This was the first episode of "One Step Beyond", officially sponsored by Alcoa, whose name is included in the title! This would be a typical series entry, as Skip Homeier plays newlywed Matt Conroy, whose pretty Louisiana born wife Sally(played by Virginia Leith) has a startling change of personality and accent on their honeymoon, which leads him to take her to see a doctor(played by Harry Townes) with knowledge of the new personality in Sally that leads back to a woman named Karen Warden recently killed in an accident off a cliff - or was it murder? Interesting plot is reasonably well handled, though abrupt nature of conclusion is unusual.
10 Reviews
Interesting tale of a possible possession
Milk_Tray_Guy11 May 2021
A pair of newlyweds on way to their honeymoon have their lives turned upside down when the bride suddenly undergoes a dramatic change in personality, claiming to be a woman who fell to her death locally. Her husband and a psychiatric doctor try to unravel the truth behind what she says, and the fate of the deceased woman.
Solid performances from Skip Homeier as the husband, Harry Townes as the doctor, and - especially - Virginia Leith (who handles the contrasting personalities of the new wife and the dead woman superbly), transform what could have been a corny time-filler into a compelling mystery. My only complaint is the ending, which - as others have said - is too sudden. We could have done with another five minutes to wrap things up. Still, this is a series I'm looking forward to seeing more off. 8/10.
Solid performances from Skip Homeier as the husband, Harry Townes as the doctor, and - especially - Virginia Leith (who handles the contrasting personalities of the new wife and the dead woman superbly), transform what could have been a corny time-filler into a compelling mystery. My only complaint is the ending, which - as others have said - is too sudden. We could have done with another five minutes to wrap things up. Still, this is a series I'm looking forward to seeing more off. 8/10.
Good First Episode!
b_kite20 October 2016
The first episode of "One Step Beyond" starts as newlywed couple Matt (Skip Homeier) and Sally (Virginia Leigh, who sports a rather silly southern accent and would go on to star in the cult b movie classic "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" three years later) when on there honeymoon, Sally begins to behave strangely, running off and not even recognizing who Matt is. He manages to track her to a house with the help of a police officer, and Sally begins explaining that she is someone else. She is taken to the local hospital where, the doctor (the great Harry Townes) reveals to Matt that she isn't his wife anymore. Is Sally crazy or is she really a bride possessed?.
Overall, I though this was a pretty good way to start the series off, the acting is pretty solid and John Newland is great in the opening and closing segments in his Rod Serling-esq role, the ending however is my only real problem it seems rather forced and abrupt, but still a solid first entry.
Overall, I though this was a pretty good way to start the series off, the acting is pretty solid and John Newland is great in the opening and closing segments in his Rod Serling-esq role, the ending however is my only real problem it seems rather forced and abrupt, but still a solid first entry.
Decent...but not outstanding.
planktonrules23 December 2012
"The Bride Possessed" was the first episode of "One Step Beyond"--a suspense anthology series much like "The Twilight Zone"--though it was aired several years earlier.
A man marries a southern lady but on the way to their honeymoon something weird happens--she begins behaving like she's someone else! She has memories flooding in which are those of a murdered woman! At first, they assume she's crazy and she's hospitalized but because of all the specific details she knows about the dead woman's life AND the voice change, they start to wonder... Unfortunately, while an interesting premise, it did seem to end abruptly--a bit too abruptly. Not a bad episode but hopefully they'll get a bit better than this.
A man marries a southern lady but on the way to their honeymoon something weird happens--she begins behaving like she's someone else! She has memories flooding in which are those of a murdered woman! At first, they assume she's crazy and she's hospitalized but because of all the specific details she knows about the dead woman's life AND the voice change, they start to wonder... Unfortunately, while an interesting premise, it did seem to end abruptly--a bit too abruptly. Not a bad episode but hopefully they'll get a bit better than this.
The Bride Possessed
Prismark105 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
One Step Beyond shared a lot in common with The Twilight Zone.
Spooky tales with an element of the paranormal. The series though had a human facet.
The first episode features Matt and Sally who are newly married.
On their way to the honeymoon there is a detour. Sally becomes possessed by a dead woman who she claims was murdered.
Somehow Sally is being used to direct the authorities to the murderer and the murder weapon.
An effective opening tale with Matt at a loss as to what has happened to his new bride.
The story did finish very abruptly. Sally returns to normality and the happy couple drive off.
Spooky tales with an element of the paranormal. The series though had a human facet.
The first episode features Matt and Sally who are newly married.
On their way to the honeymoon there is a detour. Sally becomes possessed by a dead woman who she claims was murdered.
Somehow Sally is being used to direct the authorities to the murderer and the murder weapon.
An effective opening tale with Matt at a loss as to what has happened to his new bride.
The story did finish very abruptly. Sally returns to normality and the happy couple drive off.
One Step beyond!!
coltras3511 May 2022
Matt Conroy ( first time I see Skip Homier not toting a six-gun!) is startled when on their honeymoon his wide-eyed, Louisiana-drawling wife Sally suddenly becomes a determined and demanding woman with no accent who denies even knowing him.
A watchable chiller about a murdered woman possessing a newly-married wife. It has some creepy atmosphere and good acting, especially from Virginia Leith, who is very convincing. The episode ends on a nigh, with the murderer confessing his crime but via the narrator.
A watchable chiller about a murdered woman possessing a newly-married wife. It has some creepy atmosphere and good acting, especially from Virginia Leith, who is very convincing. The episode ends on a nigh, with the murderer confessing his crime but via the narrator.
First Step Beyond
Goingbegging10 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is the first episode in the series, and it shows. John Newland delivers his standard prelude, explaining that these tales of the supernatural are "a matter of human record" (but not strictly real-life drama). He then partly duplicates this with another spooky intro, specific to the episode itself.
A young bride, Sally, is having so much fun at her distinctly rowdy wedding-party that her groom, Matt, is having trouble getting her to leave. On the drive home, she nods-off and starts talking strangely in her sleep (as referenced by Matt, but not shown). After waking up, she directs him to drive to a forested cliffside location, even though she has claimed never to have travelled beyond her native Louisiana before. Meantime, she has also mysteriously lost her Southern accent.
Walking through the woods, she suddenly turns and runs back to the car and drives off to a nearby house where Matt eventually finds her. The house turns out to have been the home of a local woman (Karen) whose identity Sally has somehow assumed, and who had been wrongly reported as committing suicide over the cliff.
Matt takes her to a psychiatrist, who rather too coincidentally had known Karen well, and is entirely baffled by this identity-swap, having never heard of 'possession' of one person by another. In her new incarnation, Sally even remembers Karen's mother's phone number, and summons her to the clinic, where she is mortified to be hugged by a stranger posing as her dead daughter. Sally (mentally Karen) then escapes back to the cliffs, where she finds the blunt instrument with which she had actually been murdered by her husband Dan. This apparently brings closure, as Dan (also too coincidentally) confesses to the crime, and Sally is magically restored to her true self.
Sally/Karen is played by Virginia Leith, a convincing scream-queen - but remember, this was an actress whose room-mate once needed forty stitches after a row with her. Skip Homeier, as Matt, is a bit of a stuffed dummy, while Harry Townes brings sympathy and subtlety to the role of the psychiatrist, perhaps coloured by his second career as a church minister.
A young bride, Sally, is having so much fun at her distinctly rowdy wedding-party that her groom, Matt, is having trouble getting her to leave. On the drive home, she nods-off and starts talking strangely in her sleep (as referenced by Matt, but not shown). After waking up, she directs him to drive to a forested cliffside location, even though she has claimed never to have travelled beyond her native Louisiana before. Meantime, she has also mysteriously lost her Southern accent.
Walking through the woods, she suddenly turns and runs back to the car and drives off to a nearby house where Matt eventually finds her. The house turns out to have been the home of a local woman (Karen) whose identity Sally has somehow assumed, and who had been wrongly reported as committing suicide over the cliff.
Matt takes her to a psychiatrist, who rather too coincidentally had known Karen well, and is entirely baffled by this identity-swap, having never heard of 'possession' of one person by another. In her new incarnation, Sally even remembers Karen's mother's phone number, and summons her to the clinic, where she is mortified to be hugged by a stranger posing as her dead daughter. Sally (mentally Karen) then escapes back to the cliffs, where she finds the blunt instrument with which she had actually been murdered by her husband Dan. This apparently brings closure, as Dan (also too coincidentally) confesses to the crime, and Sally is magically restored to her true self.
Sally/Karen is played by Virginia Leith, a convincing scream-queen - but remember, this was an actress whose room-mate once needed forty stitches after a row with her. Skip Homeier, as Matt, is a bit of a stuffed dummy, while Harry Townes brings sympathy and subtlety to the role of the psychiatrist, perhaps coloured by his second career as a church minister.
A solid first episode.
Sleepin_Dragon21 April 2024
Matt and Sally Conroy celebrate their wedding day, but as soon as the couple set off on their honeymoon, Sally starts behaving strangely, believing she is someone else, a woman who was murdered.
It worth considering when this was made, all the way back in 1959, and for that I'll give this episode some real credit, it you're a fan of the likes of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, I think you'll enjoy this.
I'm not sure this is the best from the series, I've been told it gets better, but it's certainly an interesting debut episode, and a sign of things to come.
I thought it was competently acted and quite well produced, it held my attention.
An interesting start.
6/10.
It worth considering when this was made, all the way back in 1959, and for that I'll give this episode some real credit, it you're a fan of the likes of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, I think you'll enjoy this.
I'm not sure this is the best from the series, I've been told it gets better, but it's certainly an interesting debut episode, and a sign of things to come.
I thought it was competently acted and quite well produced, it held my attention.
An interesting start.
6/10.
Guest starring Virginia Leith
safenoe14 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
For some reason I only found out about One Step Beyond today, after it debuted in 1959, so 65 years ago. It debuted around the same time as The Twilight Zone (the original one) and I'm keen to watch some of them.
Virginia Leith is amazing as Sally Conroy, with her swing in personalities that was so realistic. I don't know what method acting Virginia used, but it was so convincing, and I wonder how she prepared just as the clapper board clapped. Anyway, I learned today that Virginia passed away only recently, living to the age of 94, and passing away in 2019. Anyway, I have to watch more of One Step Beyond.
Virginia Leith is amazing as Sally Conroy, with her swing in personalities that was so realistic. I don't know what method acting Virginia used, but it was so convincing, and I wonder how she prepared just as the clapper board clapped. Anyway, I learned today that Virginia passed away only recently, living to the age of 94, and passing away in 2019. Anyway, I have to watch more of One Step Beyond.
Spoilt by melodrama
Leofwine_draca27 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
THE BRIDE POSSESSED is the opening episode of ONE STEP BEYOND, a supernatural anthology series that's forgotten today after being eclipsed by the better-known - and more popular - TWILIGHT ZONE. We get off to a slow start here as a newlywed bride finds herself possessed by the spirit of a murder victim. It's appropriately dark, but spoilt by all kinds of overacting and heavy melodrama.
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