Four Star Playhouse 1.19

Shadowed

starring Dick Powell

written by Seeleg Lester, Merwin Gerard, Mary Synon

directed by Robert Florey

Burton Stroude (Dick Powell) learns that Del Martin, a woman with whom he had an affair years before, is on her death bed. He was single at the time but she was not. Del wants to see him one last time. He is hesitant to go. He didn't know that she was married when the affair began.

Rhoda, Burt's wife, already knows about Del Martin, but not because Burt told her. She knows because she opened a letter from Del to Burt, that arrived the day before. Burt and Rhoda talk about it a bit. It hurts her to know that he had such a relationship and never told her about it.

Four Star Playhouse 1.18

To Whom It May Concern

starring David Niven

written by Oliver Crawford, Wally Kline, Jack Hannum

directed by Robert Florey

Bingham (David Niven) has made plans to kill himself. He writes a letter explaining his reasons. He embezzled money from the bank where he works. He used it to buy some stock in but the value of the stock has dropped precipitously. He mails the stock certificates along with the letter but then sees a headline indicating that the company and it's stock price has rebounded.

Bingham rushes around desperately trying to intercept the letter. He makes numerous attempts. All seems lost and at the last minute he almost gets it back but he is oblivious to the fact that the letter is coming back to him due to insufficient postage and kills himself.

Four Star Playhouse 1.17

Ladies on His Mind

starring Ronald Colman

written by Milton Merlin

directed by Robert Florey

Dr. Matthew Bosanquent (Ronald Colman) listens to the troubles of his patents (all women) and imagines himself caught up in their troubles. He reminds himself on several occasions that he much remain a dispassionate observer.

Thoughts

I didn't feel as though this episode went anywhere at all.

Four Star Playhouse 1.16

Night Ride

starring David Niven

written by Lawrence Marcus, Seeleg Lester, Merwin Gerard

directed by Robert Florey

A man (David Niven) boards a subway train at Roscoe Street in Brooklyn late at night with five other people. Two police men come running up and just miss the train. A couple people were killed near the subway station minutes before. All five passengers start to suspect one another on the long ride to the next station. At one point one of them gets their hands on the axe that is there to be used in case of emergency. A fight breaks out.

Finally the train arrives at its destination. A police man is on the platform waiting to board it. Four of the five passengers are convinced that the fifth passenger is the killer. They try to turn him over to the cop. It is then that they learn that the killer was caught back in Brooklyn, while they were between stations.

Four Star Playhouse 1.15

The Last Voyage

starring Charles Boyer

written by John Bagni, Gwen Bagni

directed by Robert Florey

The captain (Charles Boyer) of a cargo ship receives two telegrams as the ship is nearing Yokohama. The first informs him that there is a bomb aboard the ship which will explode soon after the ship reaches port. The second informs him that his wife has died. The captain confounds the crew by deciding to take a detour. It will the delay the arrival in port long enough that the bomb will explode before they get there. The crew wants to abandon ship but the captain has a plan to sweat out the man who set the bomb.

Four Star Playhouse 1.14

The Man Who Walked Out on Himself

starring Ronald Colman

written by Milton Merlin

directed by Robert Florey

Cameron (Ronald Colman) is getting ready to divorce his wife. He has met another woman. He spends a lot of time thinking about what he is doing. He notices that he no longer casts a reflection in the mirror. His reflection walked out on him while he had his back turned. He starts to have doubts and then ultimately decides to return home and not get a divorce.

Four Star Playhouse 1.13

No Identity

starring David Niven

written by John Bagni, Gwen Bagni

directed by Robert Florey

Mitch Carver meets Tommy, a nine-year-old boy from the local orphanage, while he is fishing. Tommy is thinking of running away. Mitch talks him out of it and spends time with him. Mitch wants to adopt Tommy but his wife Lynn isn't keen on the idea. She tries to talk him out of it but he insists.

Lynn gets pregnant for the first time. Mitch can see that things aren't going well between Lynn and Tommy. He agrees, six months after Tommy comes to live with them, that maybe he should return Tommy to the orphanage.

Four Star Playhouse 1.12

Man in the Box

starring Charles Boyer

written by John Bagni, Gwen Bagni

directed by Robert Florey

A man (Charles Boyer) sits and watches a play. He imagines himself playing three different parts in the play: Benedict (the ruthless dictator), Topaz (the leader of the rebellion), and Davidow (Benedict's secretary). Elena, Benedict's wife, begs him to change his ways but he refuses, despite knowing that he may be assassinated that very night. Benedict is left alone, as the play ends, facing imminent death and with the knowledge that Elena has left him to be with Topaz.

Four Star Playhouse 1.11

Sound Off, My Love

starring Merle Oberon

written by John Bagni, Gwen Bagni

directed by Robert Florey

Martha is losing her hearing but she hasn't told anyone. She doesn't realize it but other people have already picked up on this fact. She resist's her doctor's suggestion that she start wearing a heading aid. It isn't until after Bill, her husband, almost runs her over in his car, because she couldn't the car engine, that she finally gives in and gets a hearing aid.

Martha soon learns, thanks to the hearing aid, that Bill is having an affair and is planning to kill her. She tries to get away with some help from her friend Betty only to later discover that it is Betty with whom Bill is having the affair. Martha runs off and stays at Betty's cabin. Bill shows up at the cabin ready to finish her off but a bit of luck saves her life.

Four Star Playhouse 1.09

The Man on the Train

starring David Niven

directed by Robert Florey

William Langford (David Niven) takes the train to see family. He shares a compartment on the train with John Dwerrihouse, who tells him about a business deal that he is about to close for the railroad company. Langford mentions the encounter to a few friends when gets to where he is going. Everyone is astounded to hear about the encounter because Dwerrihouse disappeared months ago with a large sum of money.

Langford insists that he met Dwerrihouse on the train. Jeff Pender, a friend of Langford's looks into the matter with Langford but no one who is on the train recalls seeing Dwerrihouse.

Four Star Playhouse 1.08

Knockout

starring Broderick Crawford

directed and co-written by Blake Edwards

Boxing manager Mike Dundee (Broderick Crawford) takes a chance on Bobby Gregory, a very raw talent. Julio, Dundee's trainer, gets Gregory into shape. Gregory does well as a professional boxer but he gets thrown a curveball on the night before his first big fight when he learns that the champion he will be fighting has been paid to throw the fight by a gangster named Bulloti who has waged $200K on the match.

Thoughts

This is a decent episode. It ended a little too abruptly to fully satisfy me but I enjoyed it more than most of the previous episodes of this show.

Four Star Playhouse 1.07

The Officer and the Lady

starring Charles Boyer

directed by George Jenkins

Andre, a pickpocket, runs into Fingers, an old friend. Andre wants to go straight. Fingers has other ideas. Andre meets Sidonie, a young woman. Fingers steals her purse while she is talking to Andre.

Andre (Charles Boyer) wants to return the purse, which doesn't hold any money. He changes clothes and pretends to be a soldier home on leave. He then goes to Sidonie's apartment and introduces himself to Jean, Sidonie's young son who has less than a month to live and has never met his father. He says that he is Jean's father. Sidonie is grateful.

Four Star Playhouse 1.06

The Island

starring David Niven

directed by Robert Florey

George Masterson, the owner of a South Pacific island and the company that employs most of the natives, is suspicious of Dr. Sydney Bartel (David Niven), the company doctor assigned to the island. George gives Sydney a couple days to clear out but then George gets sick. He needs Dr. Bartel's help to recover and tries to keep Dr. Martel from treating him. Dr. Bartel sedates and treats George, thus saving his life. 

Thoughts

I wasn't terribly moved or impressed by this story. It isn't bad but I didn't find the central conflict to be engaging.

Four Star Playhouse 1.05

Welcome Home

starring Dick Powell

directed by Robert Florey

Eddie White (Dick Powell) returns to his hometown for the first time in 15 years. He's wanted for murder. The police are looking for him but he's got a head start. No one recognizes him, at first, except for Chuck Stern, whose father owns the hotel where Eddie gets a room. Chuck follows Eddie around. He wants to be just like him.

The police surround the hotel. Chuck runs inside. He wants to help Eddie shoot his way out of there. Eddie decides he would rather ruin Chuck's impression of him rather than get him killed.

Four Star Playhouse 1.04

Backstage

starring Charles Boyer, Marcia Henderson, Hillary Brooke

directed by Robert Florey

Paul (Charles Boyer) takes a break from directing a play to go for a walk. He spots Amy (Marcia Henderson), a young woman about to commit suicide. He stops her from jumping off a bridge and tries talk some sense into her. He takes her to a hotel and gives her some money so that she can stay there for the night only to later discover that he accidentally gave her some stage money.

Paul returns to the hotel the next morning and discovers that Amy never got a room at the hotel and why. He goes to the police in the hopes that they can find her. Paul is reunited with Amy, after searching for her in vain, and he decides to hire her to be in the play he is directing.

Four Star Playhouse 1.03

The Lost Silk Hat

starring Ronald Colman

directed by Robert Florey

A well dressed man (Ronald Colman) tries to convince first a laborer, then a clerk, and finally a poet to go into the house he just left to retrieve his silk hat. He offers to pay them to get his hat back for them. He suggests ruses they could use to gain admittance to the house such as saying that they are there to wind the clocks or tune the piano. Each of the three men he asks to help him out turns him down. He finally goes back into the house to retrieve the hat himself.

Four Star Playhouse 1.02

Dante's Inferno

starring Dick Powell, Virginia Grey, Regis Toomey

directed by Robert Florey

Nightclub owner Willie Dante (Dick Powell) runs into trouble when he tries to help out one of his customers. She says that her husband, gangster Steve Caspery, is going to kill her. Later that night she turns up dead. Police Lt. Manny Waldo (Regis Toomey) investigates the case. Dante is initially suspected of being the murderer but then someone tries to kill him.

Four Star Playhouse 1.01

My Wife Geraldine

starring Charles Boyer, Porter Hall, Una Merkel

directed by Robert Florey

Mr. Graham (Charles Boyer) pretends like he has a wife, Geraldine. He keeps everyone in the dark about the fact that Geraldine is a fiction including the Rose Barton (Una Merkel), his landlady, and J.R. Martin (Porter Hall), his boss.

People start to suspect that Graham murdered his wife when they are unable to find her, after he was hit by a car. His boss sends a private investigator around to figure out what happened to Geraldine. Graham's landlady helps him deal with the private investigator after Graham tells her the truth about his situation.