes (1958) • The Beardless Warriors (1960) • Hell House (1971) • Bid Time Return (1975) • What Dreams May Come (1978)Short stories "Born of Man and Woman" (1950) • "Blood Son" (1951) • "Button, Button" (1970)Screenplays The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) • House of Usher (1960) • "The Last Flight" (1960) • "Nick of Time" (1960) • "A World of Difference" (1960) • "A World of His Own" (1960) • Master of the World (1961) • The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) • "The Invaders" (1961) • "Once Upon a Time" (1961) • Night of the Eagle (1962) • Tales of Terror (1962) • "Little Girl Lost" (1962) • "Young Man's Fancy" (1962) • The Raven (1963) • "Death Ship" (1963) • "Mute" (1963) • "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (1963) • "Steel" (1963) • The Comedy of Terrors (1964) • The Last Man on Earth (1964) • "Night Call" (1964) • "Spur of the Moment" (1964) • Fanatic (1965) • The Young Warriors (1966) • "The Enemy Within" (1966) • The Devil Rides Out (1968) • De Sade (1969) • Duel (1971) • The Night Stalker (1972) • The Night Strangler (1973) • The Legend of Hell House (1973) • Dracula (1973) • The Morning After (1974) • Trilogy of Terror (1975) • The Martian Chronicles Mini-Series (1980) • Somewhere in Time (1980) • Jaws 3-D (1983) • Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) • "Button, Button" (1986) • Loose Cannons (1990) • The Dreamer of Oz (1990) • Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994) • Trilogy of Terror II (1996)Adaptations
by others"And When the Sky Was Opened" (1959) • "Third from the Sun" (1960) • Cold Sweat (1970) • The Omega Man (1971) • The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) • What Dreams May Come (1998) • Stir of Echoes (1999) • "Dance of the Dead" (2005) • "My Ambition" (2006) • I Am Legend (2007) • I Am Omega (2007) • The Box (2009) • "The Splendid Source" (2010) • Real Steel (2011)Categories:- 1963 television episodes
- Adaptations of works by Richard Matheson
- Screenplays by Richard Matheson
- Television programs based on short fiction
- The Twilight Zone episodes
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