Episodes
1. The Plot to Kill Stalin
September 25, 1958
90 min
In late 1952, an aging and increasingly paranoid Stalin puts in motion a purge against his doctors, with anti-Semitic overtones. His lackeys, including Khrushchev, Molotov and Beria, fear it will spread to the Politburo, and plan to strike first.
2. Days of Wine and Roses
October 2, 1958
90 min
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Guest Stars:
Cliff Robertson, Piper Laurie, Charles Bickford, Sterling Hayden
3. The Time of Your Life
October 9, 1958
90 min
William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939. Lonely, lovelorn, weary or cynical, the characters drift in and out of the bar and each other's lives, giving voice to Saroyan's philosophies as they randomly comment about the impending world war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil.
5. Shadows Tremble
October 23, 1958
90 min
An elderly immigrant tries to buy an old house in New England and is opposed by snobbish locals.
6. Word from a Sealed-Off Box
October 30, 1958
90 min
A courier for the Dutch Resistance is captured by the Nazis.
7. Heart of Darkness
November 6, 1958
90 min
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
8. Old Man
November 20, 1958
90 min
To fight a Mississippi flood in 1927, a prison farm releases some convicts.
9. The Return of Ansel Gibbs
November 27, 1958
90 min
After years in retirement, Ansel Gibbs is asked to return to government service.
11. Seven Against the Wall
December 11, 1958
90 min
The story of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.
12. The Nutcracker
December 25, 1958
90 min
This telecast of George Balanchine's famous production was broadcast only four years after it was premiered by the New York City Ballet. This was the only episode of the series televised in color.
14. The Wings of the Dove
January 8, 1959
90 min
An impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without.
16. The Velvet Alley
January 22, 1959
90 min
Ernie Pandish has tried to be a writer for years and has never made much money out of it. But now he seems likely to hit the big-time.
17. A Quiet Game of Cards
January 29, 1959
90 min
A few friends meet each weekend for a quiet game of cards. But they're bored with poker and, in trying to find another diversion, gradually find themselves plotting a hypothetical murder. It is hypothetical, isn't it?
18. Child of Our Time
February 5, 1959
90 min
War deprives Tanguy of his childhood. When his mother returns to Spain to oppose the Franco regime, he is left in Nazi-occupied Marseilles, France.
20. The Raider
February 19, 1959
90 min
A corporate raider plans a hostile takeover. To stall him, pressure is put on a scientist to rush through a new type of engine before all necessary tests have been completed.
21. The Ding-A-Ling Girl
February 26, 1959
90 min
A housewife is offered a Hollywood contract. She'd rather stay home, but her husband has ambitions for her.
22. Made in Japan
March 5, 1959
90 min
A young soldier in occupied Japan after World War II falls in love with a lovely Japanese girl, but is horrified about what his prejudiced family in Philadelphia will think if he takes her home with him.
23. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 1
March 12, 1959
90 min
During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
Guest Stars:
Herbert Berghof, Joseph Bernard, Nicholas Colasanto, Steven Hill, Marc Lawrence
24. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 2
March 19, 1959
90 min
The completion of the mission has tragic consequences.
Guest Stars:
Joseph Bernard, Nicholas Colasanto, Steven Hill, Marc Lawrence, Nehemiah Persoff
28. Judgment at Nuremberg
April 16, 1959
90 min
In the later stages of the Nuremberg Trials, four German judges are accused of perverting the course of justice.
Guest Stars:
Claude Rains, Paul Lukas, Maximilian Schell, Martin Milner, Melvyn Douglas
30. Dark December
April 30, 1959
90 min
During World War II, an army doctor struggles to convert a Franciscan monastery into a field hospital.
31. Diary of a Nurse
May 7, 1959
90 min
The daily emergencies and stresses of a major city's hospital ward as seen through the eyes of nurse Gail Lucas.
33. Out of Dust
May 21, 1959
90 min
On a cattle drive across the prairie, the sons of a wealthy cattle baron plot his death.
34. The Rank and File
9.0
May 28, 1959
90 min
A powerful union leader is interrogated by a Senate committee. Testifying before a Senate, William Kilcoyne tells the story of his career. He began as a factory worker and his shrewdness and ambition carried him up through the ranks to his present position as head of a large union.
Guest Stars:
35. The Killers of Mussolini
June 4, 1959
90 min
As the Salo Republic crumbles around him, Mussolini, along with his mistress and several of his ministers flee with retreating Nazi soldiers, but are caught at the town of Dongo by red partisans. All are brutally executed without trial.
36. Project Immortality
June 11, 1959
90 min
Key defense scientist Doner has cancer. Schramm is assigned to code Doner's thinking into a computer. He gets to know him as a friend, a husband and father. The project is successful, but he now knows identity is not programmable.
37. Dark as the Night
June 18, 1959
90 min
A British politician finds himself open to blackmail because of the indiscretion of his American wife.
