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Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg in front of an old Microphone

Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg

Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio! A podcast featuring the best vintage detective radio programs. Each week from Monday through Saturday, we feature six of Old Time Radio's great detective series from the beginning of the show to its very last episode. And as a bonus, twice a month we also post a public domain movie or TV mystery or detective show video.

Along the way, I'll provide you my commentary and offer you opportunities to interact.

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- Your host, Adam Graham

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Recent Posts

A Look at the Revived Columbo: The Best of the Revived Movies, Part Two

See Part One and the Worst of the Revived Movies.

5) Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991)

The plot of this one involves a famous defense attorney murdering his girlfriend. It is well-written and a solid story, but Dabney’s Coleman Emmy-nominated performance makes this a standout. He manages to capture that classic Columbo villain arrogance. The final reveal is a stroke of genius as well.

4) Agenda for Murder (1990)

Patrick McGoohan’s third appearance as a Columbo villain is his best. He plays a high-powered lawyer with big-time political ties and kills off a man who threatens to reveal a scandal that could derail his ambitions. The murder is cleverly executed and the chemistry between Falk and McGoohan is superb.

3) Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991)

Another 1970s Columbo Guest Star returns with George Hamilton playing the host of a program in the style of America’s Most Wanted. The murder method involves poisoned cigarettes and is ingenuous and there are good comic moments between Falk and Hamilton. I prefer this over Hamilton’s 1975 appearance in, “A Deadly State of Mind.”

2) Columbo Goes to the Guillotine (1989)

It had been nearly eleven years since the last Columbo movie. So the return film had to be good.  It was superb. A mentalist murders an old friend as an act of revenge for having been abandoned in a foreign prison so many years ago and uses a magic guillotine to do it. It’s a baffling crime for Columbo to unravel and part of that involves Columbo exposing the mentalist as a fraud in a very clever scene. The story also has a dramatic ending that features an attempt by the killer to get rid of Columbo. It’s a great return for Columbo.

1) Death Hits the Jackpot (1991)

An almost-divorced photographer buys a winning lottery ticket but wants to avoid splitting the winnings with his soon-to-be ex-wife. So his Uncle Leon (played by Rip Torn) comes up with a plan. Leon will cash in the ticket and give his beloved nephew the lion’s share of the winnings once the divorce is final, but Leon kills his nephew instead. Torn is superb in this one. He’s probably the most menacing Columbo murderer ever. He’s excellent as the calculating and insincere sociopath, making for a solid and underrated performance.

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EP1910: Dragnet: The Big Imposter

Jack Webb

A missing ten-year-old boy suddenly reappears…but is it the same boy?

Original Air Date: June 7, 1951

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EP1909: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Mei Ling Buddha Matter

Bob Bailey
Johnny has to investigate the apparent disappearance of a valuable Buddha statue from a sealed room.

Original Air Date: June 28, 1959

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EP1908: Boston Blackie: Bill Blaine’s Legacy

Richard Kollmar
A wealthy man blackmails Boston Blackie into protecting him from his family, one of whom he’s convinced will try to kill him for his money.

Original Air Date: May 16, 1945

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EP1907: Richard Diamond: The Dick Barton Case

Dick Powell

A wealthy man hires Richard Diamond to find the truth about a man his son believed he killed.

Original Air Date: April 24, 1949

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EP1906: The Avenger: Murder Hits the Jackpot

A murder sets Jim on the trail of a counterfeiting ring.

Original Air Date: March 21, 1946

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EP1905: Michael Shayne: A Problem in Murder

Jeff Chandler
Mike has to square himself with the police when his business card is found on a corpse.

Original Air Date: Sometime in 1948

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