Mohr was a better Marlowe than Heflin, I think. Edgier and
tougher. But the handful of Heflin shows that have survived
are mainly adaptations of the Chandler novellas (Red Wind,
Trouble is My Business, etc.) and more satisfying because of
it. Only a couple of the Mohr's are adaptations. The others
aren't very good scripts and offer too many early examples of
product placement. "I tailed him past the Texaco station on
the corner of Sunset and
..." The odd thing about the Marlowe and Spade shows is that
the detectives switched personalities. Heflin, Mohr (and for
one episode, William Conrad) were all-pro and deadly serious.
Howard Duff's Spade, on the other hand, was tough enough, but
there was a wiseguy element and sense of humor more
reflective of the young Marlowe. As I've mentioned before on
this list, I think the Spade show, starring Duff and written
by Gil Doud and Bob Tallman, was the best radio had to offer.
Too bad so many of the early episodes -- the ones adapted
from Hammett's Continental Op novelettes -- are unavailable,
as far as I can tell. If anybody knows differently, I'd love
to hear about it.
Dick Lochte
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:
rara-avis-l-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:
rara-avis-l-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 27 Sep 2006 EDT