This episode of "The United States Steel Hour" stars a lot of famous folks in this costume drama. Oscar-winners Paul Lukas and Mary Astor are joined by James Dean, Diana Lynn, Patric Knowles and Nehemiah Persoff! What a cast!
Early in the show, Fernand (Dean) professes his love to a married lady, Marie-Louise (Lynn). She rebuffs him--saying she loves her husband. Soon after, they return to the dinner party and there is an announcement--one of their guests at the dinner party is actually a detective---and the place has been watched. It seems that some money has been stolen and the detectives think it's Fernand. He denies it at first...and eventually admits to the crime. However, it turns out he is not the guilty party and that he protects the real culprit is odd to say the least...in fact, I did find it hard to believe.
Overall, this isn't a bad episode but it has a few problems. The first is that the fancy costumes aren't necessary and seemed a bit out of place on Dean (among others) as is the patrician style. Another is that Lukas occasionally stumbled (not horribly so) over some of his lines. This is interesting, since Lukas HATED Dean and berated him for not being a professional during rehearsals according to Robert Osborne during a TCM rebroadcast. I think it's still worth seeing but it's not a particularly distinguished teleplay.
Early in the show, Fernand (Dean) professes his love to a married lady, Marie-Louise (Lynn). She rebuffs him--saying she loves her husband. Soon after, they return to the dinner party and there is an announcement--one of their guests at the dinner party is actually a detective---and the place has been watched. It seems that some money has been stolen and the detectives think it's Fernand. He denies it at first...and eventually admits to the crime. However, it turns out he is not the guilty party and that he protects the real culprit is odd to say the least...in fact, I did find it hard to believe.
Overall, this isn't a bad episode but it has a few problems. The first is that the fancy costumes aren't necessary and seemed a bit out of place on Dean (among others) as is the patrician style. Another is that Lukas occasionally stumbled (not horribly so) over some of his lines. This is interesting, since Lukas HATED Dean and berated him for not being a professional during rehearsals according to Robert Osborne during a TCM rebroadcast. I think it's still worth seeing but it's not a particularly distinguished teleplay.