Wed, Oct 10, 1956
This quintessential Chekhov drama--his first success--is both comic and tragic. A group of friends and relations gather at a country estate to see the first performance of an experimental play written and staged by the young man of the house, Konstantin, an aspiring writer who dreams of bringing new forms to the theatre.
Wed, Dec 12, 1956
Mrs. Dubedat loves and idolizes her artist husband, Louis, but he is dying of tuberculosis. She goes to a doctor and convinces him to save her husband. The doctor can keep only so many patients, and must choose who is worth saving, but is convinced that Louis' artistic talents make him worthy. But when he and several colleague meet Louis, they discover that he is in fact a smooth-talking money-grabbing scoundrel. They also learn that he has another wife, whom he has abandoned. So, the doctor has a problem: should he let Louis die, leaving Mrs. Dubedat with her idealized image, or save him and his artistic talents, but force her to face his bigamy and other flaws?
Wed, Feb 6, 1957
Agnes and Ellen Isit, two poor English sisters, unexpectedly inherit from their uncle a rich estate near Naples, complete with big villa and manly Italian majordomo. The latter, Salvatore, makes use of his Latin charm to seduce Agnes, who soon turns from prim spinster to passionate lover. Ellen observes the romance with amusement first before realizing how much less considerate Salvatore becomes after marrying Agnes. Worse, Agnes's health starts deteriorating. Worried about her sister, she contacts Dr. Ben Dench, a family friend.
Wed, Feb 20, 1957
A sensitive, educated black man's World War II-time problems. This is essentially the duplicate of his peace-time problems which are pointed up in a flashback of his life, and primarily of his war-time adventures with four white soldiers on a dangerous reconnaissance mission on a Japanese-held island.
Wed, Apr 17, 1957
Descius Heiss is a French expatriate, and former Devil's Island prisoner, with two passions; driving shrewd bargains in antiques at his Sly Corner Shop, and the care of his motherless, violin-playing daughter, Margaret. But, his comfortable wealth comes more from being a fence for stolen goods than it does buying-and-selling antiques. His secret is discovered by his shop assistant Archie Fellowes, a nasty, sniveling young rat, and he begins blackmailing Heiss. Heiss employs the usual solution to blackmailers, and the film ends in a London concert-hall where Margaret is playing the Mendelssohm Violin Concerto.