Suspense - Murder Through the Looking Glass

In "Murder Through the Looking Glass," Gregory Peck stars as a man who does not remember the murder he is accused of having committed.

This episode was based on the 1943 novel Murder Through the Looking Glass by accomplished mystery writer Craig Rice, whose real name was Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig.  Known for her surrealistic approach to story-telling, her works were published under a number of pseudonyms. For Murder Through the Looking Glass, the pseudonym Michael Venning was used.

Normally, here at Escape and Suspense!, we always read the original work before posting a radio adaptation, unless that item is particularly hard to get. Such is the case with this novel. Surviving copies of Murder Through the Looking Glass are very expensive, and they are not readily available through interlibrary loan.

The other issue with this episode is that the novel was adapted for radio by pulp fiction writer Ken Crossen. If his adaptation of this book is anything like his adaptation of Graham Greene's Confidential Agent, for Escape, then he may have completely changed the story to suit his style. Without a copy of the original work to go by, we really don't know.

So, for now, we just have to take Suspense's presentation as it is...

"Murder through the Looking Glass" was produced and directed by Anton M. Leader. Gregory Peck starred. The name of the actress playing Rosalie isn't given. Joseph Kearns played the doctor. This episode aired on on March 17, 1949.

. Download Suspense_1949-03-17_Murder Through The Looking Glass_

(Image of the author Craig Rice)

Comments

[icr]

My uneducated guess why the book was unavailable through interlibrary loan:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19453_6-reasons-were-in-another-book-burning-period-in-history.html

and/or

http://www.librarything.com/topic/102043

[cmillinsf]

Hi icr,
Well, it is one possibility, but I hope that is not the case. I work in a private law library myself, and I am familiar with the problem of what to do with old law books. They have no value and nobody wants them. Tossing them out is a difficult thing to get used to. -- Christine