Paula Raymond | Through the Shattered Lens

Tonight’s episode of One Step Beyond features Jocelyn Brando (sister of Marlon) as a purported psychic who warns a skeptical man that he will soon be traveling by train, that he will meet a woman with an usual, snake-design ring, and that she will end up chasing him with a knife.

The man laughs her off. Why, he never travels by train! Sure, he has a trip coming up but he’s already paid for his plane tickets. This just proves what the man has always suspected, that psychic’s are all phony! But then he gets a message that his flight has been cancelled and he’s going to have to travel to his destination by …. TRAIN!

CAN YOU PROVE IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!?

This episode originally aired on February 3rd, 1959.

On the frontier, someone is raiding the homes of ranchers like Jim (Henry Hall) and Judy Barton (Paula Raymond). The Homeowners Association summons Steve Roper (Charles Starrett) to bring a stop to the raids. Everyone suspects that Cal Matson (Steve Darrell) and his son, Rob (Billy Halop), are behind the raids but Steve, as the Durango Kid, discovers that a third party is trying to set everyone at war with each other for his own benefit.

The entry in the Durango Kid series was Charles Starrett’s 103rd western. It’s not a particularly distinguished entry, relying heavily on stock footage. I did find the idea of the film’s bad guy trying to manipulate the Bartons and the Matsons into destroying each other to be interesting but the movie doesn’t do much with it and the identity of main villain will be obvious to anyone who watches the film. There is one good scene where Steve disarms three bad guys and then makes them walk all the way back to town without their boots on. Steve doesn’t mess around.

Smiley Burnette provides the comic relief and a few songs. This time, Smiley’s a dime store writer researching his next book. Musically, he is accompanied by The Sunshine Boys. 103 movies in and Smiley still hasn’t figure out that Steve and Durango are one of a kind.