Night Gallery is a 1969 American made-for-television anthology supernatural horror film starring Joan Crawford, Roddy McDowall and Richard Kiley.

Directed by Boris Sagal, Steven Spielberg and Barry Shear, the film consists of three supernatural tales that served as the pilot for the anthology television series of the same name, written and hosted by Rod Serling.

[1] Serling appeared in an art gallery setting as the curator and introduced a trilogy of supernatural tales by unveiling paintings (by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr) that depicted the stories.

[2] The first segment is directed by Boris Sagal with the opening narration by Serling: Good evening, and welcome to a private showing of three paintings, displayed here for the first time.

Each is a collector's item in its own way—not because of any special artistic quality, but because each captures on a canvas, suspends in time and space, a frozen moment of a nightmare.

A hapless gambler owing money to loan sharks agrees to donate his eyes to her for the grand sum of $9,000 (approximately $74,500 in 2024 dollars).

One day, while fleeing from imaginary pursuers, he finds himself in a museum where he meets Bleum, a survivor of the same concentration camp where Strobe made the decisions about who would live or die.

Since its original broadcast and later re-airings, "Eyes" has remained the most popular segment among the three Night Gallery entries, most notably because it was the directorial debut of 22-year-old Steven Spielberg, as well as one of the last acting performances by screen legend Joan Crawford.

Upon learning that the young Spielberg would be directing her, Crawford reportedly called up Sid Sheinberg, then vice president of production for Universal Television, to demand that he be replaced by someone more experienced.

Upon arrival, Spielberg was greeted by the star wearing a mask over her eyes as she was demonstrating that she'd been practicing maneuvering around a room like a blind person.

During the filming, Crawford and her co-star Barry Sullivan had difficulty reciting their lines mainly due to the verbosity of the dialogue, and Spielberg eventually placed cue-cards around the set to meet the tight shooting schedule.

[4] On November 23, 2021, KL Studio Classics (under license from Universal) released the pilot film as part of Night Gallery: The Complete First Season on high-def Blu-ray for the first time.