James M. Cain is considered by many as one of the creators of the roman noir or “dark fiction” along with Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, Dorothy Hughes and others. Some describe his stories as “hardboiled” though I don’t feel they are in the strict sense other than if one considers noir fiction as a sub-genre of the “hardboiled” school. The… (more…)
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This week, one of most thrilling episodes, for me, from the series Suspense. The best radio drama is when the acting is top-notch, the sound effects are well-tuned to enhance the dialogue and the music is designed to increase tension and a sense of thrill. This happens when a good producer and director can pull it all together to positively… (more…)
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This week, a return to mystery writer, Dorothy L. Sayers. Sayers is best known for her detective character Lord Peter Wimsey, but this British writer also wrote many short stories in which there was no specific professional detective. In this week’s episode, you’ll hear Suspicion, an episode from the Suspense radio series based on the short story, Mr. Mummery’s Suspicion,… (more…)
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This time I present an example of taking an excellent fictional story and trying to squeeze it into a one half-hour suspense play. Agatha Christie’s story The ABC Murders is a fine Hercule Poirot mystery, but when handled by a normally excellent scriptwriter turning it into a radio drama, something has to give. The radio play as pure radio drama… (more…)
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The start of a two podcast look at somewhat forgotten pioneer of the psychological thriller – Dorothy B. Hughes. Hughes was a mystery writer from the forties into the fifties and beyond, but her peak power was in the late forties. In a Lonely Place was one of her best novels – a psychological murder mystery inside the mind of… (more…)
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This week a visit with Cornell Woolrich and the radio adaptation of his noirish horror story “After Dinner Story” as heard over the radio series Suspense. Woolrich was the master of creating tension out of the commonplace and while not completely faithful to the original story, this is still a very well done adaptation with script by Robert L. Richards.… (more…)
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We’re back with an all new podcast. This one is a good one featuring Edmund O’Brien in a well layered role as Eric Strange, an author of help books about people who seem to suffer from “blind spots” in their lives. Blind spots are those areas where an individual fails to see or understand some event in their lives. Strange… (more…)
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While in England, one of John Dickson Carr’s earliest plays was one called “Devil in the Summer House” which was originally envisioned as a two-parter, but eventually reduced to a one hour play. When Carr came back to the United States due to the war and his need to register for the draft, he re-wrote his one hour play into… (more…)
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