THE FOUR JUST MEN – "The Crying Jester" - 1959 This is the fifth episode of the 1959-60 series, THE FOUR JUST MEN. The series stars Richard Conte, Jack Hawkins, Vittorio De Sica and Dan Dailey. In each episode one of the four men is the featured player. This episode is centered on Milan hotel owner, Vittorio De Sica.
De Sica, waiting for a train to Milan, has some time to kill. He sees an art gallery and decides to have a look. Inside he sees a batch of pictures that are being unpacked. The gallery owner says it just arrived from Algiers. De Dica likes the one, a portrait of a court jester. Some back and forth between the two soon sets a price. The picture is wrapped and De Cica exits for the train station.As De Cisa exits the shop, he passes two shady looking men George Pravda and Dudley Foster entering.
Inside the shop, Pravda asks about his picture from Algiers. He wants to see it before it is forwarded to England. The clerk answers that he thought the picture was for sale. He had sold it to the man that just left. Pravda and Foster bolt out the door and see De Sica enter the rail station.
The crowd is too large to attempt a grab of the picture. They overhear De Sica confirming the number of the sleeper compartment he booked. The one man, Foster, sneaks into the station rear and soon emerges with a complete porter's uniform. Pravda tells him to wait till late at night and then grab the portrait. Foster boards the train.
De Sica runs into an old friend, Lee Montague on the way to his compartment. Montague has several bottles of champagne and asks De Sica to join him. De Sica joins Montague in his compartment. The other man in the compartment, Morton Lowry declines to join the party. He has a rather bad migraine headache. Lowry is a diamond merchant.
After a couple of bottles, De Sica sees that Lowry is really suffering. He offers the man the use of his sleeping compartment. "I'm going to stay here with my friend. No reason for it to go unused." Lowry gladly accepts and exits. He quickly beds down and falls asleep.
Later on, the fake porter, Foster, enters and starts searching for the painting. Lowry wakes and figures that the intruder is after his diamonds. He pulls a pistol he keeps and goes at Foster. A struggle ensues with Lowry being killed by his own gun. Foster leaves after going over the compartment looking for the picture.
The next morning in Milan, as De Sica and Montague are leaving the train, they stop to wake Lowry. Of course they find the corpse. The Police are called. At the Police Station, De Sica explains to his friend, Inspector Max Brimmell the events of the night.
The Police and the coroner, Frank Thornton are convinced the man killed himself. The migraines became too much. The gun was licensed to Lowry. No evidence of foul play. All of Lowry's possessions are accounted for. Case closed.
Back at his Hotel office, De Sica gets a phone call from Pravda. He tells De Sica that there has been a mistake. The picture he purchased had not been for sale. De Sica instantly realizes that Lowry was murdered. He was supposed to be in the compartment. De Sica plays Pravda along and agrees to sell back the painting. He tells Pravda to meet him at De Sica office in four hours. "I need to step out for two or three hours on other matters." De Sica says.
Pravada hangs up at his end and smiles. He turns to Foster and tells him to hotfoot it over to De Sicas and steal the painting back. "No mix-ups this time!" De Sica has no intention of going anywhere. He figures that he will soon get an unwanted visitor. He calls friend Montague to station himself in the lobby and wait for De Sica to call him." De Sica then has a real close look at the painting. He discovers a bit of film embedded in the frame. "Ah" He switches out said film with some he has.
De Sica now kills the lights and hides in the shadows. Sure enough, Foster breaks in and glances around the office for the portrait. De Sica steps out of the shadows and relieves Foster of his pistol and De Sica's painting.
A nervous Foster is not happy with the questions De Sica fires at him. "What is so important about the picture that you and the man on the phone would kill for. Tell your boss that I will sell him the painting. But at ten times what I paid for it. If he wants it, he will pay it." He hands Foster the painting and tells him to leave. He first though, has Foster press his hand against a smooth surface. "Your boss will pay or I'll give your fingerprints to the Police." After Foster exits, De Sica calls his man in the lobby. "Follow the man coming down. Find out where he goes and call me at the Police Station De Sica waits with Inspector Brimmell for a call. Montague soon rings with an address. De Sica, Brimmell and a half dozen Police grab a couple of cars and speed to the location.
Foster is just giving Pravda the painting and telling him about De Sica's cash demands. Pravda laughs and launches Foster out the 5th floor window. No need to pay now! But before Pravda can split with the painting, the Police smash in. Pravda is arrested and hauled off. It seems that the man is a Red spy. The film had been defence plans for a military base in North Africa.
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