Tales from the Hollywood Hills: The Old Reliable

Directed by

Michael Blakemore

In this program, a wealthy and famous, but not terribly successful, film actress of the 1930s, Adela Shannon, suddenly becomes a widow when her husband is accidentally killed by a moving sightseeing bus. Due to a suit to contest her husband's will, Shannon is left penniless. She devises a means to keep herself in the standard of living to which she has grown accustomed: Shannon intends to blackmail her three ex-husbands with a book written by her sister, Bill. The book contains information none of her former spouses would want made public. Meanwhile, Bill thinks that it would be better to publish the book instead. Unfortunately, she decides this after Shannon has placed the manuscript in her safe. Luckily for Bill, however, Shannon's butler is an expert thief who happens to know a thing or two about breaking into safes.