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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Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON ELLERY QUEEN… and more!
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Recent Posts
Golden Age Article
Movie Review: Smart Blonde
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
In the 1930s, a lot of detective movie series were made, particularly as “B” features. The Torchy Blane series was notable for featuring a female lead.
The first film in the series is Smart Blonde which was released in 1937 and introduced Torchy (played by Glenda Farrell) and her hotheaded boyfriend Police Lieutenant Steve McBride (Barton Maclane). It centers around the owner of a night club and several sports establishments wanting to sell out and live an honest life with his fiancee. He’s run his businesses honestly and called in a friend who’ll keep them honest to buy his businesses. However, when the would-be buyer is killed, Torchy sets out to solve the case.
The beginning of the film is one of the best character introductions you’ll see in a “B” movie. It used the era’s trope of newspaper headlines to reveal Torchy Blane wrote big stories, hard news stories, front page stories, and then immediately we have Torchy speeding up in the back a cab which drives up near a moving train which she then jumps on to. Really, with her saying very little, the film establishes Torchy as this intrepid, no-nonsense reporter.
She’s a fascinating character and Glenda Farrell plays her beautifully with a mix of charm and pure grit, determination, and energy. The film moves at a very fast clip. Smart Blonde clocks in at fifty-nine minutes, so it’s got a short time to unravel its mystery, but it does with snappy dialogue and a plot that doesn’t slow down much at all.
The story isn’t a screwball comedy, as so many early detective features were, but it is played for comedy and perhaps at times a bit overplayed. Steve McBride is a comic relief cop in the mold of Captain Street form the Mister Wong movies and he has an even more comical cop as his chauffeur and sidekick. Some of the comedy is weak and there are unintentionally funny aspects of the film such as the costuming department had policemen in one scene wearing an entirely style of uniform from policemen in another. And of course, there’s a little bit of underworld sentimentality mixed in.
Still, it’s a fascinating bit of B-movie making that’s a cut above most B-films, particularly in this era. It gives Farrell and Maclane the opportunity to play the leads and the result is a fun and pleasing hour of entertainment that should dispel the idea that a “B” movie automatically means a “bad” movie.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Dragnet, Podcast, Procedural
EP1664: Dragnet: The Big Youngster
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Friday and Smith investigate a case of vandalism against a young lawyer.
Original Air Date: August 17, 1950
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CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, YTJD Add
EP1663: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Ghost to Ghost Matter
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Johnny investigates a case of the ghost of a dead insured.
Original Air Date: May 18, 1958
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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Mutual, Nick Carter, Podcast
EP1662: Nick Carter: The Case of the Littlest Gangster
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Nick tries to keep a twelve-year-old boy in a gang out of trouble but the boy becomes involved the murder of a retired police officer.
Original Air Date: May 30, 1948
Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
CBS, Philip Marlowe, Philip Marlowe OTR, Podcast
EP1661: Philip Marlowe: The Anniversary Gift
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Marlowe is sent by widower in search of his late wife’s watch and finds it’s tied up in a murder case and his client may be as well.
Original Air Date: April 11, 1950
Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
ABC, Ellery Queen, Podcast
EP1660: Ellery Queen: The Armchair Detective
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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When an armchair detective is murdered on Ellery’s radio show, he has to find out who did it.
Original Air Date: March 18, 1948
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
NBC, Podcast, The Saint
EP1659: The Saint: The Girl in the Lower Berth
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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The Saint agrees to meet a woman’s husband on the train and ends up investigating the husband’s murder.
Original Air Date: June 3, 1951
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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