Radio Recap: Murder by Experts

Recently I listened to all of what remains of the radio program Murder by Experts. Considering that it ran on Mutual for more than 2 years and over a hundred episodes, it's astonishing that only Fifteen episodes are circulating today.

It's a bit of an odd duck - not quite what it claims to be. Initially the show was hosted by mystery author John Dickson Carr, later by author Bret Halliday. Each week they claimed that another famous author (such as Cornell Woolrich) had chosen the story which they were dramatising.

That claim is... practically unbelieveable. Many of the surviving episodes of Murder by Experts are recycled scripts from Molle Mystery Theater. Indeed, comparing the two series radio logs, I see 31 episode titles on Murder by Experts which originated on Molle Mystery Theater. I just can't believe that none of these famous authors chose stories written by their peers but instead asked Murder by Experts to redo a Molle Mystery Theater script or present a new story by the creators of The Mysterious Traveler. It feels as though the titular "Experts" lent nothing more than their names; maybe Mutual paid them with a basket of cheeses.

As I alluded above, the series was produced by the same people as The Mysterious Traveler, so it feels very much the same - many familiar script beats and familiar actors. However, Murder by Experts lacked the supernatural and sci-fi tales which the Mysterious Traveler frequently indulged in.

I bring all of this up because in 1951, Murder by Experts won the Edgar Award for best radio program. I just can't believe a bunch of dusty Molle scripts by the Mysterious Traveler guys were the best mystery programs on radio, not when Suspense, the Whistler and Dragnet were on the air (in fact, the Whistler never won an Edgar, unlike Suspense and Dragnet). I wonder if that Edgar was merely a political award - handed out because the show plugged a famous mystery author every week and probably name-checked the majority of people who were voting on the ballot.

All this makes it sound like I dislike Murder by Experts; I don't. I think it's inferior to Suspense, but most shows were inferior to Suspense (compare the Murder by Epxerts production of "Return Trip" to the Suspense version - it's no contest, Suspense dramatized the same script much more ably). From those few remaining episodes there are some quite good programs; the first episode, "Summer Heat," was later adapted on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. "Three's a Crowd" is also a great crime story. There's some good in there - but almost every other surviving episode is a new version of an earlier production which still exists.

RIP: George Olshevsky

George Olshevsky has passed away.

Olshevsky first made waves in the 1970s with his small press Marvel Comics indexes. In the 1980s, Marvel thesmelves hired him to write new indexes for them; and that's where I first learned of Olshevsky, from the 'Officlal Marvel Comics Index' series featuring indexes of Marvel Team-Up, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers and X-Men. To this day, however, I've never seen those 1970s indexes in physical form - I don't think they saw much distribution in western Canada.

I suppose I was drawn to those indexes not only because I had an avid interest in Marvel lore (the indexes were an obvious partner to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe) but because Olshevsky's plot synopses seemed to me the only way I would ever possibly read the plots of every adventure of the Avengers or X-Men (little did I know).

In time, I became an indexer following in Olshevsky's footsteps when we launched our own Official Index to the Marvel Universe in 2009. Just as I was honoured to follow in Mark Gruenwald's path via the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, so too was I honoured to be performing the same work as George Olshevsky had.

Rest in peace, Mr. Olshevsky.

Hitchcock vs. Radio Part 15: The Birds

The Birds

• Lux Radio Theater (July 20, 1953): starring Herbert Marshall.
• Escape (July 10, 1954): starring Ben Wright.

As of I Confess we would seem to be at the end of era where Hitchcock's films were adapted to radio; some, like Saboteur, were never adapted (probably because Universal didn't like competing against their own film adaptations). As radio drama's money was diverted into television, we were denied adaptations of Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and more.

But then there's The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. You can tell that Hollywood sensed this story would somehow make a fine film (even though there had never been an 'animal attack' film like it before). The fact that it was adapted to Lux Radio Theater (which normally adapted films or at least plays). Du Maurier's short story was newly-published at the time and the Lux Radio Theater adaptation is pretty faithful, keeping the original location and narrative. However, it does add a strange framing sequence as two men read the story. It's a bit too on-the-beak-- er, nose.

Because both Lux Radio Theater and Escape were both CBS programs it shouldn't be surprising that the same performers would be in each, but it is interesting that Ben Wright, the star of the Escape adaptation, appeared in a small role as a reporter in the Lux Radio Theater version.

And that is the end of Hitchcock vs. Radio! I hope you enjoyed these posts and thinking about how Hitchcock and his crew adapted their stories.

Hitchcock vs. Radio Part 14: I Confess

I Confess

• Lux Radio Theater (September 21, 1953): starring Cary Grant and Phyllis Thaxter.

I Confess is that Hitchcock film that people don't get; Hitchcock was normally the great crowd pleaser, but here he made a film which many say you "have to be Catholic to understand." It's a little odd that Montgomery Clift didn't perform in the adaptation and very odd that Cary Grant acted in his stead, but Grant is actually pretty good in this role. It's a flawed story but a good radio drama.

Hitchcock vs. Radio Part 13: Strangers on a Train

Strangers on a Train

• Lux Radio Theater (December 3, 1951): starring Frank Lovejoy, Ray Milland, Ruth Roman (reprised her film role) and Patricia Hitchcock (reprised her film role).

Strangers on a Train is among Hitchcock's best and this adaptation is pretty good, although neither of the film's leads reprised their roles. Still, Frank Lovejoy could play a great psychopath, as he did here. It's a little disappointing that the murder scene wasn't dramatized - it would have made very good with radio with the sounds of the fairground.

Hitchcock vs. Radio Part 12: Rope

Rope

• Best Plays (November 30, 1950): starring Victor Jory.

I'm a little unlike most Hitchcock fans in that I rate Rope very high - I think it's one of his best films. The camera movements and editing in this picture are just fun and I think the tension of the situation is maintained throughout.

But this radio drama is not an adaptation of the film, it's an adaptation of the original play by Patrick Hamilton. Unfortunately, I don't think it works well at all - everything about the story is too obvious as it seems like the only subject people want to discuss at the party is the chest and what might be inside it - it lacks the subtle touch in Hitchcock's film. As well, I find Victor Jory is just too intense in his role - there's nothing wry or clever about him, he simply seems to suspect the murderers from the moment he enters the play.

Hitchcock vs. Radio Part 11: The Paradine Case

The Paradine Case

• Lux Radio Theater (May 9, 1949): starring Joseph Cotten and Valli (reprised her film role).

The Paradine Case is no one's favourite Hitchcock film. I'm baffled as to why David O. Selznick thought this was going to be a huge film; at least with a spectacle like Duel in the Sun you can see how commercial it is. But this? It's a courtroom drama and it's not good courtroom drama. It's inert and turgid. The story only becomes interesting in the climax when the murderer is revealed. But for all that, this adaptation is still good radio and at half the length of the film, less tiresome.