Posts tagged vintage radio

Leslie Charteris’ florid pulp creation has been brought to life a number of times.  Roger Moore is one of the best remembered.  Indeed, Moore is arguably better as Simon Templar than as James Bond.  Vendetta for the Saint was initially two episodes of the Saint television show in which Moore starred.  The episodes, based on the novel of the same name, were spliced into a movie when was then released in cinemas.   The novel was ghostwritten by sci-fi novelist Harry Harrison, though Charteris edited Harrison’s manuscript significantly to put his own stamp on the final product.  The movie is a more or less straightforward adaptation of Harrison’s story.  The guest stars are not likely to impress anyone, nor are the action scenes. But the Vendetta for the Saint has Moore.  He exudes urbanity and devil-may-care wit.  His shortcomings as an action hero are unsatisfactory to modern eyes accustomed to Jason Bourne or Daniel Craig as Bond.  But if one does not like pulp escapism, one should not be watchingThe Saint (a fact that somehow eluded makers of the feature film starring Val Kilmer).  The Saint was always a foppish but roguish pulp hero.  With the possible exception of Vincent Price on the radio, no one has been better at portraying Simon Templar than Roger Moore.

Leslie Charteris’ florid pulp creation has been brought to life a number of times.  Roger Moore is one of the best remembered.  Indeed, Moore is arguably better as Simon Templar than as James Bond.  Vendetta for the Saint was initially two episodes of the Saint television show in which Moore starred.  The episodes, based on the novel of the same name, were spliced into a movie when was then released in cinemas.  

The novel was ghostwritten by sci-fi novelist Harry Harrison, though Charteris edited Harrison’s manuscript significantly to put his own stamp on the final product.  The movie is a more or less straightforward adaptation of Harrison’s story.  The guest stars are not likely to impress anyone, nor are the action scenes.

But the Vendetta for the Saint has Moore.  He exudes urbanity and devil-may-care wit.  His shortcomings as an action hero are unsatisfactory to modern eyes accustomed to Jason Bourne or Daniel Craig as Bond.  But if one does not like pulp escapism, one should not be watchingThe Saint (a fact that somehow eluded makers of the feature film starring Val Kilmer).  The Saint was always a foppish but roguish pulp hero.  With the possible exception of Vincent Price on the radio, no one has been better at portraying Simon Templar than Roger Moore.

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RIP Mike Wallace, 1918-2012.

He’s hardly an icon of noir, I’ll grant.  But Mike Wallace was one of the last of a dying breed.  They don’t make hardboiled newsmen like they used to.  The kind of reporter that Jimmy Stewart played in Call Northside 777.  Peter Jennings is dead.  Walter Cronkite is dead.  David Brinkley is dead.  Mike Wallace is now dead.  Hadn’t been on television for several years, even before news of his death saddened us.  Ted Koppel isn’t hardly around anymore.  Reporting is a lost art.  All we have now are talking heads and would-be cults of personality.  And that ain’t reporting, I don’t care how many dopes can’t tell the difference.

So pause to remember Mike Wallace today.  He started as a radio announcer for pulpy programs like The Green Hornet.  Interviewer, game show host, pitchman.  Wallace even starred in a short-lived police drama, Stand By for Crime.  Wallace’s early career would make Anderson Cooper green with envy.  The difference is that Wallace was a young man growing into his role as a newsman.  Cooper was a newsman who abandoned journalism to become a celebrity.

The ironic thing is, Mike Wallace played himself in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, which presaged the rise of the celebrity commentariat.  Andy Griffith is brilliant in his dark turn as Lonesome Rhodes, a narcissistic folk hero-turned-demagogue.  Mike Wallace plays himself in the film and interviews Rhodes.  It isn’t exactly noir, but it is a brilliant and prescient film from one of my favorite directors.

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Fans of vintage radio may enjoy seeing Howard Duff (radio’s Sam Spade) in a very different role.

Fans of vintage radio may enjoy seeing Howard Duff (radio’s Sam Spade) in a very different role.

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Anonymous asked: I'm confused as to the pronunciation of noir. Is it noy-er? Or Nuwar? Or is it just pronounced like nor?

The French pronunciation is something approximating “nwahhh,” with a hint of an “l” or “r” at the end.  But of course that’s French and sounds pretentious as all hell.  

I generally say “nwahr” (as Drew Carey does in this hilarious Whose Line Is It Anyway? skit).  The Midwestern accents on A Prairie Home Companion tend to stretch it to two syllables like “nuh-WAHR.”  

Something vaguely between “nwahhh” and “nuh-WAHR” ought to get the point across.

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Get this, and get it straight: crime is a sucker’s road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave. There’s no other end—but they never learn.
Opening words from radio’s The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

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Howard Duff as Sam Spade in radio’s The Adventures of Sam Spade, which ran from 1946 to 1951.  Steve Dunne replaced Duff in 1950. As I mentioned earlier, posts may be slow for a while.  But I have passed post #90, and post #100 will appear soon once my new computer shows up.  Dispatches from Noir has been considerably more successful than I imagined when I started posting these little anecdotes.  So I plan on commemorating the occasion.  To kill two birds with one stone, I will combine post #100 with indulging my fondness for old-time radio programs.   I  will read one of my previous posts in my best, most cynical voiceover.  And I’d like your input.  Which post would you most prefer to hear me read?  I’ve been told I have a decent-sounding voice, so let’s see how well it suits the hardboiled genre.  Just peruse the “writing” tag and let me know which you’d most like to hear.  Feel free to reply to this post or drop your suggestion in my ask box.  I’ll tally up the votes and read/act out the winner for my centennial post.

Howard Duff as Sam Spade in radio’s The Adventures of Sam Spade, which ran from 1946 to 1951.  Steve Dunne replaced Duff in 1950.

As I mentioned earlier, posts may be slow for a while.  But I have passed post #90, and post #100 will appear soon once my new computer shows up.  Dispatches from Noir has been considerably more successful than I imagined when I started posting these little anecdotes.  So I plan on commemorating the occasion.  To kill two birds with one stone, I will combine post #100 with indulging my fondness for old-time radio programs.  

I  will read one of my previous posts in my best, most cynical voiceover.  And I’d like your input.  Which post would you most prefer to hear me read?  I’ve been told I have a decent-sounding voice, so let’s see how well it suits the hardboiled genre.  Just peruse the “writing” tag and let me know which you’d most like to hear.  Feel free to reply to this post or drop your suggestion in my ask box.  I’ll tally up the votes and read/act out the winner for my centennial post.

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