Beverly Washburn stars as a young ballerina named Lisa Garrick, who becomes stricken with fear and mounting dread after she has recurrent visions of a chandelier in her home will one day fall on her and kill her. Her father has the chandelier checked by experts who assure them that it is safely mounted to the ceiling, but Lisa retains her doubts. Ten years later, Lisa(now an adult) must face her fear again at her engagement party, but as it turns out, she wasn't the one in danger after all... Thin but memorable tale maintains interest throughout, and has a most effective twist at the end that viewer may well not see coming.
6 Reviews
Premonition
Prismark1014 July 2021
A grand chandelier in her mansion haunts young Lisa Garrick.
She has a vision that the chandelier will fall on her and kill her. She refuses to set foot inside the room with the chandelier in it. She believes it is shaking.
Her father tries to reassure her but to no avail. For 10 years Lisa did not enter the room but now she is about to be engaged.
The story moves forward in time. There are three versions of Lisa in this episode, each one older than the previous one.
This is definitely a twist in the tale. You just know that chandelier will come crashing down. It is just a matter of time.
She has a vision that the chandelier will fall on her and kill her. She refuses to set foot inside the room with the chandelier in it. She believes it is shaking.
Her father tries to reassure her but to no avail. For 10 years Lisa did not enter the room but now she is about to be engaged.
The story moves forward in time. There are three versions of Lisa in this episode, each one older than the previous one.
This is definitely a twist in the tale. You just know that chandelier will come crashing down. It is just a matter of time.
"We can't organise our lives around such fears"
Goingbegging13 October 2021
A young girl is taking ballet-lessons in the grand ballroom of what appears to be a French chateau. While pirouetting under an enormous chandelier, she looks up and becomes fixated on it, as she imagines it crashing down on her, and she collapses to the floor, just as though it had been a real event. Indeed she insists - for years - that it actually was a real event, despite all the efforts of her kindly father (Paul Langton, later of Peyton Place), her doctor, and eventually her fiancé too, to cure her of her obsession.
Even at her engagement party, having reluctantly agreed to dine under that very chandelier, she is disturbed when her guests start asking each other, half jokingly, how they would most like to meet their death. She declares, without a trace of humour, that she already knows how she will meet hers... We can't tell you more. But the ending is not the one you expect.
The 'One Step Beyond' series is meant to be loosely based on true stories ("human record" is the weasel claim), but I guess this one is truer than most. Names and dates are given, which they usually aren't. Some effort has gone into creating a suitable period atmosphere, and a very agreeable one too, with one particular waltz-theme holding the story together. When the pianist's hands are carefully kept out of sight, we can guess that she's not playing for real, but it does rather spoil things when she is seen to be turning a page of the music, while supposedly playing a two-handed melody!
Even at her engagement party, having reluctantly agreed to dine under that very chandelier, she is disturbed when her guests start asking each other, half jokingly, how they would most like to meet their death. She declares, without a trace of humour, that she already knows how she will meet hers... We can't tell you more. But the ending is not the one you expect.
The 'One Step Beyond' series is meant to be loosely based on true stories ("human record" is the weasel claim), but I guess this one is truer than most. Names and dates are given, which they usually aren't. Some effort has gone into creating a suitable period atmosphere, and a very agreeable one too, with one particular waltz-theme holding the story together. When the pianist's hands are carefully kept out of sight, we can guess that she's not playing for real, but it does rather spoil things when she is seen to be turning a page of the music, while supposedly playing a two-handed melody!
A Twisty Premonition - Do we only see part of the picture?
theowinthrop14 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In the best episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND the story had a twist in it that came out of left field - like the end of a story by O Henry or Guy De Mauppasant. Such was the case with this episode, which dealt with foreseeing a horrible tragedy. Not the Titanic or the San Francisco Earthquake this time, but a simple domestic tragedy.
Paul Langton (Leslie Harrington on PEYTON PLACE) is a wealthy man, Mr. Garrick, who has moved into a new mansion. His only child is a daughter Lisa (Julie Payne) who feels distinctly uncomfortable in the new house - she particularly feels odd in one room, which is the subject of several nightmares. The room has an immense glass chandelier, and in the nightmare, while at a party under the chandelier, Lisa dreams it falls crashing down on her, killing her.
Gradually she reveals her fears to her father, and he is determined to show this is just nerves (they've moved into this new, large house, and she is unused to it). He finally arranges (despite her protests) to get her into the room, and they both stand under the chandelier. And instead of falling, the chandelier stays attached to the ceiling. Lisa tests it, and nothing happens. She's ecstatic, and smiling she admits to her father her fears were all needless! SPOILER COMING UP: The episode seems to end in a rejection of the spirit of the show - which is pushing the existence of these psychic and occult events that we barely understand, but which (supposedly) are documented. We see Lisa at a later date, now a mother (played by Pamela Lincoln). There is a big family party going on, and she is out on the mansion's balcony when we hear a cracking noise, followed by a girl's hideous scream, and a crash. Lisa's daughter (and namesake, "Lisa" was underneath the chandelier, and was just crushed to death by it!! The episode was marvelous dealing with the hidden views of life that are supposedly revealed to us in our dreams. But it also shows that the future, if revealed, may not be as easy to decipher than we think. The situation is handled without any tricks (and quite well, because of that), and the conclusion hits like a lightning bolt. One can say one can't escape one's fate, but the issue becomes, "whose fate is being discussed?" Very nicely done episode here.
Paul Langton (Leslie Harrington on PEYTON PLACE) is a wealthy man, Mr. Garrick, who has moved into a new mansion. His only child is a daughter Lisa (Julie Payne) who feels distinctly uncomfortable in the new house - she particularly feels odd in one room, which is the subject of several nightmares. The room has an immense glass chandelier, and in the nightmare, while at a party under the chandelier, Lisa dreams it falls crashing down on her, killing her.
Gradually she reveals her fears to her father, and he is determined to show this is just nerves (they've moved into this new, large house, and she is unused to it). He finally arranges (despite her protests) to get her into the room, and they both stand under the chandelier. And instead of falling, the chandelier stays attached to the ceiling. Lisa tests it, and nothing happens. She's ecstatic, and smiling she admits to her father her fears were all needless! SPOILER COMING UP: The episode seems to end in a rejection of the spirit of the show - which is pushing the existence of these psychic and occult events that we barely understand, but which (supposedly) are documented. We see Lisa at a later date, now a mother (played by Pamela Lincoln). There is a big family party going on, and she is out on the mansion's balcony when we hear a cracking noise, followed by a girl's hideous scream, and a crash. Lisa's daughter (and namesake, "Lisa" was underneath the chandelier, and was just crushed to death by it!! The episode was marvelous dealing with the hidden views of life that are supposedly revealed to us in our dreams. But it also shows that the future, if revealed, may not be as easy to decipher than we think. The situation is handled without any tricks (and quite well, because of that), and the conclusion hits like a lightning bolt. One can say one can't escape one's fate, but the issue becomes, "whose fate is being discussed?" Very nicely done episode here.
Not much of a sense of suspense in this one.
planktonrules27 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The show begins with young Lisa Garrick picturing herself being crushed to death by a giant chandelier. It didn't happen, however, no matter how realistic it looked to her. However, she is thoroughly convinced that she will die if she walks under the chandelier and spends much of the rest of her life avoiding it. What ultimately happens...well, you can't say you didn't see it coming.
There are two big problems with this episode: everyone watching knows exactly where the story is going and the girl's acting is overwrought to say the least. Together they make for a less than satisfying episode of "One Step Beyond".
There are two big problems with this episode: everyone watching knows exactly where the story is going and the girl's acting is overwrought to say the least. Together they make for a less than satisfying episode of "One Step Beyond".
One Step Beyond - Premonition - A Multi-Faceted Episode
mcannady111 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
When I was very young in the early 60's, I saw this episode for the first time with my family. We were all intrigued, and it has been my favorite episode over the years.
However, I was amazed to find a different denouement than I had previously thought when I first viewed it.
About ten years ago I purchased a book that contains all of the One Step Beyond episodes. Well-written and informative, I really enjoyed it.
However, upon looking up Premonition, It differed greatly in my opinion when viewing the ending.
Spoiler - At the end of the episode, Lisa's mother is dancing happily around the ballroom, secure in the supposition that the chandelier is not harmful after all. The family is preparing for the engagement party of her daughter, and it is many years later.
Lisa is very happy, dancing arond the room at her daughter's engagement party. She is no longer worried about the chandelier falling. The beautiful, menacing fixture seems to be safely in place after many years had elapsed since her frightening nightmares as a child.
The party progresses, and all are happy laughing and talking around the buffet. Suddenly, a scream breaks out and we hear the scary sound of all the crystals tinkling together in the chandelier. It crashes to the floor!
I could be wrong, and it seems like I was mistaken. Here is what I had always figured.
I had always thought that the tinkling sound of the chandelier was a final warning preceding it falling. Lisa screams just in time to save her family.
Had she not had the scary experience of the nightmares of the chandelier dropping on her when she was an eleven year old girl, she would never have glanced up just in time and screamed to save her daughter and her fiancee. Though many years later, Lisa realizes that this is the terrifying realization of her nightmares.
In the book and on this site, I read that Lisa is not the intended victim, but the chandelier does eventually fall and kills many in the wedding party. So her premonitions did not save anyone in time. However, she was not the ultimate victim.
However, I was amazed to find a different denouement than I had previously thought when I first viewed it.
About ten years ago I purchased a book that contains all of the One Step Beyond episodes. Well-written and informative, I really enjoyed it.
However, upon looking up Premonition, It differed greatly in my opinion when viewing the ending.
Spoiler - At the end of the episode, Lisa's mother is dancing happily around the ballroom, secure in the supposition that the chandelier is not harmful after all. The family is preparing for the engagement party of her daughter, and it is many years later.
Lisa is very happy, dancing arond the room at her daughter's engagement party. She is no longer worried about the chandelier falling. The beautiful, menacing fixture seems to be safely in place after many years had elapsed since her frightening nightmares as a child.
The party progresses, and all are happy laughing and talking around the buffet. Suddenly, a scream breaks out and we hear the scary sound of all the crystals tinkling together in the chandelier. It crashes to the floor!
I could be wrong, and it seems like I was mistaken. Here is what I had always figured.
I had always thought that the tinkling sound of the chandelier was a final warning preceding it falling. Lisa screams just in time to save her family.
Had she not had the scary experience of the nightmares of the chandelier dropping on her when she was an eleven year old girl, she would never have glanced up just in time and screamed to save her daughter and her fiancee. Though many years later, Lisa realizes that this is the terrifying realization of her nightmares.
In the book and on this site, I read that Lisa is not the intended victim, but the chandelier does eventually fall and kills many in the wedding party. So her premonitions did not save anyone in time. However, she was not the ultimate victim.
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