Finnegan's Flight story
A prison lifer (Burgess Meredith) wishing for freedom subjects himself to his cellmate's (Cameron Mitchell) mind-over-matter experiments. Directed by: Gene Kearney. Story by: Rod Serling.
8 total · 5 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| facing life in captivity | major | Charlie was desperate to get out of prison. One gathers he was there on a life sentence. |
| human vs. captivity | major | Charlie Finnegan was desperate to get out of prison. |
| speculative hypnosis | major | Pete Tuttle had used hypnosis on Charlie and the physiological states Charlie exhibited matched his mental experiences. For instance, his fingers blistered when Pete asked Charlie to place his hand imaginary boiling water. Later Charlie experienced hypoxia when instructed to fly a jet under hypnosis, and then burned to death when he crashed it. |
| the need for freedom | major | Charlie dreamed about being a free man. |
| what it is like in prison | major | We saw a sincere and reasonably realistic image of prison life. |
| cracking under pressure | minor | According to Pete, Charlie was about to have a breakdown and burn down the prison. |
| treatment of prisoners | minor | Prisoners were incarcerated on life sentences. |
| unethical psychological experimentation | minor | In spite of the warden's reservations, the doctor let the experiments go on because of professional curiosity. |