Four Star Playhouse
This show featured four rotating stars, Charles Boyer, David Niven, Ida Lupino and Dick Powell in individual episodes consisting of everything from comedy to drama.
High StakesWillie Dante, wily gambler-restaurateur, becomes a target for murder because of his latest romantic interest | Face of DangerA 100-year-old woman who recalls her romance with a desperado during the days of the old West | Eddie's PlaceIda Lupino stars as a parolee, Ellen, whose efforts to keep out of trouble only involve her in a murder | KnockoutThe story of the career of a young middleweight from the time his trainer first spots him to his first chance at the championship |
FinaleAn aspiring actor finds his career thwarted by his resemblance to his already successful cousin | Desert EncounterA playwright driving to Los Angeles gives a lift to a young woman heading to her father's ranch. Upon arriving, he's locked up and expected to marry the girl or be killed. The writer's unwittingly being used as a stand-in for the man she's being fooling around with. | Distinguished ServiceMore 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. | One Way OutDiana finally leaves her playboy husband and moves to an apartment in New York. Soon after arriving at her new place, she finds herself locked in with no electricity and very little food. Gradually Diana becomes unhinged which is the goal of the husband and his girlfriend who booby-trapped the place to send her over the edge. |
The Other RoomA 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. | Girl on the Park BenchTrudy is incensed when her rent goes up after the city relaxes rent control. She marches down to the mayor's office and threatens to make his name mud if he doesn't reinstate the controls. He doesn't, so she calls some reporters and sets up housekeeping in the city park. | A Kiss For Mr LincolnHenry entertains railroad executive Murdock to persuade him to support Lincoln for president, but Murdock is only interested in Henry's wife Delight. For her husband's benefit, Delight concocts an improper scheme to win Murdock's backing. | The BookA stranger tussles with John over a library book and is struck and killed by a passing car. John discovers a message in the book and follows it to a blind meeting, only to be mistaken for a hit man with an assassination team. |
Sound Off My LoveA woman with a reputation of being hard of hearing secretly gets a hearing aid, and starts overhearing people making fun of her. Everyone knows her husband is having an affair, but she also discovers that he is trying to kill her. | Dark MeetingBillie hires an odd man as the new pin boy at her bowling alley, but quickly fire him because of his violent outbursts. Only then does she learn he's a murderous psycho who escaped from prison. That's why she's so terrified when he shows up at the alley one night when she's all alone. | The BombAn engaged couple and the woman's former suitor take shelter in an abandoned house, too late to notice an unexploded bomb. Their retreat is cut off by a cave-in, and they must defuse the bomb with instructions delivered over a phone line. |