One Step Beyond

I was born five years before Alcoa produced this wonderful series - and it is wonderful, even though I remain thoroughly skeptical about the "truth" of the stories that were presented. Hosted by John Newland, in a quiet, thoughtful, and urbane manner, it presented different types of occult phenomenon each week, in well produced half-hour shows. I did not see it until the 1960s, when it was in syndication as reruns. But it was certainly entertaining and creepy. I won't dare to rate it against THE TWILIGHT ZONE or THE OUTER LIMITS (in particular as they were outwardly fictional and frequently entered science fiction), but it was one of the top horror shows in television history.

Newland would come out with his weekly introduction - just like Rod Sterling or Alfred Hitchcock on their shows. Sometimes he would bring a small prop or item related to the story. On one show he brings out an old watch, which he will look at several times in the half hour, telling the time on it. He says to the audience, when he first looks at it, "J.W.B. Those are the initials of the owner of this watch. They are the initials of a murderer." The episode that follows deals with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (the watch being John Wilkes Booth's). It is not a simple retelling of the story of Lincoln's death. The episode describes the odd premonitions and signs that reportedly happened in Washington, D.C. on that date, and around the country. For example, Lincoln's relating several eerie dreams he had (one of which was of him in the East Room, being told that the visitors there were in mourning for the President - who had been assassinated).

There were many odd stories. In one Donald Pleasance was a successful barrister, about to become a high court justice in Great Britain, when he is confronted by evidence that only he can understand that shows how he allowed an innocent man to be hanged years earlier at the start of his career (he was the prosecutor). Supposedly the truth was told to him by the so-called murdered woman (apparently not so murdered as she was supposed), but he never reported it to the authorities. Twenty years later and evidence that he destroyed reappears, forcing him to confess - and driving him insane in the end (he becomes a madman addressing the crowds in Hyde Park daily relating his evil act).

An episode with Patrick Macnee about premonitions regarding the sinking of the Titanic ends with a reference which I can vouch for is true - that in 1898 Mr. Morgan Robinson wrote a novella, FUTILITY: THE WRECK OF THE TITAN, about the world's greatest ocean liner being sunk by an iceberg on it's maiden voyage with great loss of life. Another episode with Werner Klemperer dealt with an unrepentant Nazi, pursued by some malevolent spirit on a U-boat, who causes so much noise that the U-boat is forced to surrender to an allied naval craft or be blown out of the water. There was one curious episode about an evil aristocrat's diamond choker that picked up the vibes from her personality, and choked her to death (and later killed her maid who stole the choker as well). Elizabeth Montgomery played a young flirt on an old west cavalry post, who thoughtlessly forces a young officer to do a dangerous assignment that kills him, and yet, weeks later when the post has a regimental ball, is confronted before everyone by his ghost who dances with her until she dies.

So it went on these episodes. Even if, like myself, you did not believe in the phenomenon that Newland's stories presented (and he never forced anyone to believe them) you got into the mood and watched some interesting stories, and some first rate acting (William Shatner, Charles Bronson, and Edward Binns were three other actors who appeared on the show). For a really spooky, but enjoyable experience, ONE STEP BEYOND was very hard to beat.

I do not understand the debate about the Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond. Both were excellent in their own rights. If both were on at the same time, I would watch one and tape the other. True horror fans of the anthology shows would see that these are two entirely different beasts. OSB is fictionalized accounts of supposedly true events. The creepiest One Step Beyond episode that I ever saw involved some German young people who were into gliders before WWII. One gets jealous and kills one who kissed his girlfriend before taking off in the glider. He stabs him and the glider disappears. The made a pact before hand to meet back after the war.Lo and behold the glider returns on that day with the survivors there. That was creepy!The horror wasn't really shown on screen which is a testament to the writing and creativity of the stories and the show. I just wish I could find old episodes to buy or rent. The show was just that good.

This is a show that never gets the respect or attention of its' better known relatives, "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits".

The show has a simpler format than the above mentioned series but is, or as a result of, able to maintain an air of "hey it could happen" throughout each episode.

Most of the performances are well done by the various actors, with only some being ham fisted.

Newland's performance as the convert host also enhances the production as does the haunting music.

I'm a huge fan of "One Step Beyond". I've been watching it since the early 70's in syndicated reruns and own all 96 episodes on VHS. I can safely say, adjusting the rocks in my head of course, that "OSB" is easily televisions greatest supernatural series.

I don't want to knock "The Twilight Zone" because, while that show was not scary or nearly as eerie and atmospheric as "OSB", it certainly deserves it's place in television history. To say however that "OSB" was merely a "spook" show and that "TZ" was the trend-setter, well that is just as inaccurate as it is crazy. That's just looking at things through "TZ" colored glasses. Putting aside the fact that "OSB" premiered 10 months before "TZ" and putting aside the fact that when "TZ" finally started airing it was trounced in the ratings by "OSB" and putting aside the fact that Rod Serling called John Newland to meet him for lunch to explain that he was doing a show like Newland's and that it would be purely fiction and not a rip-off of Newland's already established hit, consider this, or better yet, think about the following.

Watch "OSB's" "The Vision" which aired 3/24/59 and then take a look at Serlings "The Purple Testament" which aired 2/12/60. Watch "OSB's" "The Devil's Laughter" which aired 3/31/59 and then watch Serlings "Execution" which aired 4/1/60. Or, in one of the more blatant "coincidences", take a look at "OSB's" "The Haunted U-Boat" which aired 5/12/59 and then watch Serlings "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" which aired 1/10/63. See what I am getting at folks? Seems that a lot of "TZ's" stories have a striking resemblence to episodes aired a lot earlier on "OSB". And these are just a few of many examples. Hmmm! Rod, where did those ideas come from afterall? Watch "OSB's" "The Burning Girl" and tell me that it isn't a dead-on, early version of Stephen Kings "Carrie"! Again, I don't mean to knock "The Twilight Zone" but my point is that "One Step Beyond" was much more then a "spook" show or some golden age TV fodder. It was truly the father of all supernatural television series that followed and the true trend-setter. And obviously, an inspiration to all the shows that followed, "TZ" included. Those who don't know about "OSB" simply aren't true television fans.

This "spook" show television sidebar, as "TZ" maniacs call it, boasted some great talents in lead roles. Some veterans and some soon to be stars. Cloris Leachman, Warren Beatty, Jack Lord, Christopher Lee, Elizabeth Montgomery, Donald Pleasence, Ross Martin, William Shatner, Robert Loggia, Mike Conners, and Charles Bronson, just to name a few. How about writers like Don M. Mankiewicz, Charles Beaumont(yes, the very same), Larry Marcus and Collier Young. Surely talent like this elevates this program from "spook" show status. There isn't a person I have come across that doesn't remember it. And the key is that this is a show who's episodes stay with you for a lifetime and that, to me, is one of the marks of excellence.

John Newland was not only the perfect host, but a very gifted and talented director. The use of light and shadows to create an intense feeling of unease, spookiness and a downright eerie feeling. The inventive close-ups and overhead shots. Quite simply, Newland and this show were quite ahead of it's time. Take a look at "Ordeal On Locust Street" and tell me straight faced that you don't see "The X-Files". Watch "The Hand" and tell me you don't feel like your watching a film noir. Just fantastic. Quite simply, there wasn't anything like it before and nothing like it since.

If your looking for a real, honest to goodness spooky half-hour, look no further then "One Step Beyond". Just goes to show that true commitment, love and doing something you believe in can produce something unique and magnificent.

This is a very worthy program that deserves revival, (preferably on DVD from 35 mm stock or original negatives). Comparisons with "The Twilight Zone" are really not terribly helpful inasmuch as they each have separate entertainment objectives.

"One Step Beyond" purports to dramatize actual psychic experiences. In this sense, its writers would have been working to depict (allegedly anyhow) first hand experiences with ESP etc.

Irrespective of the truth of this, the show possesses a very singular, outre quality, quite unlike "TZ". Anyone seriously interested (academically or otherwise) in the paranormal would likely find this show of interest.

A great deal of the oppressive mood of the episodes can be credited to Mr. Lubin's music, (some of which was released on LP--this is definately a record you should seek out)most especially the title theme.

Mr. Newland made for an urbane and elegantly clad host, whose nebulous persona fit the mood of the episodes snugly. Not only was he personally interested in the paranormal, but he had a long stage, TV and film career already underway by 1959. Amongst other things, he was frequently featured on the excellent, "Loretta Young Show," and directed a film starring John Beale as a heart attack victim, (sorry the title escapes me at the moment).

At all events, "Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond" merits reappraisal.