Bruce Lester

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

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A U.S. government agent travels the world on undercover missions in this 1950s series. Star Brian Donlevy originated the role on radio in the '40s.

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The story of Robin Hood, how he met his Merry Men and Maid Marian, and saved England from Sir Guy de Clairmont and his henchman. Compiled from the few filmed episodes of an unsold TV series.

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The son of the notorious Dr. Henry Jekyll is determined to prove that his father's reputation has been unjustly deserved. He sets out to develop his father's formula in order to prove that he was a brilliant scientist rather than a murderous monster.

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Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.

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A U.S. businessman abroad is the patsy for the theft of a rajah's jewels.

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An actress, urged by her detective boyfriend, takes a job as housekeeper for a wealthy elderly woman. The woman's new young husband claims she's ill and refuses entry, raising suspicions about her whereabouts.

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Bootleggers on the lam Frankie and Noll split up to evade capture by the police. Frankie is caught and jailed, but Noll manages to escape and open a posh New York City nightclub. 14 years later, Frankie is released from the clink and visits Noll with the intention of collecting his half of the nightclub's profits. But Noll, who has no intention of being so equitable, uses his ex-girlfriend Kay to divert Frankie from his intended goal.

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A British colonel escapes from the Gestapo to the Black Forest and poses as a Gypsy's mate.

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Reformed racketeer "Lucky" Leeds flees from the police when he thinks they are about to arrest him for a murder he didn't commit. He and his wife Patti fly to his privately-owned remote island and have to crash land. Also on the island is a group of shipwrecked people, including a German professor, his daughter, an English journalist, a wealthy widow, a sailor and a Nazi Agent.

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Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.

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Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe.

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The citizens of a tiny Cornish village are tormented during World War II by a headless ghost which is haunting the local tin mine.

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A British bomber crew, including Australian and American, is shot down over Germany during a bombing run. The five make their way across a perilous Germany, intent on reaching the UK with the war secrets they have learned, battling Nazis along the way.

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An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.

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An American pilot impulsively joins His Majesty's Royal Air Force in Britain in an attempt to impress his ex-girlfriend.

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Shortly before the start of WW2, renowned British big-game hunter Alan Thorndike, vacationing in Bavaria, has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by Nazi agents and aided by a young woman.

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In a Scottish sanitarium, a brilliant research psychiatrist works on a treatment for dementia praecox. He falls for his altruistic female lab assistant and they begin a passionate, tragic relationship.

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A fallen woman seeks redemption at a Singapore rubber plantation. Melodrama.

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Occupants of a London boarding house become suspects as a string of murders are discovered.

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After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.

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In early 19th century England, Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters vie for the affections of rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, who have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to eldest daughter Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with second-eldest Elizabeth.

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A self-made success is determined to give his son the lavish upbringing he himself was denied. Not surprisingly, the son grows up to be spoiled rotten, causing grief and pain to everyone who loves him.

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The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.

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During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.

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In this mystery, a newspaper executive and three of his colleagues conspire to have the owner of the highly-respected London Sun committed to an insane asylum. The hapless publisher manages to escape. Soon after, the four collaborators begin dying one-by-one. Oddly their obituaries appear in a rival publication before they are actually killed.

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King Louis XI masquerades as a commoner in Paris, seeking out the treachery he is sure lurks in his kingdom. At a local tavern, he overhears the brash poet François Villon extolling why he would be a better king. Annoyed yet intrigued, the King bestows on Villon the title of Grand Constable. Soon Villon begins work and falls for a lovely lady-in-waiting, but then must flee execution when the King turns on him.

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Two lazy screenwriters need a story for the studio's cowboy star. A studio waitress turns out to be pregnant. This gives them the idea for a movie about a cowboy and a baby. The waitress's baby becomes the star. The cowboy and his agent run off with the waitress and her valuable asset. The writers retaliate by hiring an unemployed extra to impersonate the baby's father. But the extra already knows the waitress...

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“Comedy of a little man forced by chance into a big jewel robbery.” - BFI.

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The Viennese bride of a Scottish peer is driven away by suspicion and unfriendliness from his family. Famous, she buys the estate and her husband returns to be reconciled with her and the son of whom he never knew.

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The German adopted-daughter of a Belgian innkeeper is threatened with internment by him if she reveals to the British billetees that he is a spy. However, she is in love with one of them and helps them.

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