Escape and Suspense!

Noir City 12 - It's a Bitter Little World

It's that time again! The 12th annual San Francisco Film Noir Foundation Festival begins Friday, January 24th!

This year, the festival beckons to us with the title "Noir City 12 - It's a Bitter Little World." 

Why? Well, this time the focus is on international films, and they promise to take us on a cinematic journey around the world, to dispel the belief that noir is a singularly American phenomenon. The films presented will come from France, Germany, Britain, Norway, Mexico, Argentina, and Japan. 

Aside from the foreign selections, there will be a couple of exciting restorations, Too Late for Tears (1949) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953). 

Altogether, 27 films will be presented in 10 days. 

For more information about Noir City 12 visit the Film Noir Foundation website at www.noircity.com.

See you there!  

Suspense - The Angel of Death

In Suspense's "The Angel of Death," Paul Henried stars as a man who commits himself to a lengthy and self-punishing plan of revenge against his wife.

The episode opens on New Year's Eve...and violins begin to play.  John Forsythe  begins a narrative in which he explains that he has always been extraordinarily intelligent. And, he tells us that only to explain the series of events which began on the same night fifteen years earlier in London...

John had suspected that his wife and his best friend were involved, but it wasn't until he caught them planning to run away together on that night, that he knew the truth.

A month later, John was on trial for the murder of both of them!

But, John never worried about his trial or his sentence. He believed that his superior intelligence would win out...until now. 

 "The Angel of Death" was written by Alan Cameron and produced/directed by William Spier. Paul Henreid starred. Also appearing Wally Maher, Jane Morgan, Verna Felton, Raymond Lawrence and Joseph Kearns. This episode aired on January 3, 1946. 

. Download Suspense_1946-01-03_Angel_Of_Death_wPaulHenreid UPGRADE-2

(Image of Paul Henried from Wikipedia)

Suspense - I Never Met the Dead Man

In Suspense's, "I Never Met the Dead Man," Danny Kaye plays against type in a bleak noir about a man framed for murder who must find a way to clear his name.

As the episode opens, Joe recalls how he was walking down a street on New Year's Day...when suddenly, there was gunfire! A man was shot and killed.

The police arrived, and they immediately considered Joe the primary suspect. 

He told them he was just walking down the street...but the evidence discovered by the police told a different story.

So, what did happen? 

"I Never Met the Dead Man" was written by television screenwriter William Bruckner, directed by Norman MacDonnell and produced by William Spier. Danny Kaye starred. The name of the actress who played Bella isn't given but it is probably Jeannette Nolan. Joseph Kearns also appeared. This episode aired on January 5, 1950.

 . Download Suspense_1950-01-05_INeverMetTheDeadMan_wDannyKaye UPGRADE

(Image of Danny Kaye from Wikipedia)

Welcome to Escape and Suspense! Vintage Radio

Escape and Suspense! Vintage Radio, is a website specializing in the study of individual episodes from two popular anthology series that aired on CBS Radio during the mid-twentieth century. For more information, click on the link titled "An Introduction to this Website..." at the right side of this page.

Information about individual episodes is presented--but not summarized completely. To review or summarize an episode in its entirety presents the risk of ruining the experience for the listener or giving away the trick endings for which Suspense is famous. On this website, episodes are given a quick summary at the top and an introduction to the story...the rest of the experience is left to the listener.

Escape and Suspense! is not updated as often as it used to be, but the episodes and their summaries are timeless! So, don't worry about that.

Feel free to comment or drop us a line about your experience.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year from Escape and Suspense!

Here we are in 2014!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to write to me via comments, social media, or e-mail. As you know, sometimes it can take me a little to time respond, but I do try to answer everyone!  

This month, Escape and Suspense! Vintage Radio is celebrating its seventh anniversary. Seven years...and I still have about 200+ episodes of Suspense to go until I get to the end of the series. 

I posted the entire Escape series several years ago, but I will be going back through those posts soon to update the audio files. I will also be making some overdue updates to this website in the coming months as well. 

January has always been our month for noir. That means it is time for our annual trip to the Noir City Film Festival...and of course, it means finishing one or more of the Cornell Woolrich novels on my reading list.

You may see some changes to the website in the near future as we try to improve the experience for everyone. 

Happy new year!

Christine