Category: Audio Drama Review

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: The Prisoner, Series Two

by  • 0 Comments

Series Two of Big Finish’s Prisoner adaptation features four more stories that re-imagine the world of the 1960s TV series:

“I Met a Man Today” is based on the TV episode, “Many Happy Returns.” It takes a different approach than on television. In the TV episode, Number Six wakes up and goes to get his shower, and discovers everyone in the Village is gone. Eventually, Number 6 builds a raft, fights a couple men on a boat, and makes his way to London, finding himself at his old house where both his house and car are owned by a woman.

All that plot is summarized in the middle of the audio episode. The audio version focuses on Number Six’s emotional journey as he found himself in London, exhausted, unsure who to trust, or if this was real. The story also takes some time to develop and explore the relationship between Number Six and Kate (the woman who owns his house and car.) Lucie Briggs Owens is wonderful as Kate, and Elstob is on-point as Number 6 throughout the story.

Overall, this is a pleasing re-interpretation of a strong episode that may be better than the source material.

In “Project Six,” Lucy Briggs-Owens takes her turn as the new Number 2 and is the best thing about the  majority of the episode. She brings a menace to the role and creates a contrast with the character she played in the opener.

The plot is one of the most difficult ones in the set. Number 6 decides to not eat or drink anything given by the village for fear it might be laced with mind control drugs, but doesn’t seem to think he’ll need sustenance until he has to lick dew off the ground.

The take on the TV episode, “A,B, C” was weird and convoluted without offering much until the final moments when the story improved quite a bit.

“Hammer Into Anvil” bears a strong resemblance to the TV story of the same name. A new and more sadistic Number Two arrives determined to break number Six, quoting the axiom, “You must be the hammer or anvil.” However, when Number Six witnesses Number Two’s cruelty on someone else, he becomes just as determined to break Number Two, and sets out to wage psychological warfare on the people behind the Village.

Aside from the basic plot, the story goes off in a different direction. The route  Number Six takes to break down Number Two is different from in the TV show, and in some ways simpler and also more realistic, though a little less stylish. Both methods have their strong points, but it works to do something different in the radio version so it doesn’t feel superfluous. I also like that it plays off the end of the previous episode.

Overall, I think this is a case where the radio and TV versions are pretty close to being equal. Once again, the Prisoner gives us excellent acting and superb sound design.

In “Living in Harmony,” writer Nick Briggs takes an entirely different tact than the Western-themed Prisoner TV episode of the same name as this episode appears to be set in space.

Number Six finds himself on a rocket to a moon base, alongside Number Nine, who had apparently died in the previous series, but is now back and calling herself Number Ninety. Of course, being the Prisoner, the questions immediately raised is whether he’s going anywhere (or on a spaceship) and if number 9/90 is actually with him.

This is a great script for the Prisoner. It gives Number six pivotal, character-defining moments when he faces a key choice. At the same time, the sense of mystery as to what’s going on never entirely lets up. It answers some questions, but leaves so many questions that it serves to set up Series Three.

Overall, this was another solid set, and stronger than the first with compelling takes on memorable stories from the TV series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Review: Sealtest Variety Theater

by  • 0 Comments

Doing a live radio broadcast from a Houston hotel ballroom to a rowdy crowd on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1949 seemed like a good idea to someone. That infamous 1949 broadcast of the Sealtest Variety Theater became one of the biggest live radio fails in history and what the series is remembered for.

The Sealtest Variety Theater had a total of 42 broadcasts between its premier in September 1948 and it going off the air in July 1949. It was hosted by Dorothy Lamour who had co-starred in most of the Road movies with the legends Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. The show featured a dazzling array of stars including Jimmy Stewart, Edward G. Robinson, Gregory Peck, William Powell, Boris Karloff, and Sidney Greenstreet along with legends such as Hope, Abbott and Costello, Jim and Marianne Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly, Norris Goff and Chester Lauck and Lum ‘n Abner, Harold Peary as the Great Gildersleeve, and Ed Gardner as Archie from Duffy’s Tavern.

Lamour’s charisma and star power was on full display. She remained likable throughout the series run and provided nice musical performances as well. She appeared to have been enjoying the series, laughing regularly and making the audience want to laugh along with her.

Additional musical entertainment was provided by Henry Russell and his orchestra and the Crew Chiefs. The music is all pleasant to listen to and on par with what you’d hear on most other radio programs.

Through the show’s first seven months on the air, the format included plenty of music, a dramatic sketch between Lamour and the guest of the week, and a comedy bit. Sometimes Lamour performed in the comedic sketches. Other times, a comedy team like Abbott and Costello would perform a typical routine or there’d be an occasional stand-up sketch.

The comedy was pretty solid for the Golden Age. The dramatic sketches were a mixed bag. Some were fairly good, but others seemed trite, silly, or simplistic. I mostly enjoyed them, but there were a few times I felt bad that a talented actor had to work with that material.

The infamous Saint Patrick’s day performance fell during this run. The wild crowd and technical difficulties led to sound quality issues and a profanity being spoken over the air by a male voice. To her credit, Lamour remained calm through it all. It was radio veteran Gardener who lost it and ignored her attempts to keep the show on script by trying to come up with something random that would make the crowd happy.

The event made headlines and Lamour didn’t run for it. In one sketch later on where she had to boast of what deeds made her character tough enough for something, she said, “Oh yeah, well I did a show at a hotel in Houston.”

In April, the show tweaked its format. The music stayed, but the dramatic sketches and individual comedy guest spots were done away with. Eddie Bracken joined the series and it became something of a sitcom like Lamour and Bracken playing fictionalized versions of themselves, with Bracken finding ways to get himself and Lamour into trouble every week.

Bracken was a fair comic talent. In many ways, his style called to mind Alan Young’s style as an exuberant born loser who often believed Hollywood actors were exactly like the people they played in the movies.

Young filled in for Bracken in an incident that illustrates the culture of the golden age of radio. Young happened to be at the studio to record his own program and did the guess spot on Sealtest on 15 minutes notice. You couldn’t even tell the script had been written for another actor.

Overall, this is a decent comedy/music program.It didn’t have mind-blowing comedy or music, but it’s a pleasant and fun listen with some great talent. It deserves remembered for more than technical difficulties and some rowdy drunks ruining its Saint Patrick’s Day program.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Unguarded Moment

by  • 0 Comments

Unguarded Moment is different than other Louie L’Amour audio dramas I’ve listened to because this one is not a Western but rather a noir story.

Arthur Fordyce is a man with a rising corporate career who goes to the track with a client. The client drops his wallet with a substantial amount of money. Arthur takes the cash instead of returning it. Unfortunately for him, he’s spotted by a small time crook who is determined to use his knowledge of Fordyce’s unguarded moment to make a big score.

This is your typical Noir tale of a regular person who gives into temptation and finds themselves in a downward spiral. In some ways, the plot calls to mind an episode of the radio series, The Whistler. While it was a polished modern production, the acting and mood captured the feel of another era.

The story is decently written and well-acted, but felt predictable throughout most of it. Until the last ten minutes, I could have called this story beat-for-beat, when the story took an unexpected turn and went somewhere else. While the twist was believable, it would have been nice if it had been foreshadowed a bit more.

Still, if you like old noir films or episodes of the Whistler, I think you’ll enjoy this audio noir story from one of America’s most beloved authors.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: The Prisoner, Series One

by  • 0 Comments

The classic British Sci-Fi series, the Prisoner,  comes to audio in a series of four episodes produced by Big Finish as Number 6 tries to escape the Village. Here’s a break down of the episodes:

“Departure and Arrival” is a re-imagining of the first episode of the TV series which finds Number 6 arriving in the village after offering his resignation. The story does a good job establishing the dystopian world of the Village. Most of the cast performed well, though  it took star Mark Elstob maybe the first twenty minutes to feel right as Number 6, and John Standing was a little over-the-top cheery as the first number 2.

At 78 minutes in run time, the story does go on a little longer than necessary and could have been tighter. I chuckled at the idea that leaders of British Intelligence wait at home like fathers whose children are out late after a dance because they’re meeting with a contact. It introduces Cobb and gives us a sense of how he knows Cobb (as opposed to the TV series which just had number 6 asserting that he knew him.) Otherwise, much of the new material before Number 6 is sent to the Village doesn’t add much.

Other change may have been disorienting but did work. The idea of online payments and AIs being part of the village  seems out of place for a series set in the 1960s and it seems to suggest someone had all of this technology since the 1960s but didn’t release it. However, the technology and feel of the village served to wow and capture the imagination of the original audience and if the audio version is to work, the technology has to impress twenty-first-century listeners.

In, “The Schizoid Man,” after seeming to escape, Number 6 ends up back at the Village (of course) and discovers Number 9 can do mentalist card tricks. Number 6 wakes up the next day to find himself with a mustache and using the wrong hand. Number 2 informs him that he is Number 12 and he’s been sent here to discomfit Number 6 about his identity. Number 6 returns to what he believes is his house to find a doppelganger of himself there.

There’s a lot going for this episode. The music and sound design is among the best Big Finish ever turned out. The story is intriguing and manages to capture a different angle on the horror that Number 6 feels. It’s helped that the audience really has to pay close attention to tell the two apart. The acting is great. Elstob is improved over a mostly solid performance in the first episode. Celia Emrie steals the show as Number 2. In this performance, she outdoes every TV Number 2 except Leo McKern. She is clever, cunning and manipulative, she plays cat and mouse with Number 6 and Number 9 and knows exactly how far to let them go before bringing them back. She wants them to feel like they might get away before bringing down the hammer.

My criticism centers around the ending. The original TV episode left some questions open, including  where did the “other” Number 6 come from and how did the woman in the TV episode gain this power of being able to see the card that Number 6 was holding away from her. Instead of leaving these as mysteries, this production decides to answer the questions. However, the answers are  stock sci-fi cliches and anti-climatic. It seems like an attempt to make the show less scientifically impossible. But one of these tired answers is more absurd and far-fetched than if it was left as a mystery.

Still Celia Emrie’s performance really does carry the day, and other than the attempted explanations, the story is still solid.

“Your Beautiful Village” finds Number 6 and Number 9  plunging into the midst of a horrific situation where all of their senses are challenged and for once, you begin to wonder if the Village is actually behind this.

This is a well-done episode and a necessary one. On television, the Prisoner was such a visual program, writing an episode that could only be done over audio was a must. The result is brilliant. You do have to focus hard on this, but the difficulty in the audio quality brings you to Number 6’s world where everything is spiraling out of control and his senses are coming and going rapidly, including his sense of time.

Sara Powell and Romon Tikaram are great as Number 9 and Number 2. Tikraram is particularly good at making subtle changes throughout the performance. However, Mark Elstob has to carry most of the weight of this performance, and he is masterful.

If I did have any complaint, it was that Number 6 has been made a slightly weaker character than the character on the TV show. The situation comes close to breaking him. Left to his own devices, he would have crumbled. If this method came that close, then there are  many interrogations methods that would have worked.

Still, despite a few conceptual problems, this is entertaining and does a good job of establishing the potential of the Prisoner in an audio format.

In the “Chimes of Big Ben,” Number 6 tries to help the Village’s newest arrival, a Lithuanian woman designated as Number Eight. He comes up with a bold plan by which they both can escape the Village.

Of the three adapted stories, this feels closest to the original episode with tweaks being added that improve the story, but otherwise it captures the same feel as the original.

While the entire cast performed well and Elstob was at his best, the highlight of the episode was Michael Cochrane’s Number 2 who begins the story exuding a lot of joviality which masks some far more sinister aspects.

Overall, this is a good set. I didn’t love every change made, but the changes didn’t objectively hurt the franchise. While the audio drama is different than the TV series, it’s not different in a bad way.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

 

Audio Drama Review, BBC, Golden Age Article, Podcast

Audio Drama Review: Wizard of Oz

by  • 0 Comments

Big Finish’s adaptation of the Wizard of Oz harkens goes back to L. Frank Baum’s original novel. Dorothy (Ally Doman) is thrown into Oz along with her dog Toto where she kills the Wicked Witch of the East when her house lands on the witch.

The adaptation is faithful to the novel and its darker tone rather than the more universally known 1939 film version. People who have only seen the film will be surprised by Dorothy getting the Wicked Witch of the East’s Silver Slippers, and even more shocked by the grisly tale of how the tin woodsman was changed from a normal woodsman to his tin form.

That’s not to say that the story is oppressively dark or over-accentuates these elements. It only does enough to convey what was in the original. The story moves at a good pace from one fantastical scene and setting to another, and the characters develop throughout. The score is nice, doing a good job setting the tone without overwhelming the story.

While Big Finish is a British company, the accents were very good for the most part. Canadian Actor Stuart Milligan was good as the Wizard and the narrator throughout the rest of the story. They did decide to make the lead flying monkey a British “Jobsworth” character, but I actually enjoyed it.
Overall, this an enjoyable take on a classic story.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Red Panda Adventure, Season 4

by  • 0 Comments

The Fourth Season of the Red Panda Adventures moves forward from the finale of Season Three. The Red Panda (Gregg Taylor) and his sidekick/driver the Flying Squirrel/Kit Baxter (Clarissa Der Nederlanden Taylor) finally admit their feelings for each other.

The series dealt with it well. I liked that the characters moved immediately from hero/sidekick to engaged rather than giving us an extra season or two of romantic tension. Given how much they ‘ve been through and how much they know each other already, it makes sense to get on with it. The series tone remains light and fun but acknowledges the challenges they face in this transition of their relationship.

The stories remain fun, with a lot of great action and adventure. The influence of pulp magazines, old time radio shows, and comics is clear. The influence of Batman: The Animated series can be seen in the episode, “Trial by Terror” where the Red Panda is held and tried by the criminals he ‘s put in prison. However, despite the obvious inspirations, Taylor manages to put his own unique spin on the story and on each story in the season.

Some of my favorite episodes from Season 4 included, “Murder in the Castle”  in which impossible murders are committed at a castle. It had a strong Shadowesque feel. “The Boy in Blue” was good as one of the Red Panda’s most trusted operatives appears to have gone bad, and it’s interesting to see how he responds. “Jungle of Terror” finds the Red Panda and Kit flying to South America to respond to a call for help from one of the Red Panda’s allies and  ends up in an adventure involving monsters and a trip to another dimension. The season finale, “Operation Cold Feet” finds a villain planning to strike as the wedding day approaches. Kit’s not sure about the planned month-long honeymoon and there have been sightings of the Red Panda and Flying Squirrel that Kit knows nothing about. It’s a good story with a nice payoff, including the reveal of the Red Panda’s true name, a twist spoiled by Wikipedia. Thanks, Internet.

Beyond that, the series’ ongoing plotlines continued to recur and involved supernatural incursions and fascist plans to gain a foothold in the City. The series has a good way of handling them. If you’d never heard these stories before, you won’t get lost listening to them. If you’ve been listening since the start, you’ll have a sense this is all heading somewhere big as the scale of these stories escalates from season to season.

If I had one nitpick, it’s that there’s two different stories in Season 4 that have our heroes teaming up with a mad, evil supervillain to stop another  mad, evil supervillain. That’s a bit much for the number of episodes, but that’s also pretty minor, all things considered.

Overall, this is a solid season that manages to build upon the foundation of previous seasons, have fun, and not get lost in its own continuity.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

The Red Panda Adventures Season 4 is available for download for free.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Night of the Triffids

by  • 0 Comments

In Night of the Triffids from Big Finish productions, the survivors’ great advantage against the Triffids appears to be thrown in jeopardy by the coming of a worldwide darkness. David Masen, the son of the protagonist in Day of the Triffids leaves the Isle of Wight by airplane to investigate.

The Production has some commendable elements. The cast is strong, particularly Sam Troughton and Nicola Bryant. The effects do a good job of bringing the Triffids to life. The sound design helps create tense scenes, particularly the part with David and Marmi swimming and battling Triffids who have evolved to survive underwater.

The writing is the challenge.  Night of the Triffids is a good adaptation of a so-so book. The story has some interesting ideas such as finding out how the United States fared in the catastrophic blindness, the encroachment of the Triffids, and the aftermath. Yet, the story’s inciting incident fades from importance and resolves itself in the last two minutes. At the same time, the story asks us to follow a lot of wild and improbable plot twists. Most notably is the attempt to take a character from the original book and turn him into the prime villain of this story when this story is set mostly in America. They have to explain how the character survived probable death, got across the ocean in a post-apocalyptic future, and rose to be a major leader.

This is not horrible, but it isn’t a worthy successor for the original.

Rating: 3 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Day of The Triffids

by  • 0 Comments


Day of the Triffids is a 1968 Radio Dramatization of John Wyndham’s classic British Sci-Fi novel by the same name.

The programs begins as believably as possible in explaining of how Earth came to have giant, walking, aggressive plants. It begins with the Soviets developing the Triffids to gain a competitive advantage in food production over the West. Due to a bit of espionage and misadventure, the Triffid seeds being spread across the globe.

The good news is the Triffids can be controlled and managed. Humanity has one advantage over them: Humans can see. Unfortunately, an astronomical event is seen across the Earth and the media urges every person to stare up at it. This stupidity leads to almost the entire human race going blind.

The hero of the story Bill Masen (Gary Watson)  worked in Triffid management and knows their dangers. Due to an accident, he’d ended up in the hospital with bandages over his eyes,making him one of the few people who still have eyesight. He’s left to navigate the perils of a post-apocalyptic world.

While the inciting event is a bit silly, the action that takes place after that makes for a compelling drama of what might happen if society in England collapsed due to a sudden cataclysm. Some interesting ideas are explored as plague and disease grips the country. Society crumbles and is unable to cope. Some loot existing stores and try to live off them while others try to figure out how to rediscover old ways of doing things that don’t require technology. Others sees the collapse as a reason to change social mores to suit various goals. Some folks band together to start a fascist state.

The soundscape is about average for the era, with enough sound effects used to aide the listener’s imagination. The cast turns in believable performances with the main cast being pretty likale.

Perhaps, the most remarkable thing about Day of the Triffids is that the titular creatures are far from the greatest peril that Bill Masen and friends face. Though certainly the Triffids are menacing when they appear.

However, after disease, bandits, well-intentioned people who do things that make things worse, and the self-appointed military, the Triffids barely make the top five of the most perilous challenges that the survivors face.

Terry Nation did this story practically beat for beat in his 1970s TV series Survivors which was essentially Day of the Triffids without the Triffids. In Survivors, humanity was decimated by a plague and it worked as well if not better. So how much the Triffids contribute to the story is open to debate.

Overall, though, this is a sold 1960s adaptation of a Science Fiction classic that holds up fairly well for the most part.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Christmas Eve 1914

by  • 0 Comments

The story of the Christmas truce in 1914 during World War I is an emotionally powerful and resonant event to anyone who hears about it. I’ve seen and/or heard several dramatic presentations of it. The Audible Originals audio drama Christmas Eve 1914 is the best dramatization of the event I’ve experienced.

The production focuses on a group of young lieutenants in a company whose captain has died. They’ve rotated in on Christmas Eve and expect a quiet night, but get word from the Colonel at HQ that a German attack is expected and they need to prepare. At the same time, a fresh young Sub-Lieutenant, who lied about his age to get into the Army, joins them on the front lines.

The play is well-written. Christmas Eve 1914 takes listeners in the thick of conflict and immerses us in the war-weary world of these young officers. The play focuses on the horrors of war and the way they relate to the war and each other for most of the run-time. The truce only comes into play in the last twenty minutes. As a result, we feel the bittersweet impact of the event, knowing, in a day, our heroes will return to the nightmares of war.

The acting is solid. Almost every character is well-characterized, and the best drama comes from hearing them interact and play off each other.

The sound design and music are superb, doing a great job creating a realistic feel and atmosphere. The sound design and music never overwhelm the listeners or the story.

The Colonel was written as a stereotypical clueless and hypocritical senior officer who was gung ho about putting other people in danger. The Colonel’s best skills is not-too-subtly trying to play the lieutenants’ ambition to become the next captain against one another. Thankfully, while important, the Colonel’s part is relatively small.

Overall, Christmas Eve 1914 is a great Christmas Story, a great drama, and a great example of how good modern Audio Drama can be.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Christmas 1914 is available as one of the free Audible orignal selections for Audible subscribes during the month of December.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: The Avengers: Too Many Targets

by  • 0 Comments

“Too Many Targets” in an adaptation of the Avengers novel of the same title. It brings together all the lead characters from the six seasons of the British classic TV series The Avengers in one giant case. It begins with Steed (Julia Wadham) being advised Mother (Christopher Benjamin) has gone over and become a double agent. At the same time, Mother is telling Tara King (Emily Woodward) the same thing about Steed.

The story is a lot of fun and does a good job giving each and every member of the Avengers something to do and their own individual entrance into the story. Eventually, they’re drawn into groups before coming together. The casting in this great particularly for roles not heard in Big Finish’s audio adaptations with the roles of Mother, Tara King, and Cathy Gale (Beth Chalmers). These characters were well-realized and fully brought to life, so  they each contributed to the story.

The biggest challenge with this release is the final quarter. There, so much of the story is spent explaining a convoluted and confusing plan. The villains are defeated in an odd way that’s a bit of a letdown.

Still, story problems aside, the release is a nice romp for fans of the Avengers with quite a few Easter eggs. It makes me want to hear more of these characters.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Black Jack Justice Season 4

by  • 0 Comments

Season 4 of Black Jack Justice features six episodes of hard boiled adventures with Black Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective.

The series continues on its steady course with six episodes that include a few solid mysteries and a lot of laughs. The series opener, “A Mid-Summer Night’s Noir” guest stars Mary Jo Pehl of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as the actress of an over-the-top female hard-boiled private eye franchise. Whenever Jack has to watch the movies with Trixie, he tunes out or goes to sleep. However, a newspaper article connects a real-life theft to the movies. Trixie goes on her own to collect the reward and Jack has to catch up.

My favorite episode of the season is, “The Do-Nothing Detective.” Trixie jumps at the chance to be paid not to investigate a case they were already not investigating. Jack’s instincts force them to go to work.

The weakest episode of the season is “The Problem of the Perplexing Pastiche.” Trixie has been on two straight days of surveillance duty and her mind is wandering off to a world where she’s a Sherlock Holmes with Jack as her sidekick and Lieutenant Sabian as a deferential Inspector Lestrade. The episode does have some nice moments and it’s also a different thing to hear an exhausted Trixie speaking as in every other episode. She delivers nothing but high-speed and energetic banter and narration. However, this one went on a while and it was tough to focus on the main mystery even though it tied to her Pastiche mystery.

In the season finale, “Now Who’s the Dummy,” Jack and Trixie take on a ventroliquist client who wants to get an old dummy back from another ventroliquist. By the end of the case, it’s clear both ventroliquists need a therapist more than a pair of detectives, but it’s a fun episode nonetheless.

Overall, Season 4 of Black Jack Justice is a fun listen. While earlier seasons would mix lighthearted romps with episodes that had a more serious tone, this season Black Jack Justice was an unabashed detective comedy. The comedy works well. If you’re looking for a lighthearted detective series, this is a great season to listen to.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Radio Show Review: The Johnson Wax Program

by  • 0 Comments

Radio’s big comedy shows often went on Summer break.  In World War II, this was especially true as many comedians used their time off the air to continue working with USO and entertaining the Troops. In 1942, the hit Fibber McGee and Molly show went on Summer Vacation, but their sponsors, Johnson’s Wax, decided to continue to sponsor the Johnson’s Wax Program.

Johnson’s Wax could have chosen to do a typical summer musical program, with a nice singer and nice songs. Some of these series circulate. They’re pleasant if you like that sort of thing, but utterly forgettable and indistinguishable from each other. The Johnson’s Wax Program of the Summer of 1942 was different. Yes, it featured two talented singers in Connie Haines and Bob Carroll. It also featured two great and unique radio talents: Composer, arranger, and bandleader Meredith Willson and storyteller John Nesbitt.

Willson led the band for many variety shows and comedies that required him to play a role. Invariably it would be that of the dunce. However, that stage persona had little connection to his musical work. His music was filled with great arrangements and intriguing ideas for new compositions. He did great work on the Maxwell’s House Good News program in the late 1930s and early 1940s. However, I think his best work in the golden age of radio would be a few years later in The Big Show, a 90-minute radio program that aired from 1950-52.

John Nesbitt was a storyteller. His series of radio programs and MGM movie shorts called The Passing Parade told true stories almost too amazing to be believed. Yet, each fact was fully verified with the scripts being written by Nesbitt himself. The stories were not only surprising but often touch the hearts and minds of the listener with Nesbitt’s skillful reading. The best comparison I can think of for Baby Boomers is Paul Harvey’s Rest of the Story broadcasts, only a bit more dramatic.

Tother Willson and Nesbitt complimented each other’s work. Throughout the summer series, Willson played a series of “lost melodies.” These melodies had been meant for greatness but forgotten or laid aside for one reason or another. Nesbitt told the story of each lost song. Willson meanwhile scored Nesbitt’s stories, matching the stories with solid music (when required.)

The tone of the series, both in Nesbitt’s stories, as well as in its announcements reflected the Spirit of 1942. America was a Nation that was less than a year removed from Pearl Harbor, whose Atlantic merchant ships were under constant danger from U-Boats, and was moving to a firm war footing. Nesbitt turns his full rhetorical powers on the Axis Powers several times and it is stirring, particularly his “letter” to Adolf Hitler.

The series ran for thirteen weeks. Twelve episodes are in circulation. The only bad thing about the series is that the circulating episodes, while clear, are not the highest quality.  Still, if you’re wanting great music, great story, and some solid singing, this is a series that’s well worth checking out.

 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The twelve existing episodes of the Johnson’s Wax program are available for free online here.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: Shilling and Sixpence Investigate

by  • 0 Comments

The Morlington Mysteries are a series of murder mysteries that have been produced for many years live onstage in Brighton in the UK. While each mystery stands alone, it also could be enjoyed as a series. Producer/Writer/Sound Designer Nigel Fairs brings the Morlington Mysteries to audio in Shillings and Sixpence Investigates which is part of Big Finish’s new “Originals” range.

The series title characters Miss Lavinia Sixpence (Celia Imrie) and Desmond Shilling (David Warner) are new characters for the audio dramas. Sixpence is in charge of a girls’ school with Shilling being the school’s new English teacher. The series also features Doctor Who alumni Lisa Bowerman, Louise Jameson, and Matthew Waterhouse, along with many members of the stage company.

The stories are set in the small town of Morlington Hills at the start of the Second World War. The first series features four separate stories, each split into two half-hour episodes:

1) The Missing Year/The Dark Shadow: The series opens with a standard plot where the Lord of the Manor is murdered. The story serves to introduce the main characters as well to have them joining forces to investigate a murder for the first time. The characters are fun, if a bit broadly written, and they have some nice bonding moments. The mystery features a solid supply of suspects and a fair enough solution. Overall, the first story is a strong start that left me eager for the next story.

2) In the Silent Dead of Night / A Very Messy Business: Sixpence, Shilling, and several characters from the previous story go to the home of the eccentric Baroness Pippin to visit a medium. Murder follows.

This story has a decent plot, though unoriginal with a big hole at the end where the Baroness misses something that was unbelievably obvious.

The performances were mostly solid with Lisa Bowerman doing a great job as the housekeeper. At the same time, Miss Sixpence comes off as particularly unlikable with a mix of arrogance and coldness. Add to that most of these characters aren’t that likable and you’ve got a so-so story.

3) An Appointment with God/The Dying Room: The story focuses on questions raised in the first story and has Miss Sixpence visiting the first murderer and subsequently being kidnapped. It’s up to Shilling and the police to find her before her disturbed kidnapper has his vengeance.

The story is quite a bit darker than the first two stories as the more disturbing elements of the story press the boundary of the cozy mystery feel the first two episodes generated. Where the episode really succeeds is by putting Miss Sixpence through her paces by putting her in danger and making her deal with a past mistake. This makes her a lot more human and relatable. Overall, this is well-acted and well-paced.

4) The Face of An Angel/The Black Widow: In the final mystery, the man set to play St. Bernard in the town’s festival dies in an apparent accident. At the time, Shilling tries to find the Black Widow whose evil deeds connect the crimes in the first three episodes. The story comes to a resounding if not entirely unexpected solution. The story features a few good character moments, particularly for Lady Penelope and Inspector Cribbage.

Nigel Fairs deserves credit for how he manages to tantalize listeners for another series. He doesn’t leave the key cases unsolved, but he drops hints of many intriguing goings on about the village with hints of other unknown underhanded dealings. Inspector Cribbage states he has a reason for being there and is making an inquiry. Some characters have secret pasts. On top of that, three characters end the series in sticky situations. Thus Series 1 sets the stage for more cases in a future box set.

The production values on this series are pretty high. Fairs is as good, if not better, at the sound design and music as he is the writing and the sound makes the story feel true to the era. Overall, this is as good or better than anything you’re likely to hear on the BBC.

This solid historical mystery combines the mystery with a dash of melodrama to make for an engaging listen.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (8/10 for Countries on the Metric System)

Shilling and Sixpence Investigate is currently exclusively available at BigFinish.com

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama: The Collected Bowdrie Dramatizations: Volume 2 (Dramatized)

by  • 0 Comments

The second volume of dramatizations of Louis L’Amour’s Chick Bowdrie stories features six stories featuring L’Amour’s fast-shooting Texas Ranger. The stories are all as strong as in the previous collection. In addition to being Westerns, most are also mysteries as Bowdrie rides into town and has to solve a murder or theft, often as the only legitimate law for hundreds of miles around. The mysteries are bad. If you know L’Amour stories, you often have a very early idea who the guilty party will be.

My favorite story in this collection is the one that isn’t a mystery. “South of Deadwood” found Bowdrie charged with delivering a desperado back to Texas for trial where he faces hanging. A woman insists the criminal can tell the truth that can clear her brother and save him from the gallows. Bowdrie is inclined to believe her, but the criminal refuses to cooperate as he has no motive to do the right thing. At the same time, Bowdrie is being stalked by the criminal’s old gang. As they travel, Bowdrie and the criminal practically become friends or as much of friends as they could be. It’s really properly a complex plot for a short story that works with great characters and a few surprises.

The dramas are all well-acted and fairly well scored. On top of the audio dramas, some of the shorter dramas are proceeded with a few clips from L’Amour himself, sharing his keen insights into the life and times of the old West. Overall, this is a delightful collection of well-written audio dramas by one of the masters of the Western genre and definitely worth a listen.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Audio Drama Review: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency BBC Radio Casebook Vol. 1

by  • 0 Comments

BBC Radio 4 produced a series of audio dramas based on Alexander McCall Smith’s massively successful No. 1 Ladies Detective novels which follow the adventures of Precious Ramotswe (Claire Benedict) as she uses her inheritance to establish the first ever detective agency in Botswana for “ladies and others.”

The radio adaptations is done by Smith himself and the first casebook is eight episodes adapted from the first four novels in the series. The radio plays do a great job capturing the warmth and charm of the characters in the book with many bits of dialogue taken directly from the books.

The episodes have a much stronger focus on the mystery element than the books do. The earlier mystery plots tend to be a bit more complex and interesting such as when Ma Ramotswe finds clues that indicate a missing boy may have fallen into the hands of witch doctors and helps a woman who’s not sure the man claiming to be her long-lost father really is. Later we have cases that are more domestic such as a middle-aged man who wants to find a woman he robbed and a girl he wronged to settle his affairs in life.

The theme music is a nice and catchy African theme that makes a solid lead-in for the series.

Not everything from the books is included in the adaptations, but what is omitted mostly isn’t problematic. The two minor exceptions to this is that the audio drama doesn’t address that Ma Ramotswe moved her office from its original location to inside the same building as her fiance Mr. J. L. B, Matekoni’s auto repair business. That was jarring. Nor is it portrayed that Ma Ramotswe’s Secretary/Assistant Detective Ma Makutsi doubled as Assistant Manager of the garage. Omitting that begs the question of how Matekoni’s business survived a long illness in the middle of the series.

However, as the audio dramas stick close to the books, most of the faults come from the books. For example, the series has a habit of raising plot points that disappoint. For example, in one episode, Matekoni’s maid hatches a plot to have Ma Ramotswe sent to prison. In another, a male detective opens up a practice and uses his being male as a selling point for his business. Both of these ideas are resolved in the most anti-climatic way possible.

Still, for all their faults, there’s a reason the No. 1 Ladies Detective series books are so popular. These first eight episodes capture the charm of the book series almost perfectly. If you’re looking for a light mystery series with likable and interesting characters, this set will definitely hit the spot.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase