Suspense Sundays (200) Lazarus Walks

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Lazarus Walks"

Air date: October 31, 1946
Starring Brian Donlevy

>>Episodes here<<

Dr. Robert Graham is contacted by a man, Roger, who was clinically dead for four minutes before being brought back.  Roger needs Dr. Graham's help because ever since that experience he's been able to "know" when someone is lying about something and is able to know the truth.  Dr. Graham wants to study Roger's case further, and during the course of that, Roger discovers that Dr. Graham wants to murder his wife.

With the way I summarized the story, I feel like the more interesting point of view would be Roger's, but this episode is from the point of view of Dr. Graham, and the suspense comes in seeing if Dr. Graham can outsmart Roger.  I feel like this has such an interesting premise, that it could have been a more absorbing story than it actually is, but Dr. Graham's side of the story was still pretty intriguing.

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I'm sorry to say that this will be my last Suspense Sundays post for now, it's been getting harder and harder to find the time to listen and write about these episodes.  Two hundred episodes seems like a good place to stop - or take a break, I might bring this back again someday! 

Suspense Sundays (199) A Plane Case of Murder

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"A Plane Case of Murder"

Air date: October 10, 1946
Starring John Lund

>>Episodes here<<

Randy Judson, until recently, was a prisoner of a concentration camp in the Philippines.  The only thing that got him through that terrible time, was thinking of his lovely girlfriend waiting for him back home.  But when he does get home, he discovers that Marian married a rich man, and now Randy wants revenge.  He manages to convince Marian that he's a rich man too, due to all the attention over his experience in the Philippines, and now Marian wants him back.  The only way she can get rid of her husband though is through murder.

The story does involve a plane, hence the heavy-handed stress on "plane" in the title and in the opening scene of the episode.  This is a pretty clever story, despite the general awfulness of both Marian and Randy, but like with most Suspense episodes, people get what they deserve.  I did also love the double cross, that you could see coming a mile away, but was still pretty satisfying.  

Suspense Sundays (198) Three Times Murder

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Three Times Murder"

Air date: October 3, 1946
Starring Rita Hayworth

>>Episodes here<<

Laura Morton decides to murder her husband and make it look like an accident.  Her husband loves to shave with his electric shaver in the bath, and even though she often berates him for it, he persists.  Of course something bad eventually happens.  The district attorney, Elmer, is sure that she did it, and nags her to confess.  When she is found innocent by trial, she finally breaks down in private and confesses to the DA.  But then she goes on with her life and marries another man who she is very happy with.  Sometime later she discovers that this man has a brother - the same district attorney who knows she committed murder.

Ooh this was a clever episode!! Interesting take on the femme fatale, because I did feel symapthetic with her, and it was interesting that Laura was very much in love with her second husband.  I was expecting that she would want to murder him too.  It is interesting that the district attorney is the one who really feels like a villain even though he did not commit murder.  But he is so unpleasant.  It's an interesting twist on a story that at first seemed pretty straightforward.

Suspense Sundays (197) Consequence

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Consequence"

Air date: February 21, 1946
Starring Jimmy Stewart

>>Episodes here<<

Philip Wolf is unhappily married to Gwen, and when his mistress, Jo, decides to leave him, Philip is devastated.  A curious thing happens though - there's a fire and someone's body is mistaken for Philip and so he decides not to say anything.  He runs away with Jo and gets married  ready to be happy.  Only Gwen finds him and for her pride, demands that he returns and claim he had amnesia or something.  Philip thinks of another way out.

Such a strange story for Philip, divorce must have been so hard back then.  This is a very tragic story too, which I didn't like at all.  I did guess the twist, and was just hoping it wouldn't happen that way.  But this is a great suspense story, and Jimmy Stewart is wonderfully understated and resigned in the role of Philip Wolf.  

Suspense Sundays (196) Lucky Lady

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Lucky Lady"

Air date: February 14, 1946
Starring Fay Baintor

>>Episodes here<<

Mrs. Plimm, owner of a boarding house for young actresses. hires a new, very suspicious live-in handy man.  The man, George, does not like her cat at all, and the cat doesn't seem to like him.  But George really needs the job, and the cat is the lucky charm for all the actresses at the boarding house.  They believe that a scratch from Lady Susie, will lead to a great acting job in their future.  George dotes particularly on Diane, who just landed a great job, but very soon turns up dead.  And there is no evidence that George did it.

Wow, I really enjoyed this episode.  Such a great and unexpected twist in the end, and the mystery of what happened to Diane, when there was no sign of foul play was a great one.  And of course a suicide note turned up later - all very suspicious.  I couldn't get over how Mrs. Plimm hired George despite her reservations though - he was so creepy during the interview.  It must have been really hard to find a handy man in 1946,

Suspense Sundays (195) The Black Path of Fear

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"The Black Path of Fear"

Air date: March 7, 1946
Starring Cary Grant

>>Episodes here<<

Newlyweds Bill and Eve visit Cuba on their honeymoon.  Eve has just gotten away from her former gangster husband, and with the new marriage is eager to put her past behind her.  Unfortunately someone tracks her down to the nightclub they are visiting and stabs her in the back, framing her new husband.  Bill must prove that he's innocent, and with the help of a prostitute, he has a chance.

This is a simple story really, but the draw is Cary Grant in the lead role.  It's always nice to hear Cary's smooth, ironic voice, and he does play put-upon leading men very well.  This put me in mind of North by Northwest with his need to figure out what was going on.   Although nothing can touch that great Hitchcock film.  Even the story is predictable, it is an enjoyable listen.

Suspense Sundays (194) Til the Day I Die

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Til the Day I Die"

Air date: September 19, 1946
Starring Dane Clarke

>>Episodes here<<

Frankie and his girl Pat just committed an armed robbery, and Frankie had to kill a man in the process.  Only aftewards do they find out that the man killed is the spitting image of Frankie.  They are both very disturbed by this, but Pat is more upset.  They decide to split for awhile, until the police stop looking for a man and woman as suspects.  As Frankie is on a bus trying to get away, he gets recognized by a child as his Daddy.

Well apparently this is a darker take on the Biblical story of Cane and Abel, and I'm not sure if it really works.  I'm confused on why Frankie doesn't realize what's happened immediately, and also why he does a certain something at the end.  I didn't see his character as caring enough to do it.  This probably has potential as a plot though because the idea of it is creepy - to stumble across someone who looks exactly like you - and then to also have Frankie fall in love with the dead man's wife (another interesting twist to this story!)  Perhaps if this was longer though, it would have all worked better.

Suspense Sundays (193) You'll Never See Me Again

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"You'll Never See Me Again"

Air date: September 5, 1946
Starring Joseph Cotton

>>Episodes here<<

Ed Bliss has just had a big fight with his new wife, and she has stormed out, promising him he'd never see her again.  A few days later, Bliss decides to call his parents-in-law to talk to his wife, because of course she would be there.  But she's not, and now Bliss is not sure where his wife is.

A good old mystery - love it!  Especially when Bliss is so suspicious of his parents in law and what they are hiding.  Of course they are hiding something, and it's very suspenseful finding out what happened.  But also there is more to the parents' secrets.  Such a twisty episode, this is a great one to listen to!

Suspense Sundays (192) Blue Eyes

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Blue Eyes"

Air date: August 29, 1946
Starring Hume Cronyn

>>Episodes here<<

Oliver wakes up one morning to be told by his wife, Laura, that he's not looking too well.  He's offended because he feels fine, and the day just goes from bad to worse as other people comment negatively on his looks and the girl at the office he kinda likes, overhears him berated by his boss.  Oliver is so angry that he decides to -  what do you think?  If you guessed "kill his wife" then you win zero things!  Yes, he makes that strange decision and finds a good poison...

Ummm, yeah, this is a weird one - just because the whole justification for killing his wife is so weak, that when he later changes his mind, it just makes everything even more crazy, because the decision to murder a person was made so lightly.  The story has an interesting twist though, which made it worth listening til the end.  But I'm not sure how much I actually liked the ending.

Suspense Sundays (191) The Pasteboard Box

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"The Pasteboard Box"

Air date: January 17, 1946
Starring Joseph Cotton

>>Episodes here<<

Walter and Jack are twin brothers.  Jack is the bad seed - he's grown up resentful of his brother Walter who was favored by his father and in the end inherited the bulk of the family money.  Jack decides that maybe it's better if he takes over his brother's life and let's "Jack" die.  He puts the evidence of his crime in a pasteboard box, intending to get rid of it, but that proves surprisingly difficult.

The ways in which Jack or "Walter" tries by fails to get rid of that box was pretty inventive.  And entertaining, especially when he thought he'd gotten rid of it, only for it to come back to him.  Of course there is the all important irony of him needing that box in the end, and not being able to get to it.  This story was very entertaining, despite how awful a person Jack is, but then, the irony that maybe his brother was not much better was fantastic!

Suspense Sundays (190) The Plan

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"The Plan"

Air date: May 16, 1946
Starring Claire Trevor

>>Episodes here<<

Mrs. Helen Anderson tells the whole story to the police of how the dead man came to be in her house.  It started when her husband - Harvey Anderson - got a phone call in the middle of the night from a man named Al.  Helen wants to know who this Al is and Harvey reluctantly tells her he has a brother he never told her about.  Because his brother is in an asylum for the criminally insane.  But Al Anderson broke out and has been missing for years, until now.  Harvey is going to meet up with him at the station and take care of everything.  But Al comes in on an earlier train, and visits Helen at home.

Such a strange and suspenseful story, but I feel like the title of the episode kind of gives away that all is not as it seems.  I kept trying to figure out what the title could mean, so that kind of ruined the big twist in the end.  But this was a very good episode, with lots of suspense, and the lead actress - Claire Trevor - made her character sound perfectly paranoid and nervous.

Suspense Sundays (189) The Great Horrel

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"The Great Horrel"

Air date: August 22, 1946
Starring Joan Lorring

>>Episodes here<<

The Great Horrel has a mentalist act with his wife who helps feed him information.  Alma Horrel is unhappy in her marriage though and is convinced that her husband can actually read her mind.  Although her husband tells her that's ridiculous.  When she asks him for a divorce, her husband tells her he will never give her up, but he will go on a three month tour of Australia and give her time to rest.  Alma is in love with another man - Paul, so when her husband goes away they immediately go to a lawyer to get a divorce.  Except Alma can't get the words out - her husband is controlling her from Australia!  Alma is sure now that she won't ever get away from her husband - especially since he can also make her commit murder....

Mentalist related suspense = me interested.  I love that this episode has a double twist of a sort - as I wasn't sure which outcome was the real one.  The story is told through Alma's diary as well, so there is the added benefit to the storytelling of not knowing how reliable a narrator Alma is.  She's obviously mentally confused.  The ending was a little less satisfactory to me - in terms of the justice of it, but overall I really enjoyed listening to this one.

Suspense Sundays (188) Dead Ernest

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Dead Ernest"

Air date: August 8, 1946
Starring Wally Maher

>>Episodes here<<

A man gets hit by a car - just tapped really, but he looks like he's dead.  The Doctor on the scene can't figure it out.  But the kindly voice over guy in the episode fills the listener in.  The man, Ernest, is a cataleptic, and he carries with him a medical bracelet and a letter explaining his condition, but these things are overlooked.  His condition means he might appear dead for 6 hours to 72 hours and he shouldn't be embalmed, nor should an autopsy be performed on him.  Will anyone figure out he's not dead before he gets processed at the morgue?

A very simple premise - if you can imagine what happens in this story, chances are you are right.  It's not a very imaginative episode, other than the idea of being accidentally killed or buried alive because you are mistaken for dead is a nerve-wracking premise.  I feel like this episode just took the idea and tried to build a story around it, which wasn't that successful.  To me,  the only really interesting thing about this episode is the fact that people are so unfamiliar with seeing the words "embalmed", "autopsy" and "cataleptic" that they almost have to sound it out as they read it.  And they are not even sure what they mean!

Suspense Sundays (187) A Tale of Two Sisters

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"A Tale of Two Sisters"

Air date: February 8, 1945
Starring Claire Trevor and Nancy Kelly

>>Episodes here<<

Two sisters, Clara and Adele, have recently lost their mother, and Adele sobbingly makes Clara promise that she will always be there and never leave her.  Clara promises, and for many years, as they grow up, they are very close and happy until Clara meets a man named Doug and falls in love.  When Adele realizes that Clara wants to marry him, she is furious.  Clara promised her she would never leave.  Clara begs Adele to understand, but Adele assures her that if she marries Doug, Adele will never speak to her again.  Clara does marry him, and has a child, and Adele still refuses to see her sister.

A two-hander episode with two female leads is a great thing for Suspense to do.  I very much enjoyed this story for the characterization of Adele, who is really creepy, and for how much Clara is willing to take for the sake of her sister.  Which is awful for Clara as the episode does begin with Clara in a hospital.  On the one hand, it's very predictable what Adele becomes, but on the other hand, it's really disturbing to listen to how it happens to her.  And the consequences for Clara.  Definitely, this was a great one to listen to!

Suspense Sundays (186) Heart's Desire

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Heart's Desire"

Air date: March 22, 1945
Starring Lloyd Nolan

>>Episodes here<<

The episode starts with Henry Doyle wandering at night by the water and accosted by a woman of the night.  He ends up telling her his sad story which goes something like this - Henry has always dreamed of doing many things, and when he was 19, he got a job at a bank as a messenger, intending to move up and become the president some day.  Twenty years later, he's still a messenger for the bank - a trusted one, but not what he wanted his life to be.  He decides to throw away all his years of exemplary service, to keep the $50,000 he was entrusted to deliver, and go to jail for a few years so he can then spend that money when he gets out.  Of course, things don't go according to plan.

I thought this was a great episode!  At first I thought Henry would do something drastic and stupid to get his "heart's desire", but when 20 years go by, there's a little bit of sadness to the moment when he realizes he's let his childhood dreams go for so long, and he's middle aged now, without getting anything of what he wanted.  It made me feel for him, so that his stealing the money wasn't as awful to me.  And then the suspense of whether or not he will get that money back made this a great listen.

Suspense Sundays (185) Can't We Be Friends?

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Can't We Be Friends?"

Air date: July 25, 1946
Starring Elliot Lewis

>>Episodes here<<

Michael used to date a girl named Fran,  When she got sick and in the hospital, he kinda dropped her, and dated around.  But months later he still finds himself thinking of her, and decides to see her, now that she's better and out of the hospital.  Their reunion takes a left turn pretty quickly as Michael loses his temper and feels very angry that he's still obsessed with her even though they both don't love each other.  He's so upset that he decides he has to kill her so he won't think about her anymore.

This episode featured a true whack job in the main character.  If ever there was a thin reason to murder someone, this would be it.  Just get over her! I love that the woman basically said that.  I have mixed feelings about this one.  It is an interesting story, with a good twist, but I just disliked the selfish and unbelievably callous main character so much, that I very much wanted a swift and just punishment to come to him.  But you don't really get that in the end. It is interesting that this was written by the actor who stars in it!

Suspense Sundays (184) Feast of the Furies

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Feast of the Furies"

Air date: July 11, 1946
Starring Elliot Reed and Sheldon Leonard

>>Episodes here<<

Casey regrettfully knocks Sam over the head and drives him to an undisclosed location.  He's under orders from his boss to take Sam somewhere.  Sam, tied up in the passenger seat of the car, tries to get Casey to tell him what it's all about.  And who his boss is, but Casey just tells him he can't reveal that, and he's sorry he has to treat him that way.  Casey just wants to talk about nice things, why make his job unpleasant?  When Sam realizes Casey isn't going to let him go, he tries to talk Casey out of what he's doing.

This was an interesting two character suspense story (two characters for the most part) and when it gets to Sam's story, it becomes very tragic which I wasn't expecting.  Casey is a fun character too - clearly a thug, strong and not very bright, but with a good heart, and I was hoping Sam would be able to get through to him.  Especially because Sam's story is so unfortunate.  The ending was not quite what I hoped, but it was a good one.

Suspense Sundays (183) Too Many Smiths

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Too Many Smiths"

Air date: June 13, 1946
Starring Hume Cronyn

>>Episodes here<<

Charles Wallingford, a porter for the Century Toothpaste company finds a memo announcing "Pat Smith" as the winner of the company's slogan contest.  The prize is $25,000.  Since the winner won't be formally announced for a couple days, Charles gets the idea to "bribe" this Pat Smith to share the prize if he can make sure that his slogan wins *wink wink.  Pat agrees, but Charles gets suspicious about Pat's sense of honor and decides it would be better if he killed Pat, and took over as him.  Which works for about a minute, until Charles finds out that there are two Pat Smiths who live in that apartment building.

Clever (but dastardly) idea to get the big prize for the contest!  Of course it doesn't work out for Charles, but the twists as he tries to figure out who the real winner was, and dodge the complication of Pat Smith's fiancee showing up, made this a great and suspenseful episode to listen to.  It's made even better because the episode starts with Charles caught by the police for murder and mysteriously hysterical...

Suspense Sundays (182) Return Trip

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"Return Trip"

Air date: June 27, 1946
Starring Elliot Reid

>>Episodes here<<

Three passengers on a bus are heading away from an asylum after visiting their loved ones.  There is a blizzard stirring, and they want to get down the mountain as soon as possible, but they are stopped by police officers.  Someone dangerous has escaped from the asylum, and searches the bus.  They are let go because the men have ID, and the driver and his passengers decide to try to get back despite the snow storm.  And then there's an avalanche.

What makes this such a suspenseful story is not that someone could be out there trying to kill them, but that maybe the killer is one of the people on the bus! *cue dramatic music* *cue suspicion, hysteria and irrationality*  This was a very good episode to listen to - the kind of claustrophobic suspense I usually want from my Suspense radio stories.  It makes for some really creepy theater of the mind.  Although I did guess who the killer was! :D

Suspense Sundays (181) An Evening's Diversion

Suspense was a radio series from 1942 to 1962.  I have a fondness for "Old Time Radio" as we call it now, and Suspense is my favorite show.  It sets up weird, dark, scary, or intriguing stories with a plot twist in the end, and all in half an hour.  For Suspense Sundays I'll give a short review of an episode.

"An Evening's Diversion"

Air date: July 4, 1946
Starring William Johnstone

>>Episodes here<<

Mr. Edwards, a hard working businessman, is told by his doctor to go out for an evening's diversion.  He's been working too hard lately and should do something new.  Mr. Edwards is resistant, but one night he does decide to visit a bar that his secretary was talking about earlier.  One in which someone got shot one night by some gangsters.  While Mr. Edwards is having dinner, he overhears two guys talking and one man intends to murder a woman.

This is a funny episode to me.  Because it's an interesting story - at first I was not sure where it was going because it really seemed like Mr. Edwards did not want to go out, but when he made his split decision, the whole 'overhearing gangsters bit' was inevitable, as was his decision to try and prevent the murder.  In fact, it was all not very surprising, just a bit suspenseful, until the twist.  OMG.  It totally stopped me in my tracks.  And I loved it!  It was a complete WTF and it instantly elevated this episode in my opinion.  Definitely listen to this one!