The Purple Testament
"The Purple Testament" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone. Written by series creator Rod Serling, who also provides narration, the episode originally aired on CBS on February 12, 1960, and depicts a U.S. Army lieutenant stationed in the Philippines during World War II who develops the eerie ability to predict his soldiers' deaths by seeing a purple glow illuminate their faces just before battle.[1][2][3] Directed by Richard L. Bare, the episode stars William Reynolds in the lead role of Lieutenant William Fitzgerald, a platoon leader tormented by his newfound prescient vision amid the chaos of combat. Supporting performances include Dick York as Fitzgerald's friend Captain Phil Riker, among others. The story unfolds in January 1945 during the Battle of Manila, emphasizing the psychological strain of war and the moral burden of foreknowledge.[1][4] The episode draws directly from Serling's personal wartime experiences as a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, where he served in the Philippines from late 1944, witnessing heavy casualties—including the death of close comrades—and earning a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service. Only about one-third of his regiment survived the campaign, leaving Serling with lasting trauma that profoundly shaped his writing, including this exploration of death's inevitability in battle. The title originates from a line in William Shakespeare's Richard II—"the purple testament of bleeding war"—symbolizing the violent legacy of conflict.[4]Synopsis
Opening Narration
The opening narration of "The Purple Testament," delivered by series host Rod Serling, establishes the episode's wartime setting in the Philippine Islands during 1945 and introduces the supernatural premise of Lieutenant William Fitzgerald's prescient visions. The full narration reads:Infantry platoon, U.S. Army, Philippine Islands, 1945. These are the faces of the young men who fight, as if some omniscient painter had mixed a tube of oils that were at one time earth brown, dust gray, blood red, beard black, and fear—yellow white, and these men were the models. For this is the province of combat, and these are the faces of war. A painting that perhaps some omniscient artist designed from the bloody palette of man's hatred. But these men can smile, and they are capable of rages and of fear and of love. And above all else, these are men who have come to a moment of truth, for even as the earth is rocked by the thunder of war, there is one who walks among them who possesses the power of life and death. Lieutenant William Fitzgerald, A Company, First Platoon. From William Shakespeare, Richard the Third, a small excerpt. The line reads, "He has come to open the purple testament of bleeding war." And for Lieutenant William Fitzgerald, A Company, First Platoon, the testament is opened. Submit to the Twilight Zone.This monologue frames the episode's central theme of inescapable fate amid the horrors of war by likening the soldiers to immutable portraits in a divine or fateful artwork, underscoring how combat strips individuals to elemental human qualities while imposing an inexorable judgment of survival or doom. The Shakespearean reference to the "purple testament" evokes a royal or sacred document stained by violence, symbolizing war's bloody inheritance that Fitzgerald unwittingly unveils through his ability to perceive a death-foretelling "purple glow." Serling employs vivid imagery to immerse viewers in the grim tableau, describing the "faces of the young men who fight" as models for an "omniscient painter" blending colors of earth brown, dust gray, blood red, beard black, and fear-yellow white—colors drawn from the sensory assault of battle to humanize yet doom the platoon. This artistic metaphor heightens the supernatural element, portraying Fitzgerald's visions not as random anomalies but as revelations from an all-seeing force dictating wartime mortality.