One Step Beyond (TV Series) The Justice Tree (1960) User Reviews

Believable and great acting

[cbmd-37352 · 9/10 · 1 January 2023]

So much of his early TV performances were not preserved, so this rare episode is a real treasure for Frank Overton fans. Remembered mainly for a few of his later roles as authoritative figures - lawyer, police and military, this episode is a great example that as a character actor he was fully capable of playing good guys, bad guys and all kinds in between. First we see him as cold blooded killer, then as a presumed down on his luck guy willing to work for room and board He has a smile that is downright scary.. The family lives in an isolated area, so the boys snooping on the stranger is quite believable. The tension builds well as the audience senses disaster before the characters do. The tree has the final word.

What an exciting episode

[searchanddestroy-1 · 13 February 2015]

I was one more time amazed by this ONE STEP BEYOND episode. It begins like a crime flick, with an escaped convict on rampage after the car - where he was - wrecked in a road crash. He walks through the country side and takes refuge in a farm where live a young lonesome woman and her ten years son. Of course this quiet little family doesn't know anything about the man they suddenly meet. He tells them he worked in a farm. He doesn't have any aggressive, threatening behaviour, as an escaped con could have had. He proposes to be the hired hand for the woman and her boy. The only eerie element in this episode happens to be a strange tree in the farm yard. The Relationship developed between the boy and the man is interesting. The final minutes are so thrilling, even maybe a little foreseeable. Don't miss the tree character.