I've seen the series described by virtually all old-time radio fans as an attempt to duplicate the success of Escape. Of course, Escape only enjoyed a few months with a sponsor so although it was a very well-made program it wasn't a huge success; High Adventure at least had a sponsor during the NBC run yet you'd hardly know it to listen to the series, there's no sense of a change in budget. Old Spice didn't bring in any big name stars, just reduced the drama's running time to squeeze in commercials.
There are a few famous names in the program's final year on the air among the few surviving episodes. Basil Rathbone pops up in a 1953 episode titled "the Hungry Peacock." And the last few episodes of High Adventure feature George Sanders as the series' host. Unfortunately, Sanders sounds extremely bored with his role. His narration is dry to the point of disinterest in what he's saying. Although you'll perk up at his voice - because he did have a terrific voice for radio - you'll lose interest because he can't even bring himself to make the words "High Adventure" sound adventurous.
I don't think this is by any means comparable to Escape and if you expect something similar to Escape, you'll be disappointed. High Adventure did not adapt famous stories nor did it set its tales in exotic locales. Heck, there's nary a poisonous snake to be found. In fact, High Adventure was often a dramatic about characters struggling with interpersonal troubles. A good example of that is the 1950 episode "Wild Pitch," a baseball drama about the rivalry between a catcher and a pitcher and their troubled history.
There are fewer than 2 dozen episodes of High Adventure still in circulation. The Old-Time Radio Researchers Group has a collection of High Adventure on the Internet Archive.
I think that this show is much better than that faint praise. While it shares elements with Escape, the difference is that Escape is far more psychological; High Adventure is more so focused on males overcoming incredible odds and surviving. Those are two very, very different things.
ReplyDeleteWe still have these varied types of treatments. Some war movies essentially glorify war; others take the opposite approach, usually based upon the mindset of a conflicted male soldier or combatant. Escape probably focuses on the OCD weaknesses of its male protagonists while High Adventure takes note of the fact that human males are indeed impressive. I would not want to be a lumberjack or soldier or work in a mine. But without the guys who are willing to do those things, where would we be. Men are not always evil or bad; they are much more complicated that that but these two shows are great examples of what could be called male energy.
I don't think anyone's OTR education is complete unless she has listened to this show. It has almost exclusively new scripts and many OTR fans like that as opposed to shows that condense short stories and novels and plays and movies. I like both but find that many adaptations of famous works are sort of eh, in Otr and movie versions.
To me, what is fascinating about this show is that most or close to half of the packaged episodes are South African OTR and they might be better than the American produced ones. I listen to South African OTR constantly and am sort of in awe at how many excellent shows this medium-sized country has.
Squad Cars is astonishingly good as an imitation of Dragnet. If you want to understand South African society in the '60's and '70's, this is the show. The use of accents is enlightening. Most of the criminals appear to be Dutch-speaking. Few or none seem to be "Bantu" which is the term that the show uses for native Africans.
Almost all of the good guys speak "Received Pronunciation" so it is handy for Canadians and Americans attempting to speak non-rhotically.