Marcel Journet

Four Star Playhouse

Monsieur Valois

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.

Elevator to the Gallows

Le Président du Conseil d'Administration

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

Triple Cross

Marshall von Runstedt

Safecracker Eddie Chapman is languishing in prison on the island of Jersey when the Nazis arrive. An adept manipulator of situations, Chapman convinces the Germans to use him to spy on the British. And when the would-be traitor arrives home, he convinces the English to use him as a double agent -- in exchange for a full pardon.

The Count of Monte Cristo

President of the House of Peers

Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Johann Stauffer

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.

Royal Affairs in Versailles

Mr. de Beydz

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

To the Ends of the Earth

Commissioner Lariesier

A treasury agent becomes obsessed with exposing an international drug ring.

The Respectful Prostitute

Fred, the nephew of a senator,has murdered a Black man on a train. The two only witnesses are Lizzie McKay, a prostitute from New York, and Sidney, a colored man. Fred decides to seduce Lizzie in order to make her give false evidence according to which Sidney has attempted to rape her. The uncle also puts pressure on the young woman. After much hesitation, Lizzie finally accepts but Sidney, who has nearly got lynched, takes refuge at her home...

Post Office Investigator

George Zelger

A mailman leads PO-men to a pistol-packing stamp thief and her gang.

Candide or The Optimism in the 20th Century

(uncredited)

Charming and innocent, Candide is vigorously chased away by the Baron, for his close encounters with the pretty Cunégonde. World War II breaks out, and when he is drafted and taken prisoner, he is forced to take German nationality and ends up guarding the camp where he was imprisoned. He crossed into Switzerland, but as he had no bank account, he was incarcerated for eight days for trespassing. Hunted by the Gestapo, he kills two men to free Cunégonde, who has finally been found. They both flee to Argentina, and their world tour begins. In Paris, Moscow, New York, Borneo and Alexandria. They try to follow Dr. Pangloss' optimistic rule of life. Tossed about, separated, they find themselves grown old and wiser, thinking only of cultivating their garden on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The Crime Doctor's Gamble

Inspector Jacques Morrell

While visiting France, a criminal psychologist tries to clear a disturbed young man of his father's murder.

The Foxes of Harrow

St.-Ange (uncredited)

An Irish rascal and inveterate gambler uses his considerable skills at the gaming tables of New Orleans to become fabulously rich.

Adventures of Captain Fabian

It all begins with the discreet romance between the Creole maid Lea Mariotte and her young boss, George Brissac, an amoral bourgeois who plans to inherit his uncle's fortune and marry a young woman from a good family. After an incident where she kills a man, she is saved from the gallows by Fabian, a ship's captain, who has personal reasons for antagonizing the Brissacs. He takes care of her and falls in love with her, but doesn't tell her. She, in turn, takes the opportunity to return to her lover Brissac's arms, forcing him to marry her after seeing him murder his uncle.

Sealed Verdict

Capt. Gribemont

John Hoyt plays a high-ranking Nazi being prosecuted by an army tribunal in the aftermath of World War II. Sentenced to death, the general appeals to the American investigating Major (Ray Milland), claiming mitigating circumstances, and providing the names of witnesses who will clear his name. This sends the Major in a search through the ruins of post-war Germany to determine the degree of the general's guilt.

Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch

Anton Kindel

Joe heads for South America to fight the Latin champ. Shipboard, he helps federal agents fight counterfeiters. He also spars with love interest Anne Howe.

Desperate Decision

Police Chief Donovan (uncredited)

Ireland, 1922. In the midst of a national uprising, Catherine, a young orphan employed in household chores, goes in search of her brother whom she has heard in a dream calling for help.

L'Homme aux clés d'or

M. Delmar

Antoine Fournier, a language teacher at a secondary school in Lille, was disgraced by four young men he had caught stealing money from a charity collection. Dismissed from the teaching profession, Fournier found a job as a porter in a Monte Carlo palace through his wartime friend Ansaldi. A few years later, when he became the first concierge, the "man with the golden keys", chance brought him into the presence of the young men, married but as Machiavellian as ever. He won't take revenge on them, but their baser instincts will.