OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: THE MAN IN THE CELLAR

From Four-Star Playhouse for September 30, 1954, comes a terrifying tale of a psychologist who learns that a patient that he has committed to a mental institution has escaped.  The escapee has previously tried to kill the psychologist's wife.  Meanwhile, at home, his young daughter begins talking about a friend who lives in the cellar.  Of course, it's an imaginary friend, isn't it?

Charles Boyer, Fay Baker, Beverly Washburn, Mae Clarke, and John Doucette are featured in a sorty scripted by Gwen Bagni from a story by Marc Brandel.  Bagni wrote eighteen episodes of Four-Star Playhouse, as well as episodes in some thirty-five television shows and a number of films, including With Six You Get Eggroll.  Robert Florey (The Beast with Five Fingers, God Is My Co-Pilot, Meet Boston Blackie) directed.

Despite the fact that Boyer and Baker utilize an "idiot plot" (that's one in which the plot moves forward because the characters are idiots), this is an effective and taut episode.

Enjoy.


https://archive.org/details/FourStarPlayhouseTheManInTheCellar