Four Star Playhouse Season 4, Episode 25: The Rites of Spring

1

The Firing Squad

A WWII captain must oversee an execution he doesn't want to happen.

30 min

2

The Face of Danger

A 100-year-old woman who recalls her romance with a desperado during the days of the old West.

30 min

3

Let the Chips Fall

A reformed card sharp is recruited to unmask a suspected poker cheat among a group of wealthy gamblers. He finds it difficult to be impartial when the suspect enthusiastically befriends him.

30 min

4

Full Circle

A particularly bad review causes a Broadway actress to scheme to humiliate the drama critic.

30 min

5

A Spray of Bullets

A former sheriff, Will Sonnett, known for his fast draw shows up in Mesa to see an optometrist; he's become nearsighted and badly needs glasses. Also in town is a punk gunfighter who wants to make a name for himself. Knowing Sonnett has vision problems, he challenges the lawman to a duel.

30 min

6

The Devil to Pay

In Hell, the administrating office is hopelessly out of date and incompetent, so Satan enlists the help of an exceptionally aggressive and heartless businessman to modernize the place. He installs an IBM system and soon it's the picture of efficiency, much, it turns out, to the businessman's regret.

30 min

7

Here Comes the Suit

A milquetoast employee at a novelty company is overlooked by everyone from his boss to the woman he crushes on. But after being suckered by a shady tailor into getting a shockingly garish suit, he's whistled at by woman and mistaken for a gangster. His newly found self-confidence fits him well.

30 min

8

Looking Glass House

A woman is surprised when her fiancé turns out to have been married before.

30 min

9

Something Very Special

Alan moves to America when his wife dies, leaving his young daughter with her grandmother in Paris. When he returns after five years, his daughter has difficulty believing that he loves her.

30 min

10

A Place Full of Strangers

Industrialist Fleet Mason, a workaholic who doesn't realize how many lives he effects with his stressed-out working habits. When he thinks his loving wife has hung up on him in disgust, he re-evaluates his life by taking an imaginary bus trip to Meadville"". The trip is to nowhere and is full of psychological imagery. In a smoke shrouded bus terminal he meets all the people in his life as total strangers. When he meets his wife and realizes she doesn't recognize him, he becomes despondent. Only when his father appears and guides him to the exit does he realize how he must alter his life.

30 min

11

One Way Out

A wealthy woman separates from her fortune-hunting husband. She rents a swanky New York penthouse in a building so new that she is the only one living there. When she awakens from a nap, she finds herself trapped in the apartment. Her estranged husband and his girlfriend are after her money and are hoping this will drive her crazy.

30 min

12

Dark Meeting

When her long-time pin-boy retires, bowling proprietress hires the one guy who answers her want-ad right away. He turns out to be an escaped committed psychotic who, lonely and always lacking in the social skills, never received the nurturing of a friend [you think]. We know it but it takes some time before she becomes aware. While waiting for the police to come to apprehend him, she lets him walk her home through the park while lending him her sympathetic ear. Dealing with a psychotic might take some finesse. How will HE take it? And how will he take IT?

30 min

13

Magic Night

Upset that his 25 years of service for the company are unappreciated, Henri treats himself to an expensive night on the town, on the company's dime. He then comes to his senses, distraught that his embezzlement will be discovered.

30 min

14

Tunnel of Fear

While traveling alone in a train compartment, an elderly, wealthy, wheelchair-bound man (Cedric Hardwicke) is confronted by a younger man (David Niven), whom he had double-crossed over twenty years ago. The younger man, now bent on revenge, tells the elderly man that he intends to kill him when the train passes through an upcoming tunnel. A battle of wits ensues.

30 min

15

High Stakes

An employee catches attractive Mrs. Raymond making a pass at Willie, then Mr. Raymond comes to the club with a gun to get even. Willie shoots him in self defense, but Willie is framed when Mr. Raymond's gun disappears.

30 min

16

The Listener

Sheila and her brother engineer a gas leak to kill her husband so they can split the insurance money. Overhearing the plot is the husband's invalid father, but it's no concern because he can't speak or write. Sheila doesn't realize he is able to communicate with his nurse through his eyes.

30 min

17

Safe Keeping

The chancellor of a foreign university gives newspaperman Frank Carstairs a document to smuggle out of the country. He anticipates being charged with treason by the totalitarian government and he wants the free world to know he did not willingly join their side. Meanwhile, Frank carries on an affair with a sexy foreign spy who seems to be playing both sides of the fence.

30 min

18

No Limit

Suave restaurateur-gambler Willie Dante rebuffs the attempt of racketeers to cash in on his gambling activities. He appears to change his mind, however, due to the influence of a beautiful woman.

30 min

19

Command

The first mate on a merchant ship has been waiting for years to take command of the ship. When the elderly captain makes a mistake at a time when the ship is in danger the first mate sees his chance.

30 min

20

Once to Every Woman

At a particularly vulnerable time in her life, Carol is wooed by charming David. They fall in love, but Carol then learns that David is married. He says that he will get divorced for her, but Carol is visited by David's wife.

30 min

21

Red Wine

A police detective travels to Borneo looking for an American who murdered his wife for a huge insurance payoff. There are only three Americans there, all on a rubber plantation, but none fits the physical description. Once his cover is blown, the detective comes clean and tells the men he thinks none of them are his man. But he knows the killer is a wine connoisseur and he uses that to set a trap.

30 min

22

To Die at Midnight

The conflict of a prison warden who discovers exculpatory evidence on the eve of an execution.

30 min

23

Desert Encounter

A famous author gets embroiled in an unusual situation when he offers to drive a young Mexican girl to her ranch.

30 min

24

The Case of Emily Cameron

Emily is an invalid who needs a caretaker. Her husband leaves her home alone one day, and she begins to stew over the low regard that he has for her. He, on the other hand, resents the opportunities that he's missed because of Emily.

30 min

25

The Rites of Spring

An older husband tests the marital fidelity of his amorous young wife by anonymously sending her flowers from "a secret admirer".

30 min

26

Autumn Carousel

A TV writer finds inspiration from a little girl travelling to Los Angeles.

30 min

27

Wall of Bamboo

An undercover agent is dispatched to the anti-communist underground to search for an important contact. But when he's caught by the red Chinese, he's tortured in various ways for important information by a mysterious renegade white man who leads them known by the nom de guerre "Sampan Joe".

30 min

28

Touch and Go

Ted attacks old enemy Walter in a fit of rage. Stunned at the realization that Walter is dead, he hears a woman on the phone who overheard their conversation. Ted needs to find this woman and keep her from telling the police anything.

30 min

29

A Long Way From Texas

Two con men target a naive young oilman from Texas. They visit Willie's gambling hall, and the con men threaten Willie. He decides to get revenge, and teach a lesson to the oilman.

30 min

30

That Woman

A young widow, who is in denial that her husband has died, moves in with her brother-in-law's family down on the farm. Her city ways and manners clash with the simple, pious life of the farmers.

30 min

31

The Other Room

A teacher wanting to leave his unfulfilling job needs money to write the book he's dreamed of. A stranger enters and makes an unusual offer: $10,000 to take a physical for a dying man so he can get life insurance to take care of his widow when he passes on.

30 min

32

One Forty-Two

Ruthless dictator Mendoza summons a priest when 300,000 people in his country announce that they will pray for him to die at 1:42 that day.

30 min

33

Beneath the Surface

In an effort to escape her past, a woman takes a job in a plant.

30 min

34

Watch the Sunset

Philip Benton is entertaining thoughts of moving on from his wife, who has been in a sanitarium for five years. Just as he is starting a new relationship with his secretary, he receives news that his wife is better and will be released.

30 min

35

Second Chance

An experienced writer is in the middle of a professional slump when he is inspired by the story of an old long lost friend. While his career is reviving, he seems to be hindering the acting prospects of his novice young girlfriend.

30 min

36

Woman Afraid

While her husband is laid up in a farm house with a broken leg, Nina sees a prowling burglar. She calls for help, but the hired hand that she calls for is the burglar - and he's also a murderer.

30 min

37

The Stacked Deck

Fresh out of prison, blackmailer Gus Anderson intends to use Willie's casino to launder his victims' money. To insure his cooperation, Gus' thugs are holding one of Willie's waiters hostage. Glamorous singer Betty Maxwell shows up at Dante's, as scheduled, to lose at blackjack and avoid having a risqué photo of her mailed to the tabloids. Knowing that Lt. Waldo will but his casino yet again, Willie invites to cop over to watch Gus violate his parole.

30 min

38

Distinguished Service

More interested in his career than in his duty as a physician, a noted doctor intentionally misdiagnoses a patient in an Asian city so he could get back to the U.S. and accept a major award. When his wife realizes that he abandoned a town needing his help to fight a Plague outbreak, she demands a divorce.

30 min

39

Yellowbelly

A military hero becomes circumspect as his wife expects their first child. In battle, he jumps into a protective hole instead of forging to the front of the line. His company nicknames him Yellowbelly, and he loses the respect of his men.

30 min

40

The Stand-In

An aspiring actress has spent 20 years in Hollywood, not gaining fame as she had hoped, but as a stand-in for a well-known actress. Her ambition turns to despair, and her affection to bitterness.

30 min

41

Success Story

A man is assigned to force a small-town newspaper out of existence.

30 min