Set in 1862 during the American Civil War, this episode concerns a young, lost, and desperate Confederate Soldier named Jess Bradley(played by Buzz Martin) who also has with him his faithful dog. The boy is captured at a Union supply depot stealing food, but is later framed for espionage by a malicious Colonel Martin(played by Crahan Denton) who orders his execution. He also shoots the boy's dog for howling too much, but at the point of execution by firing squad, Martin sees the dog by the boy, but no one else does, and the ghostly dog seeks its own justice, protecting its master one last time... Stylish and authentic-looking tale will resonate most with animal lovers and Civil War buffs.
8 Reviews
"...they say a howling dog meant that someone was gonna die."
classicsoncall15 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
When a Confederate Reb separated from his unit is caught behind enemy lines attempting to steal some food, he's framed on a charge of espionage and sentenced to be shot at dawn by a vicious Union Colonel (Crahan Denton). Jess Bradley's (Buzz Martin) dog is taken away from him as the young man is put in a holding area to await his fate. Almost immediately, the dog engages in a steady howling over the separation from his master. As the wailing howl continues into the night, the Colonel can no longer stand it and goes out to shoot the dog.
The next morning as the firing squad takes their position to carry out the death sentence, the blindfolded Bradley hears his faithful companion crying out for him. He has not been made aware of the dog's demise, and consequently responds to the animal's licking his face and attacking the Colonel. The soldiers in attendance witness the Colonel wrestling with an unseen force, eventually succumbing with his throat torn apart in what appears to be a descent into insanity. The official cause of death was attributed to some form of brain fever.
The episode is reminiscent of a third season Twilight Zone story titled 'The Hunt', in which an old man out with his hunting dog encounter a raccoon in the woods with the dog giving chase into a stream. The raccoon attempts to drown the dog as his master jumps in to make the save. In the subsequent scenes it becomes apparent that the man and his dog both died, as they are now seen making their way in the great beyond. The man refuses to pass through the pearly gates without his companion, with the twist being he was saved from entering hell by the loyalty to his dog. As it relates to this One Step Beyond story, host John Newland affirms the idea that in Reb Bradley's case, loyalty was stronger than death.
The next morning as the firing squad takes their position to carry out the death sentence, the blindfolded Bradley hears his faithful companion crying out for him. He has not been made aware of the dog's demise, and consequently responds to the animal's licking his face and attacking the Colonel. The soldiers in attendance witness the Colonel wrestling with an unseen force, eventually succumbing with his throat torn apart in what appears to be a descent into insanity. The official cause of death was attributed to some form of brain fever.
The episode is reminiscent of a third season Twilight Zone story titled 'The Hunt', in which an old man out with his hunting dog encounter a raccoon in the woods with the dog giving chase into a stream. The raccoon attempts to drown the dog as his master jumps in to make the save. In the subsequent scenes it becomes apparent that the man and his dog both died, as they are now seen making their way in the great beyond. The man refuses to pass through the pearly gates without his companion, with the twist being he was saved from entering hell by the loyalty to his dog. As it relates to this One Step Beyond story, host John Newland affirms the idea that in Reb Bradley's case, loyalty was stronger than death.
Protection From One Step Beyond
theowinthrop18 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In several of the episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND, circumstances, or forces that we know little about, come up to right wrongs or punish wrongdoers. I described one episode the other day where Donald Pleasance willfully allows an innocent man to die for the sake of his own legal career, and subsequently, when on the verge of capping his career, he finds everything that he hid coming to haunt him, until his mind gives way and he is perennially confessing in Hyde Park about his sin, and condemning himself.
In this story, Jess Bradley is a Southern boy who is spying for the Confederacy and has only one companion - his pet hound dog. Unfortunately he is captured by the Union forces, under Colonel Martin (Crahan Denton), who hates the Rebs. Actually Bradley is fair game in the war - both sides tended to hang each other's spies when caught. But Denton is simply vicious, mistreating him far beyond what he has done (some troop movement observations). Even his junior officer, Captain Adams (Jeremy Slate) protests a bit, only to be told he'll face a court martial if he interferes. The Colonel's actions finally arouse one other figure - Bradley's dog, who starts threateningly growling at Denton. No problem there - Denton calmly shoots the animal, despite protests by Bradley.
Having had his fun, Denton sentences Bradley to be shot the next morning. Bradley, still mourning his pal, comes out to face his final day. Slate is very upset, as he realizes that the punishment has far exceeded the so-called crime already. He hesitates to order the hanging so that Denton pushes him aside to complete it. Suddenly everyone hears the sound of an angry hound running. Denton - looking horrified - falls to the ground wrestling an unseen object, but every few minutes he is bleeding more and screaming in agony (while he is begging for help - but how to help fight something you can't see or understand). Finally the noise abates, and a savagely ripped and mangled Denton lies dead to everyone's amazement. Slate orders Bradley taken down from his gallows, and returned to his cell, while he wonders how to explain the odd demise of the Colonel.
It was tremendously satisfying, even if you can't believe it really happened. One thinks of Ambrose Bierce's Civil War stories like A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY and AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL'S CREEK BRIDGE, as well as his horror tales like THAT DAMNED THING, and THE MOONLIT ROAD. Whoever came up with this wonderful little drama did a pretty good job at a horror tale that worked.
In this story, Jess Bradley is a Southern boy who is spying for the Confederacy and has only one companion - his pet hound dog. Unfortunately he is captured by the Union forces, under Colonel Martin (Crahan Denton), who hates the Rebs. Actually Bradley is fair game in the war - both sides tended to hang each other's spies when caught. But Denton is simply vicious, mistreating him far beyond what he has done (some troop movement observations). Even his junior officer, Captain Adams (Jeremy Slate) protests a bit, only to be told he'll face a court martial if he interferes. The Colonel's actions finally arouse one other figure - Bradley's dog, who starts threateningly growling at Denton. No problem there - Denton calmly shoots the animal, despite protests by Bradley.
Having had his fun, Denton sentences Bradley to be shot the next morning. Bradley, still mourning his pal, comes out to face his final day. Slate is very upset, as he realizes that the punishment has far exceeded the so-called crime already. He hesitates to order the hanging so that Denton pushes him aside to complete it. Suddenly everyone hears the sound of an angry hound running. Denton - looking horrified - falls to the ground wrestling an unseen object, but every few minutes he is bleeding more and screaming in agony (while he is begging for help - but how to help fight something you can't see or understand). Finally the noise abates, and a savagely ripped and mangled Denton lies dead to everyone's amazement. Slate orders Bradley taken down from his gallows, and returned to his cell, while he wonders how to explain the odd demise of the Colonel.
It was tremendously satisfying, even if you can't believe it really happened. One thinks of Ambrose Bierce's Civil War stories like A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY and AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL'S CREEK BRIDGE, as well as his horror tales like THAT DAMNED THING, and THE MOONLIT ROAD. Whoever came up with this wonderful little drama did a pretty good job at a horror tale that worked.
Unbelievable
johnptavolacci20 December 2018
Rin-Tin-Tin meets the Paranormal
Goingbegging24 October 2021
In this one, the supernatural twist is less convincing than usual, but the main narrative is more so.
It is 1862, and we are in a Union army depot, far out in the wilds of Missouri, where corruption thrives with nobody watching. The colonel (Crahan Denton) has got into bad habits, drinking too much and failing to catch Confederate spies, as ordered. They may even be getting a visit from the General, to find out why...
Meanwhile a young Confederate recruit, lost and starving, desperately grabs a rabbit being cooked over the bonfire, but is caught and hauled up in front of the colonel, who sees a chance to raise a false charge of espionage, to improve his record. After jotting down the details of some items expected in tomorrow's delivery, he scrunches up the paper, and orders the soldier to put it in his pocket. Then he summons the sergeant, and orders him to search the soldier. Out comes the 'incriminating' document, and he sends for the captain to prepare for an execution at dawn.
The captain is suspicious of the document, thinking it unlikely that a recruit would carry a pen and paper with him in the field, and confides this to the sergeant, who apparently believes that execution might cause less suffering than the man could expect in combat or in a prison-camp. So the execution is ordered to go ahead.
Through the night, the colonel has been kept awake by the non-stop howling of the prisoner's faithful dog, and goes out and shoots it. But what goes round comes round, in a way that we can't reveal here...
The colonel is played with great confidence as the corrupt, cynical officer, whose ethical standards have long since withered away. The young soldier looks a little too comfortable to carry conviction as the desperate, hungry, barefoot Confederate of Lost Cause legend. And when the captain angrily tells the colonel that he's putting in for a transfer, he would be having to make his application to the colonel himself, who might retaliate by sending him on any number of miserable postings.
Still, not many of the supernatural sub-plots in this series really convince the sceptical, so the largely credible main plot makes quite a satisfying use of your 25 minutes.
It is 1862, and we are in a Union army depot, far out in the wilds of Missouri, where corruption thrives with nobody watching. The colonel (Crahan Denton) has got into bad habits, drinking too much and failing to catch Confederate spies, as ordered. They may even be getting a visit from the General, to find out why...
Meanwhile a young Confederate recruit, lost and starving, desperately grabs a rabbit being cooked over the bonfire, but is caught and hauled up in front of the colonel, who sees a chance to raise a false charge of espionage, to improve his record. After jotting down the details of some items expected in tomorrow's delivery, he scrunches up the paper, and orders the soldier to put it in his pocket. Then he summons the sergeant, and orders him to search the soldier. Out comes the 'incriminating' document, and he sends for the captain to prepare for an execution at dawn.
The captain is suspicious of the document, thinking it unlikely that a recruit would carry a pen and paper with him in the field, and confides this to the sergeant, who apparently believes that execution might cause less suffering than the man could expect in combat or in a prison-camp. So the execution is ordered to go ahead.
Through the night, the colonel has been kept awake by the non-stop howling of the prisoner's faithful dog, and goes out and shoots it. But what goes round comes round, in a way that we can't reveal here...
The colonel is played with great confidence as the corrupt, cynical officer, whose ethical standards have long since withered away. The young soldier looks a little too comfortable to carry conviction as the desperate, hungry, barefoot Confederate of Lost Cause legend. And when the captain angrily tells the colonel that he's putting in for a transfer, he would be having to make his application to the colonel himself, who might retaliate by sending him on any number of miserable postings.
Still, not many of the supernatural sub-plots in this series really convince the sceptical, so the largely credible main plot makes quite a satisfying use of your 25 minutes.
Missfire
kapelusznik1818 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS**** Desperate to impress his superiors or higher ups Union Col. Martin, Crahan Denton, has this poor and hungry country boy Jess Bradley, Buzz Martin, framed as a Confederate spy to be executed at sunrise and possibly get a promotion for it. It's so obvious that Bradley is being railroaded by col. Martin that his second in command and the one to order the execution Capt. Adams, Jeremy Slate, is unwilling to do it!
As it turned out it's Bradley's loyal mutt or dog Tom who in the end prevented his master from getting shot as well as the man ordering his execution Col. Martin getting everything that's coming to him and getting it in spades or slugs!
It was Tom's howling that drove Col. Martin batty and so nuts to the point that he himself blew Tom away in order to keep him quite. It was the caring and human Capt. Adams who kept the truth from the condemned Bradley as he was about to be shot but somehow Tom's howling never seemed to stop even when he was "supposed" to be dead. As the firing squad assembled to blast Bradley to Kingdom Come Capt. Adams got cold feet and refused to order them to ready set and fire. That's when what seemed like a mad and deranged Col. Martin got into the act trying to get the execution going. And to his surprise it didn't go exactly as he had planned.
***SPOILERS*** Col. Martin never expected things to go so wrong for him but his shooting Tom was the last straw in the string of crimes he committed in this OSB episode. Thinking that he's in charge and can do nothing wrong Col Martin didn't realize that he was messing with the supernatural in his sick plan to get an Innocent man executed for a crime, espionage, that he didn't commit. And even more insanely killed or tried to kill his faithful dog Tom to keep him from howling, which only the crazed Col. Martin could hear, that in the end sealed his fate.
As it turned out it's Bradley's loyal mutt or dog Tom who in the end prevented his master from getting shot as well as the man ordering his execution Col. Martin getting everything that's coming to him and getting it in spades or slugs!
It was Tom's howling that drove Col. Martin batty and so nuts to the point that he himself blew Tom away in order to keep him quite. It was the caring and human Capt. Adams who kept the truth from the condemned Bradley as he was about to be shot but somehow Tom's howling never seemed to stop even when he was "supposed" to be dead. As the firing squad assembled to blast Bradley to Kingdom Come Capt. Adams got cold feet and refused to order them to ready set and fire. That's when what seemed like a mad and deranged Col. Martin got into the act trying to get the execution going. And to his surprise it didn't go exactly as he had planned.
***SPOILERS*** Col. Martin never expected things to go so wrong for him but his shooting Tom was the last straw in the string of crimes he committed in this OSB episode. Thinking that he's in charge and can do nothing wrong Col Martin didn't realize that he was messing with the supernatural in his sick plan to get an Innocent man executed for a crime, espionage, that he didn't commit. And even more insanely killed or tried to kill his faithful dog Tom to keep him from howling, which only the crazed Col. Martin could hear, that in the end sealed his fate.
Every Dog Has His Day
wes-connors4 July 2011
In 1862, hungry Confederate soldier Buzz Martin (as Jess Bradley) and his hound dog "Tom" are captured trying to steal food from a Union soldier. Although he poses no threat, Union Colonel Crahan Denton (as Martin) plants evidence to suggest Mr. Martin is a spy, and orders him executed. Suspecting his superior officer framed Martin, Captain Jeremy Slate (as Adams) challenges Mr. Denton. Denton responds by ordering Mr. Slate to lead the firing squad...
Later, disturbed by Martin's howling dog, Denton shoots the animal dead. Somehow, "Tom" has the last bark It's silly and predictable, but nicely performed.
***** The Executioner (1/3/61) John Newland ~ Buzz Martin, Crahan Denton, Jeremy Slate, Tom Middleton
Later, disturbed by Martin's howling dog, Denton shoots the animal dead. Somehow, "Tom" has the last bark It's silly and predictable, but nicely performed.
***** The Executioner (1/3/61) John Newland ~ Buzz Martin, Crahan Denton, Jeremy Slate, Tom Middleton
Worst episode of the series unless you enjoy hearing a dog howl nonstop, and no one does!
amandanw-731316 February 2024
I couldn't finish this episode. That's how bad it is. There's a dog that howls THE WHOLE TIME for the entire episode. It's like trying to watch a movie while the neighbor's dog won't shut up. The constant never-ending howling is so annoying and grating on the viewer's nerves an destroying of the eardrums that the viewer physically cannot stand to watch the entire episode. If you try to watch it, I recommend finding a website that provides accurate closed captioning so you can MUTE it, because the howling will have even the most patient of human beings screaming "OH MY GOD WOULD YOU STOP IT ALREADY!" at the screen.
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