Dick Powell stars in this episode of "Four Star Playhouse". He's Willie Dante--a nightclub owner who also hides a gambling area in his back room. One woman is losing a lot and Willie refuses her any more credit. After all, he's actually a nice guy and advises her to stop playing for a while since she's obviously having a string of bad luck. However, she throws herself at Willie but her rebuffs her advances. Some time later, the woman's husband comes into the place--demanding to see Willie. The drunk husband is sporting a gun and takes a few shots at Willie--and Willie, only trying to defend himself, shoots the guy. Now here's where it gets pretty obvious that SOMETHING is not right--there are no bullets at the scene of the attack AND the drunk husband's gun is missing. Obviously this was a set-up but can Willie figure it all out before he's headed to prison?
The biggest problem with this episode is that it is so rushed. While Powell was quite good, the show was only a half hour and the complicated plot was shoved into this time frame. The worst part about it is that the solution to the set-up seemed to come much too quickly. Not a bad show but one that could have done better had the plot been drawn out a bit more.
By the way, Powell had already done another Willie Dante episode ("The Squeeze")--and I wonder if the two shows were perhaps intended as pilots for a TV series. Additionally, he did at least one other Dante installment "Stacked Deck". All are well worth seeing.