Four Star Playhouse

1952

Seasons & Episodes

  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
7.5| 0h30m| TV-G| en| More Info
Released: 25 September 1952 Ended
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Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

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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Reviews

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Nonureva Really Surprised!
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Maddyclassicfilms Four Star Theatre is a superb dramatic anthology series which ran between 1952 and 1956.Uniquely the series featured four stars, Dick Powell, Ida Lupino, Charles Boyer and David Niven who rotated weekly as the guest stars of the episodes.Powell, Niven and Boyer all also served as producers of the series. All the stars give fine performances in this and the episodes are a mixture of dramatic and comic stories.The reason I love anthology series such as this and The Twilight Zone is because you never know what story or setting you'll be presented with next, that's part of the attraction to such series.It's such a shame that anthology series are not made today.It must have been great seeing these series at the time they originally aired, seeing these famous actors appearing weekly on TV must have been quite a treat.Some of my favourite episodes are The Bomb, House For Sale, The Gun, A Study in Panic, The Man on the Train, Desert Encounter and The Girl on the Bridge.
bkoganbing According to the Tony Thomas book on The Films Of Dick Powell although the company was named Four Star Productions only three stars ever invested on the producing end, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Dick Powell. They never came up with a fourth though Ida Lupino kept them dangling for a while.Niven and Boyer were glad to let Powell run the business end of Four Star Productions. Powell himself eagerly embraced the new small screen medium of television, it was his firm belief that like Madonna you had to reinvent yourself periodically or become a has been in the entertainment business. So he went from crooning tenor in musicals to tough guy leading man to big time TV producer. Four Star Playhouse was one of many anthology series in those early television days of the Fifties and a source of good drama.Not to mention it was the first of many television series that Four Star Productions created. You'll find a lot of familiar names in the credits of Four Star Playhouse in front of and behind the camera. Powell had a good eye for spotting talent and gave a boost to a lot of careers. When Dick Powell died in early 1963 he was quite the tycoon, creating many shows under the Four Star banner. He even acted in several stories in Four Star and the Zane Grey Theater. Several Four Star shows have been put on YouTube and I urge you strongly to see them.
mamalv I especially enjoy Dante's Inferno with Dick Powell. The Four Star Playhouse used the talents of so many stars, and up and coming stars, they are too numerous to count. Dick Powell was always cool, and Dante is the reincarnation of Johnny O'Clock for him. He is the owner of a restaurant and gambling hall in the back room. The atmosphere is one that lends itself to trouble. Murder, robbery, and a variety of women enter the place and Willie is always able to handle all in stride. I love the film noir feel of this show. Dick Powell was always good as the classy, somewhat devious and not so honest man about town. There is a great deal of humor here too, and that makes it all the more enjoyable to watch.
Single-Black-Male Although Ida Lupino was not that interesting to look at, her themes of loneliness and singleness made a valuable contribution to later projects such as 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Thriller'. I can't say that I enjoyed this particular project, or any of her projects leading up to 1959. She was probably a better writer than actress.

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