Lucien Besnard

A six-part British television travel series written, directed, and presented by Orson Welles for ITV in 1955. Filmed entirely in Europe, the series follows Welles through Vienna, the Basque Country, Madrid, Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and London’s Chelsea Pensioners, blending travelogue, cultural portraiture, and personal essay. Moving between documentary observation and reflective commentary, the episodes combine interviews, local history, and Welles’s distinctive narration into a series that functions as both travel film and cinematic essay.

An emir wants revenge on a secretary who posed as a rival to a beautiful woman. He holds in his palace which refers to himself as a trap, the wife of the secretary, and thinks of becoming her lover. The charm and nobility of the young woman end up softening the emir. He bows, returns her to her husband, and forgives the beauty.