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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 16:45:57 GMT
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. It's one of its many charms. Doesn't Jimmy Cagney call his galpal Mineola in The Roaring Twenties? That's where she was from. Swell, and thanks--at least that's something, even if they still haven't crossed the Suffolk County line yet! (Not all that surprised, as Suffolk was not developed before the '50s, and the millionaires flocked to Nassau County's north coast--though the Vanderbilts did have a mansion in Centerport.)
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Post by mattgarth on Oct 22, 2017 17:01:07 GMT
Another Long Island reference --
In trying to discover where Psychiatrist Richard Dreyfuss will be vacationing in WHAT ABOUT BOB, pesty and clinging patient Bill Murray asks him:
"Are you going to keep Fire Island all to yourself?"
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 22, 2017 18:04:07 GMT
I generally avoid list threads -- frankly that goes for the CFB as well -- but since this is more of a guide for newbs I'll go along.
In addition to the perennial Lucille Fletchers of "Sorry Wrong Number" and "The Hitch-Hiker":
"Fugue in C Minor" -- another classic Fletcher. I'll never understand why it wasn't filmed
"The House in Cypress Canyon"
"The Night Reveals"
"Wet Saturday" -- also done by AHP on TV
"The After Dinner Story"
"Banquo's Chair"
"Cabin B-13"-- by John Dickson Carr; later filmed by Fox as Dangerous Crossing
That's about all I can come up with for the moment w/o an episode list. There's a very interesting early '50s episode about a radio writer who plots revenge against his producer. What's fascinating is the show w/in a show is very much like Suspense, and we get sort of a backstage look at the show's production process. Can't recall the title, but the episode's production is as intriguing as the plot. Produced and recorded with Howard Duff, HD suddenly came under attack in the Red Scare. The Duff recording was shelved and never aired; the entire episode was redone with Richard Widmark. I've listened to the Duff, and it's well worth seeking out.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 23, 2017 4:43:49 GMT
Listening to the Hitch-Hiker right now.
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Post by telegonus on Oct 24, 2017 9:14:43 GMT
An evocative, somewhat dreamy Suspense, from early in its run, Death In The Summer House, always gets to me. The story moves around in time (sort of), and it's very well made, almost like a movie.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Oct 24, 2017 16:25:05 GMT
There's a very interesting early '50s episode about a radio writer who plots revenge against his producer. What's fascinating is the show w/in a show is very much like Suspense, and we get sort of a backstage look at the show's production process. Can't recall the title, but the episode's production is as intriguing as the plot. Produced and recorded with Howard Duff, HD suddenly came under attack in the Red Scare. The Duff recording was shelved and never aired; the entire episode was redone with Richard Widmark. I've listened to the Duff, and it's well worth seeking out. The episode is entitled "A Murderous Revision". The unaired Duff version was believed lost as late as 2008, but an Armed Forces Radio disc was found a few years ago.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Dec 16, 2017 6:23:09 GMT
"Three Blind Mice" January 30, 1947 Written by Kenneth Pettis and Robert L. Richards
A publisher fears being squeezed out of the company by his partner, and decides to do a little pre-emptive squeezing of his own.
Entertaining noirish story with a clever premise that could have made an interesting feature, or at least a Hitchcock Hour. Star Van Heflin completes the noir vibe.
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Post by telegonus on Dec 28, 2017 9:06:56 GMT
Loads of good OTR on Internet Archive. They're begging for money now but it's such a great site it's worth kicking in a few bucks now and then. I really love OTR Noir. They did crime well, too. I'm a big Dragnet radio buff. The TV version was fine but the radio is in a different class. Suspense still rules for me. Escape is #2 (not that I'm a list or favorites guy). The Whistler takes patience and time but it's worth it for the payoff. That the eponymous Whistler guy just does the intro and outro, with some concluding remarks that help tie up the loose ends is a plus.
Radio in those days excelled in telling what were in effect short stories for the mind's ete, roughly a half-hour in length, though there were longer ones. TV continued along these lines in its early days, just long enough to start killing off radio drama. The later ones, filmed, mostly on the coast, were superior to what I've seen of the earlier ones. Hitchcock's half-hour is a good representation of a TV Noir anthology, and they remade a number of Suspense episodes. Even the somewhat later Twilight Zone struck some Noir chords fairly often. Long term, color killed off anthologies of that sort, and watching the older ones only goes to remind me that newer doesn't mean better, that older sometimes is better.
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Post by koskiewicz on Dec 28, 2017 23:28:36 GMT
...I own several cassette tapes of the original radio broadcasts of "The Shadow"
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Post by telegonus on Dec 29, 2017 3:05:34 GMT
I generally avoid list threads -- frankly that goes for the CFB as well -- but since this is more of a guide for newbs I'll go along. In addition to the perennial Lucille Fletchers of "Sorry Wrong Number" and "The Hitch-Hiker": "Fugue in C Minor" -- another classic Fletcher. I'll never understand why it wasn't filmed "The House in Cypress Canyon" "The Night Reveals" "Wet Saturday" -- also done by AHP on TV "The After Dinner Story" "Banquo's Chair" "Cabin B-13"-- by John Dickson Carr; later filmed by Fox as Dangerous Crossing
That's about all I can come up with for the moment w/o an episode list. There's a very interesting early '50s episode about a radio writer who plots revenge against his producer. What's fascinating is the show w/in a show is very much like Suspense, and we get sort of a backstage look at the show's production process. Can't recall the title, but the episode's production is as intriguing as the plot. Produced and recorded with Howard Duff, HD suddenly came under attack in the Red Scare. The Duff recording was shelved and never aired; the entire episode was redone with Richard Widmark. I've listened to the Duff, and it's well worth seeking out. I listened to the late 1943 Robert Young version of The Night Revealed last night, --not for the first time--and it rocked. It's one of those "it's so good knowing the ending doesn't really hurt it" episodes. Lots like that on the better TV anthologies, too. Young's low keyed playing of the lead sold it. There was a version with Fredric March done earlier the same year, rumored lost, I think it's been found recently, not sure. Quite frankly, much as I like March he was almost too good and versatile an actor to wholly surprise me when he played an offbeat role, while Robert Young, an overall far less skilled actor with not a whole lot of versatility, just nailed it.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jan 15, 2018 3:37:28 GMT
"Out of Control" From the novel by Baynard Kendrick March 28, 1946
A blind detective tries to solve the murder of a blackmailing gangster
Guest star Brian Donlevy is cast as blind sleuth Duncan Maclain (played onscreen by Edward Arnold in Eyes In The Night in 1942). Not a terribly remarkable episode, except for one thing: the climax is as grisly as you'll ever hear. I doubt it could have been done in movies of the time.
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wanton87
Sophomore
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Post by wanton87 on Feb 2, 2018 2:39:05 GMT
A while back now, when I still had my XM/Sirius subscription, they were doing a birthday tribute to J. Carrol Naish. Mr Naish, who was of Irish ancestry, was probably best known for his various ethnic dialects. I was aware of his role in Life With Luigi, but it was never really a favorite of mine. The Suspense episode below, Footfalls, tells the story of Bowes, a blind Portuguese cobbler, and his lazy son. I must admit to being a little choked up at the conversation beyond the grave . That’s some powerful writing there, as the stoic old wanton is not so easily moved. www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/suspense/footfalls-1945-07-12Another favorite, is The Screaming Woman, starring sweet little Margaret O’Brien. www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/suspense/the-screaming-woman-1948-11-25
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 4, 2018 8:41:32 GMT
"I'll Just Take A Minute" Based on the story "Finger of Doom" by Cornell Woolrich December 6, 1945
Woolrich adaptations are always worth checking out. While this is not a classic on the level of "The Night Reveals", it is a well done variant on the old "vanishing lady" premise. Starring Lee Bowman, with Cathy Lewis, Wally Maher, and William Johnstone.
"Finger of Doom" (under its original title) was also done on Escape four years later
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 7, 2018 0:20:00 GMT
Trailer for The Big Clock (1948). Features Suspense director Anton Leader and Art Gilmore, the King of Trailer Voiceovers (he supposedly did over 3,000 of them) playing the Suspense announcer (although he never actually did that in reality).
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 9, 2018 14:26:13 GMT
A while back now, when I still had my XM/Sirius subscription, they were doing a birthday tribute to J. Carrol Naish. Mr Naish, who was of Irish ancestry, was probably best known for his various ethnic dialects. I was aware of his role in Life With Luigi, but it was never really a favorite of mine. The Suspense episode below, Footfalls, tells the story of Bowes, a blind Portuguese cobbler, and his lazy son. I must admit to being a little choked up at the conversation beyond the grave . That’s some powerful writing there, as the stoic old wanton is not so easily moved. www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/suspense/footfalls-1945-07-12I listened to "Footfalls" last night. Like "Sorry, Wrong Number" it has a premise that is perfectly suited for radio, and won't fully work in any other medium. Unlike the previously mentioned "Out of Control", "Footfalls" takes complete audio advantage of its protagonist's blindness. The special effects boys have a field day with the "hallucination" scene.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 11, 2018 18:53:36 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. Took me—what?—6 months, but I finally listened to “On a Country Road,” Tele. It is very, very good, but it kind of putters out (like Cary’s car) right before the end; the ending is fairly underwhelming. Still, as you said, the atmosphere was excellent, and I was intrigued by the direct parallels to (of all things) The Blair Witch Project! (Another Suspense episode, “Ghost Hunt,” also prefigures BWP’s “found footage” format.) Probably nothing intentional, but quite amusing.
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Post by telegonus on Mar 12, 2018 3:39:56 GMT
Truly, Salzmank, on OTR, as much in classic films,ambiance rules to a large degree. They create those,--whats?--diners, saloons, back alleys, flophouses, country houses, seaside cottages where a murder took place at the end of World War I and that still has that clammy feeling of something wrong; also, elegant Upper West Side apartments we can see only in our mind's eye; a campfire somewhere in the Adirondacks, and you can feel the crackle of the fire,--or is it the footsteps of an escapee from the state hospital for the criminally insane lurking about?--the one you heard about on the radio driving upstate. What I love most about those old suspense, supernatural and mystery shows is how they encourage the viewer to use his imagination. A crumbling old barn out in the middle of nowhere, complete with rodents scurrying about and an owl peering down at the "intruder" already has thousands of listeners summoning up images of barns they've seen, been in, were maybe spooked by, one of those old places neighborhood boys talk about or did when I (we?) was growing up, with the "dares" and those of us who took that walk up the creaky back staircase and what we saw , or did it see us?
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Post by hardball on Apr 3, 2018 2:34:58 GMT
You Died Last Night and Strange Day in May are good sci-fi stories. Surprised other shows didn't have their own versions.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 11, 2018 6:55:51 GMT
"Last Night" No writer credited; based on the short story "The Red Tide" by Cornell Woolrich June 15, 1943
Let's be reasonable about this -- not all Woolrich adaptations can be classics. This one is an unremarkable entry concerning a wife who slowly begins to suspect her husband of robbery and murder, the "suspicious husband" motif so popular at the time.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Nov 12, 2018 7:43:21 GMT
I see Vincent Price did a few versions of Three Skeleton Key. I like a Suspense version he did best. Not sure if it is 1956 or 1958 but his performance was more lively and the sound effects better than the Escape version he did.
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