Sun 4 Dec 2011
EDWARD D. HOCH and HOLLYWOOD, by Mike Tooney
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Mystery movies , TV mysteries[5] Comments
by Mike Tooney
As prolific as Edward D. Hoch was — with over 900 short stories to his credit — the movie and TV media have made virtually no use of his output. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) lists just 9 films derived from his works (9/900 = 1 percent). No more eloquent testimony against the obtuseness of Hollywood can be adduced.
1. “Off Season.” The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, May 10, 1965. With John Gavin, Richard Jaeckel, and Tom Drake. Based on Hoch’s story “Winter Run,” this is a nice little crime drama with a nasty twist. This show was the final one of the Hitchcock series.
2. It Takes All Kinds. Film, 1969, based on the story “A Girl Like Cathy.” With Robert Lansing, Vera Miles, and Barry Sullivan. Film critic Leonard Maltin describes it this way: “Fair double cross drama about Miles’ shielding of Lansing when he accidentally kills sailor in a brawl in Australia. Nothing special.”
3. “The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes.” Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, November 5, 1972. With Gary Lockwood, Joan Van Ark, and Chuck Connors. I’m sure I saw this one but don’t remember a thing about it.
The TV series McMillan & Wife (1971-77) made good use of Hoch’s stories:
4. “Cop of the Year.” November 19, 1972. With Rock Hudson, Susan Saint James, John Schuck, Nancy Walker, and Edmond O’Brien. Based on “The Leopold Locked Room,” with John Schuck’s character doubling for Captain Leopold. Neat little impossible crime plot, with Schuck accused of murdering his ex-wife.
5. “Free Fall to Terror.” November 11, 1973. Guest stars: Edward Andrews, Tom Bosley, Barbara Feldon, John Fiedler, Dick Haymes, James Olson, and Barbara Rhoades. Based on one of Hoch’s best stories (“The Long Way Down”), a businessman evidently crashes through a plate glass window, disappears in mid-air, and hits the ground — three hours later.
6. “The Man without a Face.” January 6, 1974. Guest stars: Dana Wynter, Nehemiah Persoff, Stephen McNally, Donna Douglas, and Steve Forrest. Cold War espionage with a mystery slant.
The French produced a mini-series in the mid-’70s:
7. Nick Verlaine ou Comment voler la Tour Eiffel. Five episodes, France, July-August 1976. If anybody knows anything about this production, please inform us.
The British horror/fantasy series Tales of the Unexpected used a couple of Hoch’s stories as inspiration:
8. “The Man at the Top.” June 14, 1980. Introducer: Roald Dahl. With Peter Firth, Rachel Davies, and Dallas Cavell.
9. “The Vorpal Blade.” May 28, 1983. With Peter Cushing, Anthony Higgins, John Bailey, and Andrew Bicknell.
— and, unless the IMDb list is woefully incomplete, that’s the extent of the film industry’s use of Edward D. Hoch’s stories.
December 4th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
In an interview I conducted with Mr. Hoch a few years before his death, I asked a question about his various series characters, and he ended by saying:
“…a current TV option on my Nick Velvet stories would mean more Velvet’s if a series does materialize.”
My next question:
I recall that such a series has been proposed off and on for several years, and I think we all hope someday it will finally come to fruition. Let’s go into the realm of utmost fantasy now. Would you care to suggest the ideal movie and/or TV actors and actresses that you would like most to play Nick or any other of your series characters?
Mr. Hoch’s reply:
“More than twenty years ago when a Broadway producer held the Nick Velvet option, she suggested Ben Gazzara for the part. It was a good idea at the time, but I wouldn’t want to suggest anyone to play Nick or my other characters now. The television business is such that casting is dependent upon things like the budget and the age bracket at which the show is aimed. If Nick ever makes it on the air I certainly won’t mind if he’s young and handsome, even if that’s not how I picture him.”
In a later issue of the print version of Mystery*File, which is where the interview first appeared, Marv Lachman suggested the late Barry Sullivan as the ideal actor to play Nick Velvet. I countered with my own choice of Timothy Dalton.
Other suggestions welcome!
December 4th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
“The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes.†Very strange episode of NG with a boxer taken to a celestial boxing ring for a match with the current immortal.
December 4th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
In an interview or article, Edward D. Hoch mentioned with pleasure that his Nick Velvet stories had been adapted for French TV. (Don’t remember where I read this.)
“Nick Verlaine ou Comment voler la Tour Eiffel” (which means “Nick Verlaine, or How to Steal the Eiffel Tower?”) seems to be this adaptation.
They changed Velvet to Verlaine – the name of a very famous French poet. Paul Verlaine wrote “It rains in the city, like it rains in my heart”.
Nick Verlaine sounds French – and Nick Velvet doesn’t.
I haven’t seen any film versions.
“The Long Way Down†is a masterpiece.
“The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropes” is a good story. It is a thriller, rather than a detective puzzle.
December 4th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I remember enjoying McMillan & Wife when it on, mostly because (as I recall) the stories were often detective puzzles.
I especially remember “Free Fall to Terror” since the story was such a knockout of a ‘impossible crime.’ In fact I watched it twice, once live, and once a second time as a rerun while we were waiting for company to arrive. I didn’t remember the ending then from the first time, nor do I now.
Our company arrived just before Mac revealed all.
December 4th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
“The Long Way Down†, “The Ring with the Red Velvet Ropesâ€, “Winter Run,†are all in Hoch’s collection THE NIGHT MY FRIEND. Francis M. Nevins’ introduction confirms that Nick Velvet is the original of Nick Verlaine.
“The Long Way Down†is also in the anthology THE LOCKED ROOM READER. Which is where I read it.