User Reviews

An interesting episode for all the murder she wrote-fans out there such as me. What happened to the victim in this golden oldie?? What is the link between him and the writer?? And, perhaps even more, what is the wife's mysterious role in all of this??? You'll soon find out... if you watch "Madeira, Madeira", that is!!

This is a very peculiar episode of "Four Star Playhouse". For one thing, the show alternated four top movie stars in the leads of each episode (who the four are did change over time) and this is the only one with TWO stars in it, as David Niven does a small cameo near the end of the show...even though it already starred Charles Boyer (two of the four stars). And the show also appeared to be a murder mystery...and at the end became a comedy quite unexpectedly! Overall, it is one of the more delightful episodes...so being peculiar is very good!

Jacques (Boyer) is troubled. His old friend, Mr. Hallerton, wrote him a disturbing letter...and soon died after writing it! In the letter, Hallerton wrote that his wife "will be the death of me"....and he was dead only weeks later! Jacques is intent on learning if Mrs. Hallerton is a killer. Instead, he is shocked to find her to be very nice and kind. Soon, she insists that he stay in his friend's old studio. After all, the friend was an artist and Jacques has always dreamed of being a famous writer...so it's like having another artist in the house. Where does all this go? I won't say as it would ruin the fun.

In addition to Boyer and Niven, Angela Lansbury plays the wife...so it's a real star-studded show. Well written and clever...if you want to see this and other episodes of this excellent series, go to archive.org where you can download or just watch them for free.

I cannot see how Niven's appearance is a spoiler, I can see that not listing him as even being in the episode maybe, possibly, perhaps, served some purpose. Not really a fan of Lansbury. I cannot stand Pommy WhoDunnits, which she seems to be best known for, and never knowingly watch them. Lansbury was somewhat of siren, sex object or whatever back in the 50s, and one can see why. Her acting was on a par with others of some fame in this great series, she shows a lot more ability than the Agatha Christie stuff would ever make you imagine. I thought the episode was so-so, Boyer seemed to play things differently to his usual persona, not relying in this on his capacity for insouciance, an interesting time-filler, and I am surprised the Feminists have not got onto the anti-woman sentiment underlining the whole thing. Give them time...