Sun 30 Dec 2018
A TV Review: ONE STEP BEYOND “The Bride Possessed” (1959).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Science Fiction & Fantasy[19] Comments
ONE STEP BEYOND “The Bride Possessed.” ABC, 20 January 1959. Season 1, Episode 1. Virginia Leith, Skip Homeier, Harry Townes, Ann Morrison. Director & host: John Newland.
In dealing with strange and unusual events in the world around us, there are some similarities between One Step Beyond and the much more well-known series The Twilight Zone, but OSB came along first. TTZ did not begin until October 2, 1959.
The big difference between the two shows is that the stories on TTZ were fictional (and almost always with a twist at the end) and did not pretend otherwise. The stories on OSB were presented as “fact” and were purportedly based on real events.
“The Bride Possessed,” the very first episode, is a good example. The theme is that of possession of a living person by the dead, in this case a young bride (Virginia Leith) on her honeymoon who suddenly begins to channel the being of another young woman who has recently committed suicide by jumping from the edge of a cliff into the sea below.
But it was not suicide, the young bride insists in Leith’s new role in the story, it was murder. Neither her husband (Skip Homeier) nor her doctor know what to make of this until they find the murder weapon.
That the story is as effectively chilling as it is is due to entirely to Virginia Leith’s convincing transformation from one woman to another and yet in the same body. One regret I had in watching it was how abrupt the ending was. It was up to the host at the end to conclude this first episode’s story line.
Except for the little I’ve read about it, I know nothing about the rest of the series — it was on for three seasons and some 96 episodes — but from the accounts of others, this episode seems to have set the tone for the series rather well. I watched this one on Amazon Prime, but various episodes have been available in different collected sets of DVD over the years.
December 30th, 2018 at 6:40 pm
I’ve seen a handful of episodes, off and on since I was a little boy.
Each episode seen is based on the “paranormal”. The narrator constantly tries to sell us on the idea that paranormal events and powers happen in the real world. It’s like a long commercial for the paranormal.
I’ve never believed in the paranormal. Therefore, found all this dubious. Believers in the paranormal might like this better.
I vaguely recall an episode about rocks falling from the sky (paranormal event). Was this part of this series?
The episodes seen also seemed like weak tea, with rather dull storytelling and direction. So I’m just not a fan.
All this said, have only seen a small fraction of the series. Maybe there are some real gems lurking in the show!
PS Am a big fan of actor Skip Homeier. He’s part of the huge talent pool available to TV and film of that era.
December 30th, 2018 at 7:52 pm
The falling rock episode is “Where Are They?” (1960).
So my childhood memory is correct!
December 30th, 2018 at 8:09 pm
A little of the paranormal goes a long way with me also. I have no desire to obtain and/or watch more than a bare handful of episodes any time soon. But one thing the series does have going for it is a long list of interesting guest stars that appeared on it over the years.
December 30th, 2018 at 9:48 pm
The episode I recall more than any other was based on the British writer who wrote the novel THE TITAN which predicted the Titanic with eerie accuracy, but I may remember it best because of the presence of Patrick McNee.
They also did a semi documentary episode about LSD that is fairly well remembered.
Mostly it was a toss away series, weird, but seldom memorable save for Newland.
December 31st, 2018 at 12:28 pm
You fellows must have watched a different set of episodes from the ones I saw recently on Decades. The series is fabulous, well-acted, and the writing is light-years above the level of Rod “The Sledgehammer” Serling. John Newland simply oozed charisma where Serling talked down to his audience all the time.
December 31st, 2018 at 2:38 pm
Truth be told, Michelle, I’m not a big fan of Mr. Serling either, and I’ve never watched any of his various shows, including THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
December 31st, 2018 at 3:24 pm
Coincidence, or not, Virginia Leith and Skip Homeier play brother and sister in Black Widow a 1954 film just released on Blu ray.
December 31st, 2018 at 4:33 pm
I’m sure it’s only coincidence, but what a neat connection that is! (And maybe there is a story behind it.)
Thanks, Barry.
December 31st, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Rod Serling and THE TWILIGHT ZONE are not central to my viewing, either. So can’t offer expert opinions. But think everyone might be interested in Serling episodes like:
Five Characters in Search of an Exit
Four O’Clock
In Praise of Pip
He’s Alive
John Newland had an excellent speaking voice, and was therefore well qualified to host a TV series. Beyond that, he doesn’t seem too interesting.
December 31st, 2018 at 4:42 pm
One Step Beyond always seemed to me to be sort of bland but I see that IMDB gives it a 7.9 based on a thousand votes from viewers. A lot higher than I would have thought possible.
I was surprised to see some negative comments concerning Twilight Zone but as Mike Grost points out there are some very interesting episodes. It is very popular with IMDB and they give it a 9.0 which is very high. Another show I liked a lot was Night Gallery and that show gets an 8.0 rating with viewers.
A new biography just came out on Rod Serling and I have my copy which I hope to eventually read as soon as I dig myself out from my TBR pile of books.
December 31st, 2018 at 8:06 pm
9.0 for TWILIGHT ZONE doesn’t surprise me, but 7.9 for ONE STEP BEYOND does. Based on th eone episode I’ve seen, I might go as high as 6.0, but I’d like to see more before having to actually vote.
December 31st, 2018 at 11:35 pm
I was also puzzled by the high 7.9 rating for ONE STEP BEYOND. IMDB gives 39 viewer comments so I skimmed through them and mostly they give very positive comments and echo Michelle B’s thoughts in Comment #5 above. They love the show and think it compares favorably with TWILIGHT ZONE.
January 1st, 2019 at 2:17 am
ONE STEP BEYOND may seem a little slow and dull but they were attempting to use the docudrama style to add to the believability of the supernatural endings. ONE STEP BEYOND also aired before TWILIGHT ZONE. ONE STEP BEYOND aired on ABC starting January 1959. TWILIGHT ZONE began October 1959.
Both featured talented writers. ONE STEP BEYOND featured writers such as Larry Marcus (who won an Emmy for ROUTE 66), Howard Rodman (HARRY O), Charles Beaumont (TWILIGHT ZONE), and Francis Cockrell (ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS).
THE TWILIGHT ZONE was and remains one of television’s most influential TV series. While the series was uneven it is hard not to be admired many of the episodes. It is a rare critic’s list of greatest TV episodes that does not include at least one TZ episode. Episodes such as “Time Enough At Last,” “Eye of the Beholder,” The Invaders,” “Its A good Life,” and many more still are admired by critics and viewers alike.
Much of TWILIGHT ZONE critical success was due to timing. The series brought the O.Henry twist ending to TV sf and fantasy. The shock value of a TZ episode has faded but only because the episodes have become common knowledge to generations of TV viewers.
TZ remains a popular TV series and is often featured on TV networks holiday programming such as the recent day on SYFY network.
January 1st, 2019 at 2:30 pm
TTZ made a lasting, indelible mark in the world of popular culture, no doubt about it. It’s one the most known TV shows of all time. OSB has many fans, and I can see why, but in all honesty, I’d never heard of it until I spotted this first episode among Amazon Prime’s free offerings last week. (I grew up in areas without an ABC station nearby until 1966 or so.)
January 1st, 2019 at 5:01 pm
Steve, like you I spent my childhood in an area with two TV stations. ONE STEP BEYOND is most likely remembered from its long successful run in syndication. There also was a remake of the series in 1978 called THE NEXT STEP BEYOND.
January 1st, 2019 at 5:47 pm
OSB was one I only saw in syndication, and while individual episodes were good and it featured the usual suspects of the period in terms of anthology series actors it suffered from the basic idea of trying to tell “true” stories which end up either not having resolution or leaving it up to the viewer to decide.
I liked the series and have fond memories of it, but I don’t recall it ever being truly memorable or many episodes that stood out all that much, certainly it is a pale imitation of TZ. Nor does it attempt to do what Serling specialized in, which was using drama to comment on our society and human nature.
Many of the most famous TZ episodes aren’t just O Henry surprise endings, but comments on humanity, on racism, jingoism, paranoia, greed, and such. OSB was about, ‘oh, isn’t that weird’, where TZ aspired to, ‘Oh, isn’t that human’. Like him or not TZ was about Serling’s vision, it was about the world as he saw it.
I’m not surprised OSB is popular, it did weird well if without much resolution, often not much more than a well dramatized version of Ripley’s. TZ, sometimes pretentious, sometimes self satisfied, aspired to something more. The difference is that between nostalgia and class.
January 1st, 2019 at 8:56 pm
Some of the episodes I recommended are good examples of what David is talking about:
Four O’Clock
In Praise of Pip
He’s Alive
These all show Serling alive to the society around him, and commenting all he can.
“Five Characters in Search of an Exit” shows Serling and talented director Lamont Johnson trying to do that high-art craze The Theater of the Absurd, right on network television. 1960’s intellectualism in full flight. Right on!
January 1st, 2019 at 10:52 pm
16. David, while I agree with you I don’t think it is fair to say ONE STEP BEYOND is an Imitation of TWILIGHT ZONE since ONE STEP BEYOND aired before TZ. TZ was the better series and it inspired many copies, but ONE STEP BEYOND was not one of them.
I think ONE STEP BEYOND would have been better if it had dropped its original mock docudrama style and limiting the stories to the supernatural genre and instead adopted the more typical TV story-telling style and TZ openness to a variety of genres.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Imitation was a poor choice since OSB came first, but it is certainly a poor relation compared to TZ or even Karloff’s THRILLER. It isn’t that OSB lacked for good writing, acting, or direction, but it never aspired to either engage on a deeper level or truly scare its audience, and in the end the best you can really say about it was that it was a comfortable diversion in the weird and uncanny that never dared to challenge or test its viewers.
Considering the kind of things Serling would soon do and what had already been done by Hitchcock in the same format OSB is ultimately too timid for its own good.