Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Radio review - Suspense - "Deep into Darkness" (1948) **1/2

Douglas Fairbanks Jnr in a plot that was later used in Double Jeopardy  - man imprisoned for manslaughter gets out and discovers person he thought was dead is still alive so he seeks revenge. Not bad - Fairbanks is not the first actor you think of this material but he's pretty good.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Radio review - BBC Play - "This Happy Breed" by Noel Coward

John Moffatt stars as the paterfamilias in this adaptation of Noel Coward's tribute to British mediocrity. It looks at a lower middle class London family from 1918 to 1939 - the father is sensible, the mother carries on, they have three kids: a son flirts with communism, the daughter roots around, but they both come to their senses and become monotonous and dull.

There's none of Coward's wit or spark here, just a lot of sensible cockneys. It really got on my nerves after a while - its anti Labor Party bias, the fact one child is basically ignored, the strike breaking. No doubt it hit the right spot at the right time for a section of the audience but it's still dull. For working class Tories.