New Essay: Black Lions & Black Panthers

My newest essay at Sequart has been released: Black Lions and Black Panthers: Wakanda as a Representation of Ethiopia. As it says on the tin, this essay explores similarities between Wakanda and Ethiopia. I hope you enjoy it!

Radio Recap: Murder Clinic

Murder Clinic is a show I had heard of but never actually sat down and listened to. When I finally became curious enough to look into the series I was surprised to learn there were only six episodes still known to exist from its one-year run.

Murder Clinic launched on Mutual in 1942 at the same time as Suspense. In fact, the series somewhat resembles that first year of Suspense, when the series would adapt famous detective stories by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr and T. S. Stribling. Perhaps that has something to do with why Murder Clinic only managed to secure one year - Suspense was doing the same thing, but with a bigger budget.

Murder Clinic only suffers a little from its lower budget. For a Mutual series, it's actually pretty well put together with large rotating casts. The gimmick of featuring a different famous detective hero adaptation each week is an interesting one. If only the whole series were still available it would be an interesting tour of what detective fiction of the mid-20th century was like. As it is, here's what remains:

• August 11, 1942: Dr. Henry Poggioli in "The Governor of Cap Haitien" by T. S. Stribling
• August 18, 1942: Max Carrados in "The Holloway Flat Tragedy" by Ernest Bramah
• September 22, 1942: Rosika Storey in "The Scrap of Lace" by Hulbert Footner
• September 29, 1942: Sir Henry M. Merrivale in "Death in the Dressing Room" by John Dickson Carr
• October 6, 1942: Hercule Poirot in "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor" by Agatha Christie
• October 13, 1942: Police Deputy Parr in "Gulf Stream Green" by Frederick Irving Anderson

I've complained a few times on this blog about John Dickson Carr's writing, especially what was presented on Suspense in 1942-1943. To my amazement, I don't hate the surviving Carr episode! Actually, it's a pretty good piece of detective fiction which plays fair with the audience and doesn't talk down to them (usually my problem with Carr). If only his Suspense writing had hit that note!

I also have to single out the Dr. Poggioli story. The Poggioli story "A Passage to Benares" on Suspense was the subject of my most popular blog post on old-time radio. The adaptation of "The Governor of Cap Hatien" is another great Poggioli yarn (also collected in Clues of the Caribees with "A Passage to Benares"). It involves a bit of voodoo and, as per usual, Poggioli makes some brilliant deductions but is a little slow at implementing them!

I should also say that the Poirot adaptation is good; living in a post-David Suchet world it is difficult to accept any other performer in that role, but it's done very well.

If you enjoy detective fiction (especially by any of those six authors), it's definitely of interest to you. More about Murder Clinic can be gleaned from the page at the Digital Deli.

RIP: Sidney Poitier

The same day Peter Bogdanovich passed also saw the death of Sidney Poitier.

Poitier has always been one marked for the history books because he was the first black performer to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (for Lilies of the Field). For a time - particulary in the 1960s - he was simply one of the most prominent and respected black entertainers and went on to be sort of elder statesman in the film industry even after he stopped acting. I recall how when Denzel Washington won his award for Training Day he lifted it in salute to Poitier.

Poitier's body of work was criticized by James Baldwin because he tended to play very earnest, self-sacrificing men. Baldwin considered it something of a betrayal that in The Defiant Ones, Poitier's escaped convict character sacrificed his own freedom to save the life of Tony Curtis' character. There's certainly truth to what Baldwin wrote.

However, bringing it back to Denzel, on the flip side you have a film like Training Day. I was surprised when a friend told me he wasn't very enthused about Denzel winning the award. It's not that he thought Denzel's performance was lacking, but that he won it for portraying a horrible human being. My friend would have been happier if Denzel had portrayed someone he could present to his son as a role model.

On that score, Poitier really came through. His early film roles in the likes of No Way Out presented him as saintly; in Red Ball Express or Blackboard Jungle he had an edge but had to learn a lesson; films like To Sir, with Love and Lilies of the Field made him tender.

Yet I have to single out two films from his career as my favourites; one I only discovered last year, The Bedford Incident, which is almost a gross parody of a typical Poitier protagonist - he seems to be the high-minded idealist, the straight-shooter who knows what's what - but he's stuck in a nihilistic film that can have no happy ending! And I really love Sneakers where he played in a neat ensemble cast for a heist picture - it's lightweight, but very entertaining.

Rest in peace, Mr. Poitier.

RIP: Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich died yesterday.

His light shone bright at the start of the so-called "New Hollywood" movement but was extinguished quickly as an early string of successes seemed to be followed by as many flops. Bogdanovich directed some fondly-remembered films, but outside of the 1970s he seemed to struggle. In that sense he was a little like his love-hate mentor Orson Welles.

What I'll remember him for most fondly is Targets - the rare horror film which is as heartfelt as it is terrifying. His genuine affection for Boris Karloff makes Targets more than just another thriller. I also enjoyed The Cat's Meow, which was something of a companion to Welles' Citizen Kane. It's great that Bogdanovich lived long enough to see Welles' film The Other Side of the Wind finally released, with Bogdanovich acting in a lead role. The accompanying documentary, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead was equally fascinating. And speaking of documentaries, Bogdanovich made a great one about Buster Keaton called The Great Buster; seek it out if you love silent comedies.

Rest in peace, Mr. Bogdanovich.

Radio Recap: The Casebook of Gregory Hood

In exploring old-time radio shows that I wasn't very familiar with I became interested in the program The Casebook of Gregory Hood. This series ran on Mutual from 1946-1951, yet so far only 16 episodes have been found to exist - and of them, they're mostly from the start of the series. It's a pity that so little exists, considering the talent involved on this program.

I have to begin by talking about Anthony Boucher and Denis Green. These two had been the chief writers on Mutual's The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes since 1944, which was sponsored by Petri Wines and starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In the spring of 1946, Rathbone and Bruce bid the Holmes series adeus for good. In their final episode ("The Singular Affair Of The Baconian Cipher"), Gregory Hood dropped in during the outro so that his old friend Dr. Watson could invite listeners to hear his debut episode (television would later codify this sort of spin-off). The Casebook of Gregory Hood was produced as a summer replacement for Sherlock Holmes, which did return in the fall with Boucher and Green still the series' principal writers (but with a new Holmes and Watson).

The Casebook of Gregory Hood, therefore, can be seen as an attempt by Boucher and Green to see if they could succeed without the names of Rathbone, Bruce, Holmes or Watson! The format of the show was very much like Boucher and Green's Sherlock Holmes. Petri Wines pitchman Harry Bartell would venture into the company of Gregory Hood (and/or his lawyer friend Sanderson Taylor) and after some playful banter about Petri Wines, they would tell Bartell the story of one of their adventures.

Although many of the mystery plots presented on Gregory Hood could have been featured on Sherlock Holmes, there are certain differences. The biggest is the setting - not only is it in the USA rather than the UK, but in the specific locale of San Francisco. It seems Boucher lived in San Francisco and he put in a lot of effort to include actual city landmarks and descriptions. Although I've only visited San Francisco once myself, I appreciate all the colourful details the setting adds - too often the radio program version of London can feel like a storybook-land, so the grounded setting sets it apart from Sherlock Holmes.

The lead character, Gregory Hood, was the owner of an export company. Although only an amateur sleuth, many of his cases would begin because Hood was involved in some valuable item which had just arrived in San Francisco. Unlike Holmes, Hood could fall for beautiful women (also, he had a real job). Just as Holmes had Watson, Hood was accompanied by his lawyer, Sanderson Taylor. Taylor's expertise in the law actually was helpful from time to time.

Unlike the Sherlock Holmes stories set in the past, Gregory Hood was set in contemporary times, which also made an impact on the program. During the Petri Wine days, the advertisements with Harry Bartell would sometimes be referenced in the body of the radio play. The lightness of the series can be heard in programs such as "South of the Border", an episode in which Hood is mistaken for a nobleman and caught up in foreign intrigue. At first, the episode sounds like a Prisoner of Zenda rip-off, but in the climax it turns out Hood's entire ordeal was just a practical joke played on him by "the great mystery writer" dubbed "Antonio"! (re: Anthony Boucher). "A fantastic plot. But you can tell Antonio that he overdid it," says Hood.

Initially, Gregory Hood was played by Gale Gordon. Gordon is best known as a comedic actor on programs like Our Miss Brooks but this role actually suited him fairly well - Gregory Hood wasn't stolid and stuffy like Sherlock Holmes, but he was a cultured and urbane man. Gordon had the perfect "cultured" voice that made his character sound very intelligent, but also wry and witty. The first 10 episodes of Gregory Hood still exist and they all star Gordon. For my money, he was the best Gregory Hood.

Elliott Lewis followed Gordon, but I don't find his performance very memorable. Lewis was a terrific actor with a lot of range, but his Gregory Hood doesn't sound much different than a stock character he'd played on Suspense. Five of Elliott Lewis' episodes of Gregory Hood still exist. After Lewis came Jackson Beck. I find Beck was best as a character player, not in a leading role. He tended to appear in shows with lower budgets and certainly, Gregory Hood was not an expensive show; by the time Beck arrived, Boucher and Green were gone. Only one of Jackson Beck's episodes of Gregory Hood still exist.

Sanderson Taylor's role was constantly changed. It was Bill Johnstone in the first episode, which I was pleased to hear, but although Johnstone continued to appear as supporting characters on the program he didn't return as Sanderson. The most prolific Sanderson was Howard McNear, who played opposite Elliott Lewis' Hood.

The best episode of The Casebook of Gregory Hood is almost definitely "The Adventure of the White Masters" (November 5, 1946), in which Hood investigates an American neo-Nazi group. It's sadly still a very timely topic but it's very interesting to hear fiction with neo-Nazis as the villains just a year after World War II! The mystery is a bit obvious but it does play fair with its clues.

I checked out the series because of Anthony Boucher. He was a fun writer, responsible for amusing tales like The Compleat Werewolf. I don't think his radio writing is anywhere near as good as his print but The Casebook of Gregory Hood was quite good fun.

Lubango Vlog Part 11: Junk Food Pt. III!

Here is another entry in my vlog in which I test four more examples of junk food I found in Angola. Enjoy by proxy!

2021 in Review!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The big change for me in 2021 was, naturally, moving to Lubango, Angola to serve as a missionary. It's an unusual time to be overseas, what with the coronovirus still a major concern. But with all the spare time I've wound up with, it's given me great opportunities to read and watch films. Here's what really stood out in 2021:

BOOKS

I read a few great books about Angola, with David Birmingham's A Short History of Modern Angola being the most succinct history of Angola I've read yet. I also enjoyed Daniel Metcalfe's travel book, Blue Dahlia, Black Gold.

I read more books by Adam Hochschild, including a terrific set of essays in Lessons from a Dark Time which proved to include some nice supplements to his great book King Leopold's Ghost. I was also very surprised at how much I enjoyed The Mirror at Midnight, his 1990 book about South Africa at the time apartheid was coming apart. He really had a knack for finding interesting people and perspectives on South Afria, it is one of the better books about South Africa I've read!

Some other interesting non-fiction topics were Ruth Ben-Ghiat's Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present and Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The former is concerned with authoritarian leaders and the common traits between them; the latter book argues that the USA has a caste system but is largely unaware of it and explores how the social problems of the country could be better understood if the principles of caste were applied. Both books made very compelling arguments and gave me a lot to consider.

I read a few great Christian books during the year. N. T. Wright's God and the Pandemic is the best christian response to the pandemic that I've seen. His most compelling teaching point with a larger application is that post-resurrection, God comes to us in the shape of Jesus, which I certainly agree with. I also enjoyed Joshua Butler Ryan's The Pursuing God, which makes a great point about how we often speak of seeking God when, in reality, it's God who is seeking after us. Finally, the podcast series The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill led me to the book When Narcissism Comes to Church by Chuck DeGroat. That book does a great job of simply explaining narcissism and the different ways in which it appears in human behaviour.

The best books about comics that I read were Mark D. White's The Virtues of Captain America (which has its own blog that is a lot of fun), and Abraham Riesman's True Believer. The latter book is the first critical biography of Stan Lee and it's a very strong read - not something many fans want to read, but it is a terrific bit of scholarship about Lee that, I think, is even-handed in covering what he did well and what made him difficult to appreciate.

MOVIES

I saw a number of great movies about Angola. The most enjoyable was Jeremy Xido's Death Metal Angola, a documentary about a rock concert being organized in Huambo. It's easily the best slice-of-life story I've seen told about Angola. Another great documentary was Independencia by Mario Bastos, which is focused on having Angolans tell the story of the war of independence. It's best enjoyed in DVD format because the bonus features telling how the film was made are as fascinating as the finished product. Finally, there's the odd live action/animation hybrid film of Another Day of Life which I wrote about elsewhere on the blog.

I watched two great films by Aaron Sorkin - Molly's Game and The Trial of the Chicago 7. I enjoyed the former film the most as it was stylish but unlike Sorkin's usual body of work (especially lacking in his usual authorial tics). The latter film is a much more conventionally centirst work by Sorkin but it had great performances.

I saw two great pictures starring Richard Widmark - one the terrific Cold War thriller The Bedford Incident by James B. Harris - it's a terrific picture and I'm amazed I hadn't heard of it before. I also really enjoyed Night and the City, a noir picture set in England which was one of the better noirs I've seen.

Dipping into the past, I watched the 1951 Argentinian adaptation of Native Son, which I enjoyed and I intend to read the novel soon. I watched Spike Lee's BlackKklansman which is first Lee joint I've really genuinely liked. Finally, I watched David Fincher's Mank which was an interesting biographical portrait of Herman J. Mankiewicz.

TELEVISION

I don't watch much television programming but a few series caught my eye: Ted Lasso is everything I heard it was - funny and enveloping. I'm cautiously enjoying For All Mankind, being all-too aware that as a Ronald D. Moore production it could go off the rails at any time. And the Netflix series Gloria was an interesting Cold War spy thriller, though the dark climax wasn't entirely to my liking.

COMIC BOOKS

In comics, I'm continuing to follow Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, which has never dipped in quality. I liked Evan Dorkin's new Beasts of Burden mini-series, "Occupied Territory," although the series is at its best when set in Burden Hill - outside that it becomes just another fantasy-adventure series. And I continue to enjoy Larry Hama's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which spent most of 2021 telling done-in-one stories which was a very nice change from the usual ongoing plots.

I haven't had too much to do with Marvel since I quit working for them but I'm gradually giving them another chance. It helps that they brought back Christopher Priest for a U.S. Agent series which was everything I hoped for from Priest. I tried Kieron Gillen's Eternals series thanks to my lingering love of the Eternals; it's not really what I want from the Eternals, but I do like that Gillen (unlike Gaiman) knows his Eternals lore. Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk has wrapped up - I could have easily seen it going for a few more years; it's hard to imagine how the Hulk can continue without dealing with the cosmic horror elements Ewing brought in. Kurt Busiek's new series The Marvels is basically Astro City in the Marvel Universe and I'm here for that. And I tried the first two stories in X-Men Legends, really just to enjoy seeing new super hero work from Fabian Nicieza and the Simonsons.

The best graphic novels I read included the Out of the Blue books by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns, which were typically great war comics from Ennis. The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories is Tom Gauld's latest humour book and it was as amusing as his other collections. Paying the Land by Joe Sacco is another great piece of comics journalism, this time referencing the First Nations of Canada, which is especially timely for us Canadians as we're intentionally seeking to heal the wounds we made. The Girl Who Married a Skull was a fun anthology of African myths rendered by a variety of artists. The Harrowing of Hell by Evan Dahm was an interesting imagining of what Jesus' descent into Hell was like. Poochytown was another weird and wonderful Jim Woodring book starring Frank. And Showtime at the Apollo by Ted Fox told the history of the Apollo Theater, all of whih was new information to me and very informative.