What happens
Harry Lime, a counterfeiter who operates from lodgings above a brothel in Bordeaux, is secretly printing fake five-thousand-franc notes and selling them to traders bound for French West Africa. His operation is threatened by a schoolteacher, Professor Sam Pierre, who learns of his activities after mistaking him for a scholar writing a book on the waterfront. The story follows Lime as he tries to keep the police commissar and the professor from closing in on him, while a newlywed woman, Sophie Barra, becomes entangled in his affairs. The series is The Mercury Theatre on the Air, first broadcast on October 19, 1951, with Orson Welles playing Harry Lime.
The French port city of Bordeaux, including a brothel, a cafe, a public library and the waterfront.
Characters: Harry Lime, Professor Sam Pierre, Sophie Barra, Captain Dominique, Cynthia, Madame Barra, Pauline
Listen for: Listen for Harry Lime's narration as he explains his counterfeiting business and his chase through the city.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.