We continue our look at the the great Poirot Telefilm series over ITV as I eagerly await the new episodes coming later this year. Murder on the Links was the third of four films released during Poirot’s sixth series.
In Murder on the Links, Poirot while vacationing in Deauville France is approached by a wealthy man who has received certain undisclosed threats. The next day, Captain Hastings finds the man murdered and lying in a sand trap. Poirot sets out to solve the murder and this time he has the rival, the pompous Inspector Giraud and the stakes are high: if Giraud solves the case first, Poirot must shave his trademark mustache.
This was another solid story with the battle with Giraud being played for great comedic effect. In addition, Captain Hastings holds back information from Poirot and it’s open question as to whether Captain Hastings has helped a murderer escape. The solution is satisfyingly complex and exactly what we expect of Agatha Christie and this series.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
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Joseph Kearns was one of radio’s most talented and most used actors. His first classic role was in the children’s Christmas radio serial, The Cinnamon Bear when he played Crazy Quilt Dragon in 1937.
Jolson was one of America’s premier entertainers beginning with his days in Vaudeville and his starring role in the first feature length talkie, The Jazz Singer. Jolson also brought his unique musical style to radio in 1932 for Chevrolet. He’d continued to be a ratings draw for many years with programs such as Shell Chateau and the Kraft Music Hall. Jolson’s popularity in the early 1940s but picked up after the war with the release of The Jolson Story and then Jolson Sings Again. This made Jolson in demand both as a star and as a guest performer. Throughout his career, he remained one of his era’s greatest entertainers, and also one of its most beloved radio stars.
Jack Webb came to radio at the right time in 1946. He began in San Francisco on the historic KGO-AM. The station was trying to compete for national radio attention in a national radio market dominated by Hollywood and New York. He tried out several formats including a Comedy/Variety show and a news commentary program before with writer Richard Breen, he created the role of Pat Novak for Hire. The sardonic sometimes detective Novak spoke in a way that was unique to that time or any other.
Burns and Allen remain one of the most successful and memorable husband-wife comedy teams of all time. Their performances on radio began in the mid-30s with those that were variety radio programs . The programs featured an announcer, band leader, and various character actors and the whole act was doing the show with plot contrivances thrown in usually centered on a rivals as their characters remained single even after they’d been married.
Bob Bailey did some of his best work in relative obscurity. He performed from 1946 into the mid-1950s as detective George Valentine in Let George Do It in a series that was a West Coast only production of the Don Lee mutual network, helping to bring to life the stories of up and coming writers such as Jackson Gillis. Outside of this, his radio work up until 1955 was mostly a slew of character roles on such reliable sources of such work as Cavalcade of America and Lux Radio Theater. However, in October 1955, he made his most lasting mark on radio when he became the fourth on-air Johnny Dollar.
Lawrence was an amazingly versatile actor. His starring roles included playing Ellery Queen and taking on the role of Archie Goodwin on The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe. However, Dobkin was able to play a stunning of variety of character roles as a true man of a thousand voices. On the Saint, he played sidekick and cab driver Louie, but when star Tom Conway was struggling with alcoholism, he had to take over the role of the debonair Simon Templar while Conway was indisposed. His ability to change voices and take on any characterization made him a true asset to producers of programs such as The Whistler, Lux Radio Theatre, Let George Do It, and Escape.
Dinah Shore came to stardom on Eddie Cantor’s Time to Smile program in 1940. Soon, she had her own show for Bristol Myers in 1941 and would be a much sought out performer leading shows for Birds Eye frosted foods, Ford, Philip Morris, and Chevrolet. She was one of America’s most popular singers throughout radio’s golden age. Her popularity made her a guest star for programs from Lights Out to Burns and Allen. She was one of radio’s most popular and talented personalities in an era filled with talented and popular personalities.
“And now let’s see what’s going on down in Pine Ridge.” With these words, millions of Americans were taken on a journey to the land of Pine Ridge and two leading storekeepers named Lum ‘n Abner who couldn’t quite keep to minding the store, starting gold mines, and even building a rocket ship to the moon.
Fred Allen was one of radio’s most remembered and most beloved satirists, and most successful personalities. Beginning in 1929, Allen embarked on a 20 year career in radio beginning with the Little Show and proceeding through a wide variety of sponsors from Hellman’s Mayonaise to Texaco Fire Chief Gasoline. Allen famously “feuded” with fellow-comedian Jack Benny for years creating some of radio’s most memorable comedy moments. Allen also original Allen’s Alley which had a small town of hilarious characters offer their witty comments on the news of the day with the most famous citizen being Alan Reed’s Falstaff Openshaw. Allen often ran into difficulty with network censors over the issues that would seem trivial today. In one instance, censors objected to his wife Portland Hoffa saying she’d wasted a day at the rodeo for fear of offending rodeo fans. Thankfully for everyone, Allen was talented enough to work around the network’s pettiness and most Americans had a far better sense of humor than the networks as evidence by Allen’s long-term radio success.
Mel Blanc is perhaps the greatest voice in Warner Brother’s golden age of animation but he was just as vital to comedy on radio. He’s radio credit list reads like a Who’s Who of radio comedy with him appearing of the programs of such stars as Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Danny Kaye, the Great Gildersleeve, and Bob Hope. He also had a show of his own from 1946-47. He had many notable characters including the “Happy Postman” for many years on the Burns and Allen show. Of course, his cartoon work came into play. During one episode of Abbott and Costello, Bugs Bunny actually appeared in the day’s story. And for the Armed Forces Radio Services programs such as GI Journal, Blanc took the stuttering of his Porky Pig characted and amped it up to create the create the character of Private Sad Sack. For both civilian and military audiences, Blanc provided unforgetable characterization and great comic timing that has made him an indispensable part of radio’s golden age.