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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 18, 2017 4:07:14 GMT
I was recently listening to two Suspense episodes, one starring Cary Grant and the other starring Gregory Peck. The former, "The Black Curtain," was based on a book by thriller writer Cornell Woolrich (also known, among his friends, as "that crook who copied Doghouse6 's style"), and the latter, "Murder Through the Looking Glass," was based on a book by mystery writer Craig Rice. All that is to pre-empt a few observations I had about them. They are very similar--so similar, in fact, that I thought Peck was nearly lapsing into a Cary Grant impression at times (!)--which interested me, as Rice's books had little in common with Woolrich's. The plotting is nearly identical: both involve a man who wakes up, with amnesia, to find that he has apparently been away for a long while. In both, the man's one clue is a monogrammed item (a hat in the former, a handkerchief in the latter) with initials he doesn't recognize. He eventually makes it back to his girlfriend/wife, who informs him that he has apparently committed a murder while in the mental fog. He cannot believe that and hunts down the real murderer while trying to find out what happened to him. Even the final twists are nearly the same. I was rather surprised that I enjoyed "Murder Through the Looking Glass" a good deal more than "The Black Curtain," especially as I'm a Suspense fan, a Cary Grant fan, and a Cornell Woolrich fan. Part of that, I think, is that I found Peck's acting here superior to Grant's, which I didn't expect, to say the least. Now, I'm not the world's biggest Gregory Peck fan--I don't dislike him, but I find that Peck can be wooden, especially as time went on ( To Kill a Mockingbird notwithstanding)--but here he out-Caried Cary Grant, acting out the part of a man in a fog, accused of murder, with conviction and emotion. Grant was not bad, certainly, but he seemed to take the whole thing a bit slower, as if he were "phoning it in." All of that reminded me of my and Doghouse6's discussion about acting, which furnishes the connection, however tenuous, to previous matters on this board. It also made me wonder about the distinct skillset that one needs for radio acting as opposed to film acting. Is there a great difference, acting-wise? I should think so. (There certainly is a great difference for those behind the scenes.) Thoughts? Does anyone else know these two? Fan of old-time radio? |
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Post by telegonus on Oct 18, 2017 14:38:09 GMT
Thanks for this, Salzmank. I'm a big fan of OTR. Speaking of Cary Grant, he and his wife, Betsy Drake, also appeared in a very fun, tense, atmospheric (yes, OTR can have ambiance) episode of Suspense, The Country Road, set in the then "rural" Long Island, circa 1950. It's not the acting that counts in this one, though it's good enough, but the writing, the, well, suspense, right to the very end.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 18, 2017 15:24:46 GMT
From the (now outdated?) big OTR thread:
Suspense
"The Night Reveals"
starring Fredric March and Jeanette Nolan
May 26, 1949
A fire investigator suspects that his wife is a compulsive arsonist
Classic episode adapted from a story by Cornell Woolrich
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Post by telegonus on Oct 19, 2017 17:40:04 GMT
From the (now outdated?) big OTR thread: Suspense"The Night Reveals" starring Fredric March and Jeanette Nolan May 26, 1949 A fire investigator suspects that his wife is a compulsive arsonistClassic episode adapted from a story by Cornell Woolrich |
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Post by telegonus on Oct 19, 2017 17:43:26 GMT
I've heard The Night Reveals with Robert Young in the lead,--yes!--and it was a shocker. They occasionally remade episodes with different actors on Suspense, or the same story was done on another series. The Most Dangerous Game and The Three Skeleton Key are two that spring to mind.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 20, 2017 15:20:58 GMT
Thanks for this, Salzmank. I'm a big fan of OTR. Speaking of Cary Grant, he and his wife, Betsy Drake, also appeared in a very fun, tense, atmospheric (yes, OTR can have ambiance) episode of Suspense, The Country Road, set in the then "rural" Long Island, circa 1950. It's not the acting that counts in this one, though it's good enough, but the writing, the, well, suspense, right to the very end. I've got to listen to this one, Tele. I grew up on (suburbanized) Long Island, and I always get a kick out of that scene in Another Thin Man in which they go out to Great Neck (30-40 min. from Manhattan) and consider it "country" (!), though it truly was then. I've seen very few books and films made pre-suburbanization that deal with anything past gold-coast Gatsby country--in fact, the only thing that comes to mind is an Ellery Queen short story, "The Needle's Eye." Anyone know any more? |
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 22, 2017 1:23:10 GMT
What other versions of Three Skeleton Key were there? I know the Vincent Price one.
I like the Orson Welles version of The Most Dangerous Game.
"Very good Rainsford! A Malay mantrap! I too have hunted in the Malacca."
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 22, 2017 1:26:13 GMT
BTW is this Suspense thread brought to you by Roma Wines?  |
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 1:30:52 GMT
BTW is this Suspense thread brought to you by Roma Wines? If you think that's bad, you've got to listen to Petri Wine's advertisements for the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes radio show. |
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,519
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Post by spiderwort on Oct 22, 2017 1:37:17 GMT
I'm a big fan of OTR (and contemporary radio shows, too, especially the British ones), Salzmank. Thanks so much for getting this topic added to the board.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 1:38:45 GMT
Very welcome, Spider. Thanks for the kind words.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 22, 2017 2:30:54 GMT
BTW is this Suspense thread brought to you by Roma Wines? I love the way the guy gives the word "wines" two syllables: "Roma Wuh-ines" Still, I'm an Autolite Man do or die |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 22, 2017 2:48:10 GMT
What other versions of Three Skeleton Key were there? I know the Vincent Price one. Most OTR fans swear by the Price, but I actually prefer the first version, done on Escape in 1949: Three Skeleton Key |
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Post by mattgarth on Oct 22, 2017 14:11:10 GMT
BTW is this Suspense thread brought to you by Roma Wines? I love the way the guy gives the word "wines" two syllables: "Roma Wuh-ines" Still, I'm an Autolite Man do or die You're always right with AutoLite. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 15:48:27 GMT
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Post by mattgarth on Oct 22, 2017 16:17:20 GMT
Sure -- You're up first.
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Post by telegonus on Oct 22, 2017 16:29:45 GMT
Thanks for this, Salzmank. I'm a big fan of OTR. Speaking of Cary Grant, he and his wife, Betsy Drake, also appeared in a very fun, tense, atmospheric (yes, OTR can have ambiance) episode of Suspense, The Country Road, set in the then "rural" Long Island, circa 1950. It's not the acting that counts in this one, though it's good enough, but the writing, the, well, suspense, right to the very end. I've got to listen to this one, Tele. I grew up on (suburbanized) Long Island, and I always get a kick out of that scene in Another Thin Man in which they go out to Great Neck (30-40 min. from Manhattan) and consider it "country" (!), though it truly was then. I've seen very few books and films made pre-suburbanization that deal with anything past gold-coast Gatsby country--in fact, the only thing that comes to mind is an Ellery Queen short story, "The Needle's Eye." Anyone know any more? I feel the same way about "old Long Island" in the movies and on the radio, Salzmank. It's there, though, and I do think that Gatsby helped put it on the map, as it were. I believe the 1933 Philo Vance Kennel Murder Case is set in L.I., but that's among the horsey set, too. After The Thin Man's being set there is one of its many charms. Doesn't Jimmy Cagney call his galpal Mineola in The Roaring Twenties? That's where she was from.
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Post by mattgarth on Oct 22, 2017 16:35:52 GMT
OK, for starters:
THE HITCHHIKER (Orson Welles)
SORRY WRONG NUMBER (Agnes Moorehead)
AUGUST HEAT (Ronald Colman)
THE HOUSE IN CYPRESS CANYON (Robert Taylor)
BACK SEAT DRIVER (Fibber McGee & Molly)
MISSION COMPLETED (James Stewart)
(more to come)
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 16:37:45 GMT
Gee, mattgarth, I don't know if I've listened to enough, but here goes... "The Burning Court" "The Pit and the Pendulum" "The Devil's Saint" "The House in Cypress Canyon" "The Dunwich Horror" "Murder through the Looking Glass" "Ghost Hunt" (I'd love a film based on this) "Three Skeleton Key" "The Whole Town's Sleeping" "The Night Before Christmas" "The Hitch-Hiker" "Till Death Do Us Part" (I think this is the one in which Peter Lorre is trying to poison his wife) OK, I'm sure I missed a few, but here are some favorites offhand... |
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Post by mattgarth on Oct 22, 2017 16:41:23 GMT
Looks good to me, Salz!
Thinking about a few more, now.
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