Golden Age Article « The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio

7Apr/120

The Top 10 Perry Mason TV Movies, Part One

Having recently watched all 26 of the 1980s-90s Perry Mason Revival movies, I've decided to make a list of the best of them.

While these movies are not the equals of the original series, Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale's talents still made the films worthwhile and entertaining through each of the 26 installments.

Without any further adieu, here's my top 10 list:

10) Perry Mason and the Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992)

Geraldo Rivera is perfectly cast as a trashy TV host who releases a memoir detailing his past escapades and dishing dirt on all of his lovers. It's no surprise when he's killed and suspects abound.

The mystery takes several turns with some great misdirection when Ken Malansky stumbles into two suspects who are in the witness protection program, but everything wraps up quite nicely.

9) Perry Mason and the Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991)

Perry usually doesn't take the case of hardcore criminals, but finds himself defending reformed mobster Johnny Sorento (Michael Nader) who has apparently settled down in legitimate business. There are quite a few red herring in this one that throw the viewer off the truth, but the ending has an incredible twist as the outcome can't be exactly what Perry's client was hoping for.

8) Perry Mason and the Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991)

The movie begins with Perry giving an interview with a news co-anchor. The news anchor is on a power trip and kills the story, prompting an angry confrontation with his co-anchor. When the anchor turns up dead and the co-anchor is charged, Perry leads in the defense.

If there's one theme that does recur in these movies, it's talented people who become the top dog and step on everyone else around them. It's rarely more plainly shown than in this installment.

This telefilm also includes more than your average bit of action as Ken Malansky has to go to more extreme measures than usual to corral a key witness.

7) Perry Mason and the Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989)

Speaking of Ken Malansky, The Lethal Lesson was where his involvement with Mason began. In this episode, he ends up Mason's client after he's accused of murdering a fellow law school student.

This particular installment has a fun love triangle between Ken's girlfriend (Karen Kopins) and his an ex-girlfriend (Alexandra Paul) who is telling everyone that she's Ken's intended. For the first half of the movie you think Paul's character is bonkers, but by the end of the film you're given a surprise whammy in the payoff.

The story is solid with the usual tension between Perry's friendships and his duty to his clinets. But the introduction of Malansky makes this a fascinating study. With Malansky on-board, the series was on its way to capturing some real magic in the chemistry between the cast and that alone makes this a worthwhile film.

To be Continued...Next Week

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31Mar/120

Audio Drama Review: Father Brown, Volume 3

In this Third Volume of the Father Brown Mysteries, Colonial Radio Theatre takes the stories from The Incredulity of Father Brown and the Scandal of Father Brown, two of the latter collection. Colonial an admirable job with the source material:

"The Oracle of the Dog": A man is killed in his summer house and the strange behavior of a dog is seen as a key clue. Colonial had to do some work on this story as an adaptation. In the original Chesterton story, Father Brown doesn't visit the scene of the crime, but rather solves the case based on clues given him by someone else. Thus, it came off as more of Chesterton's criticism of literary treatment of canines in murder mysteries. Thanks to Colonial, this story comes alive while still getting Chesterton's point across.

"The Miracle of Moon Crescent": In America, Father Brown warns four skeptics of that a well-known in millionaire is in danger after telling a story of his encounter with a superstitious Irishmen. They scoff at him, but when the millionaire is found murdered with no reasonable scientific or psychological solution presents itself, the skeptics begin to doubt themselves and begin to consider a supernatural solution. J.T. Turner did a great job writing the adaptation and captured the subtleties of the satirical elements of the story. The only thing that marred this one was that the accents seemed quite a bit off. Still, a worthwhile presentation of a great story.

"The Green Man": A wealthy admiral is found murdered in full dress uniform by two golfers and it's a classic whodunit. The story begins in medias res with Father Brown speaking to one of the suspects before the final denoument, a kind of interesting twist. The story is standard whodunit fare handled quite capably by Colonial.

"The Quick One": A classic story of murder in a hotel bar of a a Tory curmudgeon. Father Brown insists that that the key to the case is finding an unknown man who stopped in for a drink and didn't even bother to finish it. (i.e. The quick one.) The mystery was well and faithfully adapted. A couple weeks ago, I criticized the British TV version for trying to mitigate Father Brown's views of the deceased as a heroic figure who was the one of the last men who could have saved England. Colonial avoided any revisionism in that regards. In one way, they actually improved on Chesterton with an edit. They moved a line that Father Brown delivered in the middle of the original story to the end when Father Brown was talking to his policeman companion on a train. Where it was originally written, it kind of seemed like rambling dictum that readers could easily pass over on their way to the solution. However, put at the end, it offers a vital explanation as to why a Priest would always be involving himself in Homicide investigations. This is probably the best Father Brown episode that Colonial's done so far.

Overall rating for the collection: 4.5

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23Mar/120

We’ll Always Have Casablanca

On Wednesday, it was my pleasure to attend TCM 70th Anniversary screening of Casablanca at the Edwards 21 Cinema in Boise. It was the second time I'd seen Casablanca, but seeing it in theaters, the way it was originally intended was definitely a different experience.

I'd seen it about 9 years ago on VHS. Seeing it theaters was a different experience. There's so much depth and richness to the film. And just to see it as big as life on the screen, as it was originally intendeded, was incredible.

Casablanca is not a movie that you "review." That'd be silly. Still some things are striking. Casablanca remain an idealistic movie that's still about real people dealing with real problems.

It's a big movie about big things and big decisions. It's a movie where the ending wasn't written when the filming began, but it may have been the best and most profound endings a movie had.

While I appreciate radio's attempts to adapt Casablanca, this may be one classic film that loses quite a bit in the transition to audio format. One big thing I noticed was Bogart's facial expression. A single look from him spoke more than a hundred lines of dialogue. Perhaps, if you've seen it a dozen times, you can probably imagine it well enough, but Casablanca is one of those films that on a relatively low budget ($800,000) creates a cinema richness that's truly art.

The one thing radio could never duplicate is Bogart's face. Bogart's expressions communicate more than 200 pages of scripting could. Particularly early on, when you watch him experience this pain of Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) return and dredging up all these memories, it's so real you can almost feel what Rick's going through Bogie's eyes.

Casablanca is like many films in having a lot of elements at work: adventure, romance, drama, and comedy. However, what Casablanca does better than any other films I've seen is that it times them perfectly, so you're laughing one moment, drawn into the drama , and then laughing at some of the great comic relief moments and snappy lines.

I hope that Casablanca endures and that it's passed down to future generations as the wonderful American film that it is.

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18Mar/120

Movie Review: The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band

Does modern politics with its robocalls and attack ads have you down? Try politics in the 1888 with a musical score attached.

The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band is a film that doesn't get a whole lot of love in online reviews at least by people who post standalone reviews on their website. The 1968 Disney Musical is more often panned than praise. Yet, it was a favorite of mine growing up and I had an opportunity to watch it again and it deserves better than its gotten. So here goes.

In 1888, the Bauers are a musically talented family living in Missouri. The head of the house (Buddy Ebsen) is a soft-spoken Republican but his father is an outspoken Democrat (Walter Brennan) who wants to take the family band to St. Louis to perform at the Democratic Convention. Much to her grandfather's chagrin, the eldest daughter is in love with a young Republican newspaperman (John Davidson) from the Dakota territory who wants to move the whole family and as many other Republicans as he can out to the Dakota territories to justify the bid to have the Dakotas admitted as two separate states and then to assure those states remain Republican.

If you love American history, this film is a great look back at a little known chapter. Their portrayal of the Dakota Territory politics makes clear that passion and even pettiness is nothing new to American politics, although the issues were arguably not as hot or fundamentally divisive in 1888 as it was today. It also reveals the Democratic and Republican Parties of the era were vastly different entities from their modern counterparts, so it's hard to charge the The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band with any bias. The movie is full of ironic political moments. At a rally, one man complains that Cleveland refuses to take action to reduce the government surplus. In the election night event, as befits, a Hollywood musical, the two parties held one election night party and Democrats and Republicans taunted each other in songs. In one memorable portion, proponents of one side sang about their candidate's pledges and the other side proclaimed, "Ahh, that's politics."Then they recited their own candidate's similar platform and declared, "That's statesmanship."

The music has not been praised by most, as the song have been viewed as forgettable. Indeed, it doesn't measure up to the great musicals like The Sound of Music or even Disney's earlier hits like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's also true that Grandpa's tribute to Grover Cleveland goes on way too long. However, the movie features the stirring song, "Dakota" sung by Davidson. It's a stirring tribute and it's stuck with me through the years as one of those songs that will all the sudden pop in my head. Then there's the delightful, "'Bout Time" sung by Davidson and co-star Lesley Ann Warren.

What makes the movie great are the great performances by Brennan, Davidson, and Ebsen and the movie's message. As Grandpa, Brennan is at his cantankerous best, constantly stirring up trouble as the loudest Democrat in a Republican-dominated town. He's sincere, well-intentioned, and patriotic.

Ebsen's as Calvin Bower is a pillar of quiet strength. He respects his father, and goes along with his dad's goal of singing at the Democratic Convention. When asked by a Democratic representative how he can be a Republican and want to come sing his father's tribute to Grover Cleveland at the Democratic Conventions, Calvin replies that the song would not be well-received at a Republican Convention.

However, Calvin stands up to his father when his antics threaten his daughter's happiness. And its Calvin who brings the town together at the end of the movie with a simple speech.

Davidson is great as a mix of romantic lead, a political firebrand, and also a respectful and noble opponent of Grandpa Bower's political goals. Davidson's Joe Carder remains a noble and decent man who is still passionate about his politics.

This is a movie without villains, but with plenty of conflict. The Bower family pulls together despite politics and sacrifices for one another. Calvin is ready to wait a year to go to Dakota despite the fact that good land will be gone to fulfill his father's dream of going to the Democratic Convention. His dad chooses to give up his dream for the sake of his children and grandchildren. For the Bower's family comes before party politics. And at the end of the day, the movie ends with the town joining hands to work together once the Presidency and the Dakotas fate had been decided.

Such an ending probably seemed too idealistic and simple when the film was released in 1968. The assassinations of both Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, as well as violence at the 1968 Democratic Conventions marred the election year. It may seem even more disconnected from our present reality when presidential elections lead to people either declaring the election fraudulent, suggesting that the United States be divided, or threatening to move to a foreign country. But to me, the end leaves me a little nostalgic.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

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17Mar/121

TV Series Review: Father Brown

In 1974, Father Brown came to ITV with Kenneth More starred as G.K. Chesterton's sleuth. The series adapted thirteen of the Father Brown Mysteries to television. The results were a bit of mixed bag.

Kenneth More's acting as Father Brown was certainly not a mixed bag. He played a delightful but cunning Father Brown, embodying the great clerical detective with warmth and humanity.

To be fair to the producers, as I said with the Colonial Theatre adaptations, the Father Mysteries are challenging to adapt because they were never written with dramatization in mind. Oracle of the Dog, for example, features a mystery where Father Brown never visits the scene of the crime, while Curse of the Golden Cross features a murderer who never even finds out he's been found out. Such results may make for interesting thought experiments and mental puzzles, but it makes for poor television.

The additional challenge with this Television series is that they had an hour for each episode. As both Colonial Radio Theatre and BBC Radio 4 have proved, half an hour is more than sufficient to tell Chesterton's stories. The one hour format could allow them to flesh out the stories and make them more compelling and dramatic or it could allow them to merely pad the stories. The producers did a little of both.

Several episodes hit the spot. "The Hammer of God" was faithful to Chesterton's story with additional details added that made the story more compelling and interesting as a mystery. The same could be said for "The Eye of Apollo," "The Dagger With Wings," and "The Man With Two Beards." The series made some minor changes to "The Head of Caesar" but it still was quite well done. They also managed to neatly insert Father Brown into the action in, "The Oracle of the Dog."

These were fine and perhaps the best of the lot was "The Hammer of God" which was powerfully told as well as faithful to Chesterton's story. Perhaps the most interesting was, "The Secret Garden" which remained faithful to the spirit of Chesterton's story while changing some details. While I might have been biased by having read the story and hearing the Colonial Theatre adaptation, to me it seemed the telefilm made obvious who the murderer was, which gave the episode an almost Columbo-like feel as Father Brown seemed to take on a few more odd mannerisms. Columbo was, of course, based in part of Father Brown. So if the creators of the Father Brown TV series were consciously or subconsciously mimicking Columbo which was consciously based partially on Father Brown, then everything had come full circle.

Where the series had its weak spots was in realizing when something didn't need changed or making the wrong change. In, "The Curse of the Golden Cross" the writers managed to replace Chesteron's unsatisfying ending with an even worse one that makes Father Brown look foolish. In "The Three Tools of Death" and "The Arrow of Heaven," perhaps the Father Brown stories most suited for adaptation, the writers got far too cute for their own good in their attempts to doctor what were already fine stories. They also happen to be two of my favorites, so they annoy me. Their changes to "Three Tools of Deaths" were tedious and merely padded the story. Their version of "The Arrow of Heaven" made one unforgivable mistake. They set the story in England when Chesterton set in America. The strength and power of the story comes from not only the mystery, but the feeling of Father Brown in being in a foreign land with a foreign set of values on the issue of justice. Consider this line from the story:

Even as he did so he realized that he was an Englishman and an exile. He realized that he was among foreigners, even if he was among friends. Around that ring of foreigners ran a restless fire that was not native to his own breed; the fiercer spirit of the western nation that can rebel and lynch, and above all, combine. He knew that they had already combined.

Placing the story in England means that not only doesn't the program communicate this idea, it discards it completely.

One other criticism of the series is that the show seemed to be at war with Chesterton at times. Chesterton created Father Brown as a very orthodox Catholic Priest. Yet show creators put words into Father Brown's mouth that totally violated his character. In one episode he declares that he likes talking to atheist because "he doesn't have to talk shop." and in another decries that as a priest, he's often called upon to reunite families that would be better off separated. A more "cool" modern 1970s British priest might say that, but Father Brown?

Also, in, "The Quick One" Father Brown bemoaned the murder of a somewhat crankish Tory saying he was one of the few men who could have saved England. The show's creators decided to insert an aggrieved daughter of the Tory who had been bullied and kept from her true love. This had nothing to do with the mystery, but it served to make the writers' political point in disagreeing with Chesterton and added a good ten minutes to the story.

If you can get past the mis-steps and revisionism, the series offers several good adaptations and whether the material is good or poor, Kenneth More's performance is always a saving grace.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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9Mar/120

Radio Review: My Son Jeep

By the middle of the 1950s, the heyday of the radio sitcom had passed, at least as far as new programming was concerned. In the midst of radio's decline, "My Son, Jeep" came to NBC radio in January 1953.
The show was somewhat different from the typical family sitcom as it featured a single father named Dr. Robert Allison (Donald Cook). living in a small town with his son, Jeffrey (aka "Jeep") (Martin Huston) and his daughter, Peg. They have a housekeeper (Mrs. Bixby) and in the first episode, Jeep manages to wrangle a job for his substitute teacher, Ms. Miller as Dr. Allison's assistant.

Of course, men raising kids in a motherless situation was not the norm, but it was hardly new. The long-running Great Gildersleeve featured a surrogate father played Harold Perry and later Willard Waterman. After many fits and stars, Perry reverted to that format after leaving Gildersleeve towards the end of his flop The Harold Peary Show.

Jeep was the center of the show and his antics provide the impetus for most of the comedy. Jeep's mix of cute mischievousness works and really provides nearly all the comedy. In one episode, when Dr. Allison states that he can't afford to hire an assistant, Jeep proceeds to go through Dr. Allison's medical records and go and collect. In another, Mrs. Bixby is being installed as Minnehaha of her Indian-themed lodge and Jeep writes an acceptance speech for her filled with "ughs" and"hows." Jeep is cute. My Son Jeep has been compared by some to Dennis the Menace but if anything Jeep was a forerunner to the Dennis the Menace series which wouldn't come to television until 1959, although the comic strip launched in 1951.

The rest of the series was mostly stock characters: the "oh-so-mature" teenage daughter, the fussy housekeeper, and the hapless father who is constantly outmaneuvered by his two offspring.

The one thing that's remarkable about the series is that the Allison family is a loving sacrificing one. When his older sister wants a new dress and Dr. Allison refuses to buy it, Jeep offers to paint the fence in order to purchase the dress. Most of the situations that arise come from the Allisons trying to help each other rather than through selfish pursuits or attempts to cover up wrongdoing. In this way, My Son Jeep is a relatively wholesome and sweet family comedy that is deserving of the oft-used descriptions, "Not the best comedy, but better than most stuff on television."

After Jeep's run over NBC radio, it premiered on television in the 1953, but didn't last. According to John Dunning's Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, the series was revived in 1956 as a five night a week fifteen minute serial with a new cast. No episodes of this serial version survive.

Radio episodes of the 1953 run of My Son Jeep are available on the Internet Archive.

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4Mar/120

Audio Drama Review: Colonial Radio Theatre’s 2nd Father Brown Collection

Last year, I reviewed Colonial Radio Theatre's first Father Brown collection adapting classic stories from G.K. Chesterton. I was pleased recently to finally download and listen to their second collection. As with the first collection, production values remain high with quality acting, and well-done sound effects.

This is a tougher collection for the adapters in some ways as two of the four stories they adapted are challenging ones to dramatize, but overall they carried it off quite well.

The Flying Stars: It's crime time at Christmastime. Father Brown is one of several visitors to a wealthy English home, including a young socialist where a valuable jewels called, "The Flying Stars" make an admirable target for thieves. And thieves strike-during a pantomime event. This one was a bit slow getting to the crime as it dragged through preparations for the pantomime. However, the story as written by Chesterton was equally slow-paced. As slow it was, it was also necessary for the character development of Flambeau and Colonial does listeners a favor by actually showing Flambeau reform. They also did a nice job setting up a transition to the next story.

Point of a Pin: Noisy construction workers are waking Father Brown up every morning as they work on an apartment building, but a potential union strike or lock out threatens to stop construction. The owner of the construction company lays off his workers and then is murdered. A threatening note points to union radicals as the likely culprit but Father Brown has other ideas. This was a lot of fun for me, particularly because "Point of a Pin" is a lesser known and later Father Brown story that I hadn't read yet and Colonial did a great job in bringing this baffling story to radio.

The Three Tools of Death: Along with "The Blue Cross" this may be one of the best Father Brown mysteries. I actually based much of my Father Brown chapter in my book, All I Needed to Know I Learned from Columbo on this story. However, it's not always gotten the respect it deserved. In the 1970s, the BBC ruined the story when they adapted Father Brown for television because the original story was so politically incorrect. Colonial didn't try to airbrush the story. They let it speak for itself and produced a faithful and well-done adaptation of this mystery that centers around Britain's leading optimist and teetotaler being found murdered. At first, there are no weapons found, and then all the sudden, there are too many. Father Brown says something's wrong with the crime scene, that all these weapons are "not economical." Colonial does a great job telling the story. They even preserved the post-solution ending. It features Father Brown, after having unraveled one of the greatest mysteries in the history of detective fiction, going on about his rounds as a clergyman. That right there tells you all you need to know about Father Brown.

The Invisible Man: A young man wants to marry a beautiful woman, but finds her being menaced by an invisible man. Threatening notes are left, but no one seems to be around. A threatening poster was put up, but no one was seen in the vicinity. Finally, a man is murdered under the watchful eyes of a man who swore that he saw no one go in. What's going on? This story like, "The Sign of the Broken Sword" is one of Chesterton's most influential stories. It's also, like "The Sign of the Sword" in that it's incredibly hard to adapt based on the bizarre ending that Chesterton gave the original story. Colonial tries to work around this by having Father Brown narrate the story, which really doesn't work all that well. Still, it's a good story and other than Colonial's attempt to deal with Chesterton's quirky ending, the adaptation is thoroughly enjoyable as well.

Overall Rating for the Set: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Colonial turned out another great Father Brown set.

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3Mar/120

Sleuths of My Youth: Dr. Mark Sloan

Previous in this series: Mathnet, Perry Mason and Ben Matlock, Batman, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift , Sherlock Holmes, and Encyclopedia Brown.

This is the last installment in the series.

Diagnosis Murder came just as I was entering my teen years. The show was a long-time success for so many reasons throughout its eight seasons.

First and foremost was Dick Van Dyke, one of America's most beloved actors, a TV legend whose Dick Van Dyke show was already an American classic. Van Dyke was charismatic and multi-talented, and he brought that to his role as Sloan.

Van Dyke was backed up by a strong supporting cast including Victoria Rowell as Dr. Amanda Bentley, the pathologist and Van Dky'es real life son Barry played his TV son Police Lieutenant Steve Sloan, and the younger demographic was served by sidekicks Dr. Jack Stewart (Charles Baio) and the Dr. Jesse Travis (Charlie Schlater). The likable and talented cast did a great job with each week's program.

Van Dyke's stature commanded great guest stars and the program offered all sorts of surprising crossover, including allowing Mike Connors to solve another case of Matlock and allowing Ben Matlock to appear on his third network. They also had several themed episodes were guest stars all had something in common. One such episode centered on an alleged alien abduction. Guest stars included Star Trek alum Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Will Wheaton, and George Tekei as well as Lost in Space's Billy Mummy.

As a mystery show, the program transition over time. It began as more of "Murder She Wrote" series with straight whodunits. Later seasons played around with different styles including Columbo-style inverted mysteries with Dr. Sloan as the relentless detective. Other episodes would be more soft boiled mysteries that Jessica Fletcher might easily undertake. Other episodes were action-packed adventures. The program mixed it up and managed to be great entertainment throughout its eight year run. It managed to show that a mostly PG detective story could be quite successful, even in the turbulent 1990s.

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26Feb/120

Movie Review: The Adventures of Tintin

Tintin may be one of the most fun characters that most Americans have never heard of. Tintin was the creation of the Belgian Cartoonist Herge over a period of nearly 50 years. Tintin is a Belgian investigative journalist who travels the world, getting caught up with one adventure after another, along with his faithful dog, Snowy and usually accompanied by his friend, Captain Haddock. The character came to Americavia HBO and later Nickelodeon through the BBC series which has the same name as the 2011 film, The Adventures of Tintin.

In the Adventures of Tintin, our intrepid hero buys a model boat at an outdoor market. Two separate buyers are desperate to get the boat and offering top dollar, Professor Sakharine and an American named Barnaby. Tintin's curiosity is aroused by their and he begins to investigate. The boat is stolen and Barnaby is murdered on Tintin's doorstep but he finds the key clue, which is then lost to a pick pocket right under the noses of the ever-incompetent Scotland Yard duo of Thompson and Thomson. Not knowing the clue was lost, Sakharine has Tintin kidnapped and brought on board the SS Karaboudjan and imprisoned in the hold until he'll reveal the location of the clue. Tintin breaks out of the hold with the help of his intrepid dog, Snowy and encounters Captain Braddock for the first time. Braddock, an alcoholic who has lost control of his own ship, holds the key to the treasure that Sakharine's after. Tintin and Braddock must stay alive, stop Sakharine and find the treasure.

It's rare that a movie made in 2011 will get a review here, but The Adventures of Tintin has a definite golden age feel to it. Much of the credit for that has to go to Director/C0-Producer Steven Speilberg. Speilberg has a great respect for the golden age of Hollywood and he's able to tap into that to create works that appeal to modern audiences such as the Indiana Jones movies or Speilberg's animated programs in the 1990s, such as Animanics.

The Adventures of Tintin could be best described as a new old movie. It's brand new in it's stunning performance capture animation, particularly if you were able to watch it in 3D at the theaters as my wife and I did last week. The movie was a feast of visual effects and stunning animation.

But it also was old in the sense that there was no attempt to update the characters or plot lines. Captain Braddock still starts out as a drunk, Thompson and Thomson are still incompetent, Tintin remains his tough but virtuous self, and through the nearly two hour film, only one woman appears on screen. All this creates a sort of rollicking and bloodless adventure flick that's become increasingly rare in recent years and was far more common in the 1930s and 40s. The only part of the film that seems more modern is a "believe in yourself" heart to heart between Tintin and Braddock, which was actually pretty well done.

Tintin lacks the rugged looks of Indiana Jones, with a very mild appearance, but he's plenty tough when the chips are down. In one of my favorite scenes, Braddock and Tintin are caught in the middle of the ocean on the remains of a lifeboat when the villain sends an airplane after them to finish off Tintin and capture Braddock.

Tintin: I've got bad news! We've got one bullet left!
Haddock: Oh, great. And what's the good news?
Tintin: We've got one bullet left.

Tintin then fires a perfect shot that brings down the airplane.

The Adventures of Tintin is somewhat overlong as the plots for three separate books were combined. This leaves plenty of time for Tintin to show its fantastic action scenes. However, given the films length, it was almost too much of a good thing. Speilberg has stated that future installments will only be based on two books, so hopefully that will lead to more compact films.

Overall the movie was a lot of fun, a technical marvel, and a showcase of the Talent of Spielberg, and the enduring fun of Herge's stories.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

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25Feb/120

Sleuths of My Youth: Mathnet

Mathnet

Previous in this series: Perry Mason and Ben Matlock, Batman, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift , Sherlock Holmes, and Encyclopedia Brown.

"The story you are about to see is a fib, but it's short. The names are made up, but the problems are real."

With these words began one of my earliest mystery series, Mathnet.

Mathnet began as just one sketch on the series, Square One, a PBS educational program designed to teach kids about Math. Other sketches included "Mathman", the animated adventures of "Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigrade" among others. Infrequent parodies included a couple of Honeymooners parody sketches. Each sketch, song, or story had the goal of teaching about math in an entertaining way.

Mathnet was its Dragnet-style sketch starring Beverly Leech as Kate Monday and Joe Howard as her partner George Frankly. They were crime-solving mathematicians who demonstrated a wide variety of math concepts in solving crimes.

The initial episode of Mathnet, The Case of the Missing Baseball was more parody than anything else with the cameramen playing off of Dragnet's use of close ups to show a series of rapid close-ups in part one of the Missing Baseball. The show couldn't keep that up forever, so it became much of a homage with comic and educational overtones. The show also changed from its pilot episode in which the two mathematicians weren't part of the police force, even though they acted like it until they got the criminal.

Leech turned in a solid straight man performance as Officer Monday, but Howard was the one who shined as the goofy, but usually competent partner. Like Ben Alexander (Frank Smith) and Harry Morgan (Bill Gannon), Howard brought comic relief to the cases with dialogue like this when Kate announces they've received a call about a missing autographed baseball:

George: I love baseball, Kate. Martha and I we went to Dodger Stadium last night, Kate.

Kate: The Dodgers played in Cincinatti last night, George

George: Yep. No trouble parking. You ought to go with us. Martha and Me to a Dodger game. No trouble parking.

In another episode, Kate Monday asked an apprehended criminal, "Do you agree that crime doesn't pay?"

He responded, "Yeah, at least not the way I do it."

The show's comedy worked. Then, it was merely funny. Today, I see some of the way it copies Dragnet's success.

The show played homage to Dragnet in other ways that a kid under 10 who hadn't seen Dragnet wouldn't have caught on. James Earl Jones appeared as Chief of Detectives Thad Green. In the original Dragnet, the Chief of Detectives was Thad Brown.
The program was cleverly educational, working math tricks such as estimating, calculating the angle of refraction, basic geometry, probability, depreciation, and the effective use of databases and spreadsheets seemlessly into the plot. While Mathnet didn't provide a comprehensive math education, it taught some great math principles.

For kids, the program also provided solidly plotted mysteries with some fascinating conclusions. The stories were told as five-part serials that would end each episode of Square One and give kids a reason to tune in tomorrow. Mathnet began as just one sketch of many, it's first serial averaging about 6 minutes of air time per show. However, due to its popularity, Mathnet took up an ever-increasing share of Square's One time.

In the middle of the second season, the show was packed up and moved to New York where other Children's Television Workshop Shows were based. Their first case in New York, The Case of the Swami Scam aired as a standalone TV movie. In subsequent seasons, Leech was replaced by Toni Di Buono as Pat Tuesday. But by then I was in an area where we didn't get PBS.

I remember Mathnet fondly for two reasons. First, it along with the entire show, Square One was successful at making math fun. There are math tricks I use today that I learned from Mathnet and I wasn't the only one. A reviewer on IMDB notes:

In 6th grade in 1997, on Fridays we would watch Mathnet. It was always fun but plenty educational! As a student math was always the easiest when it was made fun, and that is exactly what this movie did for us. Quite frankly, the Mathnet series actually inspired my class to do our homework, because we weren't allowed to watch it unless the whole class did their homework. It was always a treat when we got to watch these movies. There aren't many good math movies (as I know now because I am studying mathematics)so it is amazing that Mathnet is so interesting. When the teacher who used them retired, he took the tapes with him and now Indiana is Mathnetless which it a pity!

If only educational TV was always that effective. It also helped spur a lifelong interest in Dragnet. When I got older, my love of Mathnet fueled my love of Dragnet and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mathnet with its blend of great comedy, solid math skills, and some great fun with classic mysteries, still brings a smile to my face. My only regret is that the show has not been given its due with a DVD release.

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