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» » One Step Beyond The Death Waltz (1959–1961)

Short summary

At a cavalry outpost in 1860s New Mexico, flirtatious, heartless Lillie takes great delight in playing her two beaus, decent Eustace Fairchild and the sexier, more dashing Henry Buchanan off against each other. Eustace is killed by Apaches but Lillie still goes to the dance with Henry. However Eustace's ghost turns up for what will be the last waltz for both him and Lillie.

On most video versions there is a scene missing right before the final dance scene filmed in The General Store. This scene takes place in Lily's bedroom with the ghost Eustace appearing in her room.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Unereel
    Set in a New Mexico cavalry outpost in 1869, this episode stars Elizabeth Montgomery as Lillie, a beautiful but cold-hearted young woman, and daughter of a general, who callously leads on two different Lieutenant's who are smitten with her. She devises a plan to have one(named Fairchild) sent away on a risky mission, where he'll either be promoted or killed, in the meantime she goes to the dance with the other man(named Buchanan), but her plan backfires when Fairchild is killed in action, but at the ball, his ghost appears to have his promised dance with her, which everyone is powerless to stop... Effective ghost story with Montgomery in particular quite good.
  • comment
    • Author: Sudert
    There is not anything I do not like about this episode. It is a genuinely spooky little ghost story that can unnerve you if viewed alone, late at night with the lights out.

    At a post Civil War cavalry fort in New Mexico, the commander's daughter Lily, played beautifully by a pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery, carelessly dangles two officers who are sweet on her. Lily is quite callous and quite cold on the inside who cares only about what is best for her and as a result treats both men childishly and carelessly. This wicked young lady makes up her mind as to who she prefers and treacherously sets it up to have one of the officers "disposed" of by having her father send him on a dangerous mission. Lo and behold, this young officer meets his end but it certainly isn't the last time he will "see" Lilly.

    Creepy stuff here. Overall, the acting is fine and the set up, ie, how Lily plays both officers off of one another may take some time to get going but once the viewer learns that LT. Fairchild has not made it back from his mission, well, that's when the spooky stuff really kicks into high gear. The ending will send shivers up your spine. Probably the best episode of the series and certainly my favorite. This is the third consecutive top notch, memorable episode to start off the third season of One Step Beyond following on the heels of the spine tingling "Anniversary Of A Murder" and the tense, suspenseful "Tidal Wave" which kicked off the third season. View all three episodes back to back and you will be in for 90 minutes of tense, spooky entertainment.
  • comment
    • Author: Shadowbourne
    One Step Beyond had the misfortune of coming up against The Twilight Zone with it's similar nature at the same time on television. But they had some classic episodes that purportedly were based on true incidents involving the paranormal.

    One of the freakiest and scariest ones involved a pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery on a cavalry post where she's got two young officers all hot and bothered over here. You saw some of the same elements in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with Joanne Dru. But Joanne never put John Agar and Harry Carey, Jr. through what Liz does.

    She flirts back and forth between these two guys. One of them gets sent on a mission and says he will be back though for a post dance like one that was held in Fort Apache.

    Of course our friend on the mission gets killed and by now the second of her courters has gotten his fill of her flirtatious ways.

    What happens at that dance still gives me nightmares over 30 years after seeing the episode. The ghost of the first suitor comes back and takes her in his arms for a waltz. When the dance if over, she's dead and the ghost goes back to his rest.

    A lot of the One Step Beyond stories were like this one, some involving well known people. But this one I remember best and if the Sci-Fi channel runs these shows, I guarantee you this one will chill you right down to the marrow.
  • Episode cast overview:
    Elizabeth Montgomery Elizabeth Montgomery - Lillie Clarke
    Joe Cronin Joe Cronin - Lieutenant Henry Buchanan
    Robert Sampson Robert Sampson - Lieutenant Eustace Fairchild
    K.T. Stevens K.T. Stevens - Bernice Clarke
    Ed Prentiss Ed Prentiss - Colonel William Clarke
    James Parnell James Parnell - Soldier
    Mark Houston Mark Houston
    John Newland John Newland - Himself - Host
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