Radio review - TGA - "An Ideal Husband" (1952) ***1/2

Rex Harrison is the perfect Oscar Wilde hero - haughty, superior, witty, attractive, looks as though has never worked a day in his life - and his then-wife Lili Palmer is ideal casting too as the femme fetale. This play always struggles to make the married couple interesting - the priggish MP who was corrupt in a former life and his stuck up wife - even though their fate are the stakes. I guess they learn their lesson about judging people (although the MP is still reluctant to give his consent to marriage at the end because he thinks his friend has been rooting around) - but they're not as funny as the others. Still it's a bright version of an old favourite.

Radio review - TGA - "Alice Adams" (1948) **

Katherine Hepburn's performance in the 1935 film was full of ticks and breathlessness so it's appropriate in a way to find Judy Garland cast in this radio version. But after an erratic start she eventually calms down and does fine work. I still didn't like this - too awkward and painful, the family life is so devastatingly portrayed (frustrated, nagging mum and pathetic father). It keeps the unconvincing happy ending of the film and Anne Schoemaker as her social climbing (with reason - her husband is useless) mother. Thomas Mitchell plays dad. The dinner party scene is greatly reduced.

Radio review – TG – “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” (1947) **1/2

There was a time when theatre audiences couldn’t get enough of high society tales involving jewel thieves and that time was the 1920s when this was written but the story proved durable – partly because it offers a great role for an older female star. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Greer Garson have all essayed Mrs Cheney on film and here it’s Gertrude Lawrence. She’s a woman pretending to be high society so she can rob people of jewels but falls in love. Guys pant over her, she's witty and wears great clothes (which you can't see). Not bad of it's type, but you have to like the type.

Radio review – TG – “Still Life” (1947) ***

It takes a while to get used to hearing this very English story relocated to American, especially with Ingrid Bergman in the female lead. Bergman always had this persona of a woman comfortable falling in love with someone other than her husband, on screen and off, so you don’t get the sense it’s as massive upheaval for her in the way it was for Celia Johnson. It's still beautifully written though. Sam Wanamaker is the guy.

Radio review – TGA – “No Time for Comedy” (1947) ***

Frederick March and Florence Eldridge make an engaging lead duo in this adaptation of SN Behrman’s play. One of those Broadway comedies about successful playwrights married to glamorous stars who live in New York apartments with maids and are unfaithful in between the one liners. (Frank Rich once wrote a funny line about this play saying it's the sort of show that even if you haven't seen it before you feel as though it had.) 

The playwright is called “Gaylord” and the conceit is a married woman tries to persuade him to write serious stuff. That’s not a bad concept for a witty comedy – Sullivan’s Travels did a similar thing – and the playing is spirited. There were some things which didn’t sit right with me – like why shouldn’t he write something a bit more serious, and I couldn’t help feeling the wife was influenced by the fact she likes her husband to churn out decent parts. 

Still it’s done brightly and I liked it more than I thought I would.

Radio review – TGA – “Escape” (1947) **

George Sanders sounds a little different in this adaptation of John Galsworthy’s famous story – I’m used to hearing him speak in low, deep, caddish tones. Maybe he was trying to play against type here, even though the lead character is still an upper class type. A good deed sees him convicted of manslaughter, but he escapes and runs into various people – a pretty girl, some old duffer – who’ve all seem to have read about the case in his papers. I think at one time this was supposed to be considered profound – but I couldn’t see much more to it than being about someone who is on the run.

Radio review – TG – “You Can’t Take It With You” (1946) ***

The Kaufman Hart play hit a major chord with theatre goers in the 30s (and with filmgoers the same decade), with audiences attracted to its combination of family warmth, anti-materialism and isolationism. I’ve never been as great an admirer – it’s got some funny, “zany” stuff, but I guess my practicality gene kicked in. It’s alright for Grandpa to bludge, he’s got a rental income coming in. And why shouldn’t he pay tax? Where does he get water from? And roads, police.. not to mention protection from the Nazis (who are mentioned here so it’s clearly been updated to the present day). It’s a good adaptation of the play, with some of the original stage cast such as Josephine Hull reprising their roles but no big film names.

Radio review – TGA – “They Knew What They Wanted” (1946) ***

John Garfield lends some Hollywood glamour to his adaptation of Sidney Howard’s play, which was recorded in San Francisco, not far from where it was set. The story of an elderly vineyard owner who attracts a mail order bride using a photo of his more handsome, younger worker has been much copied over the years (eg Love’s Brother) – but then I guess Howard was copying Cyrano de Bergerac. The deception is soon unravelled, at the end of Act One. Act Two has the old guy have a convenient accident, meaning the young guy and girl fall in love - well, lead up to them having sex. Act Three is a pregnancy and fall out. I wasn't sure exactly how it ended, who she went off as. For all that, a decent melodrama.

Radio review – TGA – “The Third Man” (1951) ****

Joseph Cotten is the only star from the film to repeat his screen role (unless you count the zither theme song, which is here too) but the substitutes do well enough – even the Harry Lime stand in, which is a bloody hard role to do well. It remains a terrific thriller, with Cotten poking about post-war Vienna to try and find out what happened to his dead friend Harry Lime. Graham Greene’s story is well condensed by Halstead Welles.

Radio review – TGA – “Blithe Spirit” (1947) ****

The film version of this was made with a British cast, but here’s a chance to hear the Broadway cast recreate their roles, except for Peggy Wood, who played Ruth and wasn’t available (she was replaced by Kathleen Cornell – but that’s not too distracting since Ruth, the living wife, is the dullest part). Clifton Webb is terrific in the lead and Mildred Natwick great as Madame Arcadi; Leonora Corbett is ideal too as Elvira. Delightfully played.

Radio review – TGA – “Ladies in Retirement” (1947) **

Two crazy old ladies cause trouble at a house in the 1880s and a troublesome relative, possibly murderous, turns up. It’s got elements of Angel Street and Arsenic and Old Lace and the tone veers from one to the other. It never quite works – is it a comedy or a drama? Fay Bainter stars.

Radio review – TGA – “The Unguarded Hour” (1952) **

Michael Redgrave is a barrister prosecuting a man accused of murder – his wife (Nina Foch) asks if he can go in softer. It turns out the reason is the wife knows said man is innocent but can’t say anything because of blackmail. If that isn’t contrived enough circumstances arise where the barrister finds himself accused of murder, and he can't prove his innocence because of similar circumstantial evidence. Some brisk courtroom scenes but the piece ultimately ties itself up in knots.

Radio review – TGA – “Boy Meets Girl” (1946) ****

Gene Kelly has a go at screwball comedy, and is very good – but then when you think about it, a lot of his musicals were essentially screwball comedies with musical numbers. He and Frank Lovejoy play as a duo of screenwriters who wind up making a star out of the baby from single mother who works at the studio. 

It’s bright and cheerful; I went into this a bit hostile because I heard it was a spoof of Hollywood, and wasn’t in the mood to listen to some diatribe about the superiority of theatre, especially not after having ploughed through some lame Theatre Guild shows (I think the majority of old movies were better written than old plays). But it’s not – the satire of Hollywood is affectionate (and to be fair they are always reheating old formulas over there), pot shots are taken at Broadway too, but mostly the foibles of actors, writers, producers and dumb blondes.

Radio review – TGA – “Papa Is All” (1946) **

Tiresome family comedy set amongst the Pennsylvanian Dutch Mennonites, a conservative religious sect. Dad (played here my Oscar Homolka) is very strict, so much so he won’t let his son follow his dreams, his daughter marry a boy, or his wife (Aline MacMahon) buy some useful electrical appliances. Then Dad dies, everyone is happy and start to relax. Then he comes back – he’s not really dead. It’s a comedy, supposedly, but it’s too unpleasant to work – would have been better as a thriller or drama. It’s so lame, so tired. I’m beginning to loathe these Theatre Guild comedies.

Radio review – TG – “At Mrs Beams” (1945) **

The real life romance of Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard gave inspiration to blokes everywhere who dreamed of punching above their weight (not only was she hot, she was also loaded). But then I guess Meredith had his own sort of charisma, and that reputation-as-a-great-actor thing going on. The duo play a pair of unmarried thieves who wind up at a boarding house; they set about trying to seduce third parties, but both get jealous of the other. The play was from the 1920s but surely this kind of story was old even back then? Not terribly funny or charming - it is fun to hear Meredith and Goddard play together, but I think for it to work you needed Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Radio review – TG – “Great Expectations” (1953) ***

Not as star-studded as the Theatre Guild version of David Copperfield - Boris Karloff is the only name here, as Madgwick. (It’s great to hear Karloff expanding his range, trying different parts – poor old Bela Lugosi never had the luck, but then there are more roles for British actors than Hungarian. And Boris was never addicted to morphine.) The story adapts quite well to radio because you can focus on a few characters: Estella, Miss Havisham, Jagger, Pip, Madgwick. It has a happy ending between Pip and Estella which I understand came from the 1946 film version rather than the novel. Not bad – interesting, rather than awesome.

Radio review – TG – “The Bishop Misbehaves” (1952) **

These Theatre Guild comedies always seemed so damn light, although it’s always a pleasure to hear Charles Laughton. He plays the bishop of the title who is a crime fiction buff and finds himself getting involved in a hold up along with his sister (Josephine Hull from Arsenic and Old Lace). The robber is actually a jolly good sort only helping out a girl trying to steal back money that was stolen from her father by a real baddy. I think when the Angry Young Men got angry they were railing at this sort of stuff. It would have made a good B film in the 30s, a vehicle for an elderly star- I checked this, and what do you know, it was. Laughton is good as always.

Radio review – TG – “Dead End” (1946) ***

Enjoyable slice-of-life-in-a-tenement drama, sort of like Street Scene with the gangster element played up. The main plots concern an architect graduate struggling to find work in the depression; his childhood friend, a wanted gangster, who comes home to discover his mother doesn’t want him and his ex is a hooker; a young woman trying to prevent her younger brother (one of what became known as the Dead End Kids – not a massive presence here) from going to a life of crime. Effective stuff which makes points about poverty that are still relevant today. A decent enough production, with Richard Conte being the best known member of the cast (he plays the architect).

Radio review – TGA – “The Silver Whistle” (1952) **

Reminiscent of Cocoon and that episode of The Simpsons where Homer went to live in a retirement home. It’s about a carny operator/conman (James Stewart, whose excellent voice is always great to hear) who gets on the run from town authorities and winds up at an old person’s home. Even though he’s in his 40s he passes himself off as someone 35 years older, but who’s discovered the elixr of youth. It’s not really a believable concept, even on radio – how would it work…? At least it is a play about the aged. The humour is gentle but it does have a positive message about living for the moment and the important of positive thinking. Diana Lynn plays the love interest, a nurse engaged to a doctor who is romanced by Stewart. Jose Ferrer played this on Broadway; it was adapted into a Mr Belvedere movie.

Radio review – TGA – “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1947) ***1/2

It’s always a pleasure to renew an acquaintance with this classic comedy of matters (“a perfect curate’s egg of a play” as I think Noel Coward once described it). Full of lovely lines and fine characterisations – even if it’s resolved by a very convenient deux ex machina in the form of the revelation about Jack’s parentage. Like Wilde’s other comedies, it skewers hypocrisy but not as blatantly as them. It’s performed by John Gielgud and his company – he’s the only one who gets top billing (he plays Jack) but the cast include Pamela Brown (Gwendolyn) and Margaret Rutherford (Lady Bracknell, even though she played Miss Prism in the movie version). Some random observations – I never appreciated before how Algy is always stuffing his face full of food.