What happens
Mitchell Leisen introduces the story of George Iscovescu, an international confidence man who has been refused entry to the United States at the Mexican border for the third time. At a cheap hotel in Esperanza he meets Emmy Brown, a schoolteacher whose station wagon has been wrecked, and the two grow close. The Screen Directors Playhouse presents this radio adaptation of the 1949 film Hold Back the Dawn, starring Charles Boyer and Vanessa Brown, on NBC, broadcast on May 15, 1949. The episode follows George's schemes and his changing feelings toward Emmy as their relationship develops.
The Mexican border town of Esperanza and surrounding California roads, 1940s
Characters: George Iscovescu, Emmy Brown, Anita, Inspector Hammock, Mitchell Leisen
Listen for: The scene where George and Emmy shake the olive tree in the Mexican church courtyard and the windshield wipers' rhythm in the station wagon
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.