Lux Radio 38/03/21 (ep168) The Man Who Played God (George Arliss, Florence Arliss)

Plot
While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, renowned concert pianist Montgomery Royle is permanently deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler; for him, his love of music and his career are over. Royle returns to New York City from Paris with his sister Florence, close friend and confidant Mildred Miller, and his considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair. His longtime manservant and admirer saves him from committing suicide. Mildred convinces Royale that he has never known true adversity, and he reveals that he no longer believes in God.

Abandoning thoughts of death, he learns to lip read perfectly from a skilled teacher. Thereafter, using a pair of powerful binoculars from his third story window, he spends his days observing and reading people's lips in nearby Central Park. As he becomes aware of other people's struggles, he helps them anonymously in his pursuit of "playing God"; his actions lack true sincerity. During the next six months of self-imposed withdrawal, he grows to accept his fate and continues with his philanthropy, becoming truly altruistic; he also reacquires his faith in God.

Plot

While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, renowned concert pianist Montgomery Royle is permanently deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler; for him, his love of music and his career are over. Royle returns to New York City from Paris with his sister Florence, close friend and confidant Mildred Miller, and his considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair. His longtime manservant and admirer saves him from committing suicide. Mildred convinces Royale that he has never known true adversity, and he reveals that he no longer believes in God.

Abandoning thoughts of death, he learns to lip read perfectly from a skilled teacher. Thereafter, using a pair of powerful binoculars from his third story window, he spends his days observing and reading people's lips in nearby Central Park. As he becomes aware of other people's struggles, he helps them anonymously in his pursuit of "playing God"; his actions lack true sincerity. During the next six months of self-imposed withdrawal, he grows to accept his fate and continues with his philanthropy, becoming truly altruistic; he also reacquires his faith in God.