Escape and Suspense!

Time 2020-10-01 23:06:33

Web Name: Escape and Suspense!

WebSite: http://www.escape-suspense.com

ID:66914

Keywords:

Escape,and,Suspense,

Description:

Escape and Suspense! Vintage Radio, is a website specializing in the study of individual episodes from two popular anthology series that aired on CBS Radio during the mid-twentieth century. For more information, click on the link titled An Introduction to this Website... at the right side of this page.Information about individual episodes is presented--but not summarized completely. To review or summarize an episode in its entirety presents the risk of ruining the experience for the listener or giving away the trick endings for which Suspense is famous. On this website, episodes are given a quick summary at the top and an introduction to the story...the rest of the experience is left to the listener.Escape and Suspense! is not updated as often as it used to be, but the episodes and their summaries are timeless! So, don t worry about that.Feel free to comment or drop us a line about your experience.Thanks for stopping by! Noir City 16 at the Castro Theater. This year s theme was classy A movies paired with trashy B movies. It was a good one.More details to come... Greetings Radio Friends,Here at Escape and Suspense!, I have been hard at work in my laboratory testing new ways to experience and appreciate old time radio. However, I looked at the calendar a while back and realized that I have been away from my updates for quite a while...longer than I thought. Perhaps, I had been too caught up in my work.So, what finally made me look at my calendar and realize the time?It was the arrival of a package in the mail....More later,Christine As readers of the website know, every year I attend Noir City, the San Francisco Film Noir Festival, in search of those rare films that help me with my research here at Escape and Suspense! Often, it is the only way to view rare films that contain performances by mid-twentieth century radio actors. Or, to view films that were written by radio scriptwriters. Sometimes, it is a particular adapation of a story that is of interest because it is one that had also been adapted for radio.This year s festival was a different experience because the focus was on noir films from around the world. So, there weren t many films in this year s lineup that fit into those stated goals. But since I don t know much about foreign film noir, I was eager to learn more.How many films did I get to see? I made it to fourteen out of twenty-seven. In past years, I have been able to see a higher number of films, but this year, the festival got the better of me. Everything about it seemed a little more demanding this time. Instead of the typical noir B movies, this year s line-up was made up of one excellent, visually stunning film after another. Everything shown required full attention and serious emotion. I did the best I could, but perhaps this gives me an excuse to travel to some of the Noir City satellite festivals to catch ones that I missed.Here is the list of what I saw at Noir City 12: Journey Into Fear, The Third Man, Border Incident, In the Palm of Your Hand, Too Late for Tears, The Hitch-Hiker, The Murderers Are Among Us, Berlin Express, It Always Rains on Sunday, Brighton Rock, Never Open That Door, The Black Vampire, Two Men in Manhattan, and Rififi.One thing that the noir genres of radio, film and literature all have in common is Cornell Woolrich. We all have an intimate understanding of how the world of Woolrich works. If you are a fan of Suspense, then the film that will probably be of the greatest interest to you is No abras nunca esa puerta, (Never Open That Door) (1952). This Argentinian film was originally intended to contain adaptations of three Woorlich stories, but the anthology was cut down to two: Somebody on the Phone and Hummingbird Comes Home. The third story, If I Die Before I Wake, was released separately. The screening of No abras nunca esa puerta at Noir City 12 was the first time this film had been shown in the United States! For me, it was one of the high points of the festival, and I hope that this film reaches a wider audience. The two Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten films that were shown are of interest to old time radio fans for a number of reasons. The first, Journey into Fear (1943) was adapted from Eric Ambler s novel of the same name and has a cast list that includes familiar names from the Mercury Theater. (It is worth noting the Edgar Barrier is the only actor who appeared in both this film and Escape s 1950 radio adaptation of the novel). There is backstory to this Orson Welles film, the last one he did for RKO, but I won t go into that here. The original was over 100 minutes long but it was cut into a 68 minute B-film. For that reason, it is considered mangled, but the performances make it worthwhile. Hans Conried has a particularly memorable performance as a magician.The second Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten film was The Third Man, which is available on dvd, but more fun to see in the theater. The Third Man was performed on radio for the Lux Radio Theater on April 9, 1951 and there was also a BBC Radio prequel series that aired in America (1951-1952) as The Lives of Harry Lime. Also of interest is the new restoration of Ida Lupino s 1953 film, The Hitch-hiker. This is definitely the film that captures Frank Lovejoy at his best as the everyman .Among the other films, the most unforgettable were The Murderers Among Us (1946), from Germany and El Vampiro Negro, (The Black Vampire), a South American remake of Fritz Lang s 1931 film M.The Noir City satellite festivals will traveling throughout the country this year. The first stop is Seattle, February 13-17th, at Seattle s SIFF Uptown Cinema. Then, it will travel to Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland (OR), and Washington D.C. The Castro Theater is great for viewing films but not so easy for snapping photographs of the interior. Check out this picture the snack bar. There...behind the popcorn popper. Can you spot it?Now that you understand the limited power of the flash on my camera...Let s just go on a quick tour of the mezzanine upstairs. Noir City merchandise galore! There were also a number of opportunities for author signings.Film noir ashtrays! Green Apple Books provided a selection of titles of interest to fans of film noir. There were also movie stills and posters for sale.Plus, raffle drawings for prizes every night!Part of the allure of Noir City is the free booze, but, you have to be willing to wait in line. On the first night of Noir City, mixologist Mathias Simonis poured drinks sponsored by Akvinta Vodka.On British Noir Night, they gave us gin and tonics sponsored by No. 209 gin. On Friday Night, Four Roses Bourbon was the sponsor, and I had a bourbon cocktail that was minty and quite good.In the background, you can see Miss Noir City 12, burlesque performer Evie Lovelle, posing for photographs with festival patrons. That s the best I could manage. I will leave the rest to the professional photographers! There were lots of them milling about with blinding flash cameras far more powerful than mine.But, what about the films? I ll cover the ones that I saw in my next post! It s that time again! The 12th annual San Francisco Film Noir Foundation Festival begins Friday, January 24th!This year, the festival beckons to us with the title Noir City 12 - It s a Bitter Little World. Why? Well, this time the focus is on international films, and they promise to take us on a cinematic journey around the world, to dispel the belief that noir is a singularly American phenomenon. The films presented will come from France, Germany, Britain, Norway, Mexico, Argentina, and Japan. Aside from the foreign selections, there will be a couple of exciting restorations, Too Late for Tears (1949) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Altogether, 27 films will be presented in 10 days. For more information about Noir City 12 visit the Film Noir Foundation website at www.noircity.com.See you there! In Suspense s The Angel of Death, Paul Henried stars as a man who commits himself to a lengthy and self-punishing plan of revenge against his wife.The episode opens on New Year s Eve...and violins begin to play. John Forsythe begins a narrative in which he explains that he has always been extraordinarily intelligent. And, he tells us that only to explain the series of events which began on the same night fifteen years earlier in London...John had suspected that his wife and his best friend were involved, but it wasn t until he caught them planning to run away together on that night, that he knew the truth.A month later, John was on trial for the murder of both of them!But, John never worried about his trial or his sentence. He believed that his superior intelligence would win out...until now. The Angel of Death was written by Alan Cameron and produced/directed by William Spier. Paul Henreid starred. Also appearing Wally Maher, Jane Morgan, Verna Felton, Raymond Lawrence and Joseph Kearns. This episode aired on January 3, 1946. . Download Suspense_1946-01-03_Angel_Of_Death_wPaulHenreid UPGRADE-2(Image of Paul Henried from Wikipedia)

TAGS:Escape and Suspense 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Vintage radio broadcasts of dangerous adventure, urban legends, and tales of fear and trembling from the two mid-twentieth century CBS Radio series.

Hot Websites