Thu 9 Mar 2023
An Old Time Radio Review: DOUGLAS OF THE WORLD “The Terrorists” (1953).
Posted by Steve under Old Time Radio , Reviews[6] Comments
DOUGLAS OF THE WORLD. “The Terrorists.” Armed Forces Radio Service, 1953. Jack Moyles, as world-traveling reporter Brad Douglas, with Peter Leeds, Harry Bartell, Karen Steele, Paul Richards. Available online here.
Brad Douglas, working as a reporter for the (fictional) New York World has a job that takes him to all of the hot spots of the world, including in this episode, Iran, where he goes to talk to the ordinary people of the country about their view of their new prime minister. Oil is the big news of the day, and some things have never changed since then.
But while doing due diligence to this week’s assignment, Brad also has an eye out for a pretty girl (played by Karen Steele), but she has an ulterior motive: her brother, a petroleum engineer has gone missing. Brad offers to help, of course, and fairly soon all three of them are being held captive in a dark room who knows where. Faced with death at dawn as the only alternative, Brad agrees to write the news article their captors want published, only … he has a plan.
Brad Douglas was portrayed by Jack Moyles, whom OTR fans remember best as the voice of Rocky Jordan, the American restaurant owner in Cairo whose weekly adventures in that exotic city were filled to overflowing with adventure and intrigue of all kinds.
In spite of a fine cast, Douglas of World isn’t nearly as good — there’s just not enough juice to it — but perhaps the comparison is unfair. Rocky Jordan was one of the finest adventure shows on radio that wasn’t entitled Escape. Information on DoW is skimpy, but it may have produced directly for the Armed Forces Radio Service. Perhaps only four or five have survived to this day.
March 9th, 2023 at 12:26 am
In case you aren’t familiar with the ROCKY JORDAN radio show, perhaps I should listen to and review one soon. Suffice it to say, even if you got only a hint from the review above that it might just maybe be based on the movie CASABLANCA, I would say that there’s a good chance you would be right.
March 9th, 2023 at 12:27 am
And, yes, I believe that the Karen Steele featured in the cast of this episode is the same Karen Steele of movie and TV fame.
March 9th, 2023 at 5:16 pm
Big love for the Cafe Tambourine and owner Rocky Jordan. There’s just a few other serials with close to that special verve. Has ‘Voyage of the Scarlet Queen’, ever been mentioned around here?
Oh well. This “Douglas of the World” episode, I’m surprised to say so but I suspect it’s one I’ve heard. Vaguely familiar. At some point, Moyles dupes the cell leader (played by Bartell) into some kind of ruse in a curio shop in the Casbah?
Something like that. You hear crashing pottery as he ducks out the back or whatever, leaving Bartell to splutter with rage. “Infidel dog! Blasphemer!” and the like. The secret map or secret microfilm is stenciled on a clay elephant or some other knick-knack.
At least that’s what I recall.
Give ‘Scarlet Queen’ a try!
March 9th, 2023 at 6:30 pm
Somewhat close, but it’s somehow a not quite. It’s a Persian rug shop not a curio shop, and there’s no map pr microfilm involved, only a desire on the part of the head terrorist to have a newspaper story by Douglas published to their liking. And no knick-knack, elephant or otherwise. Otherwise, very very close.
As for the SCARLET QUEEN, yes, that’s definitely one of the top ten radio adventure shows of all time, maybe the top five. Or higher.
March 9th, 2023 at 8:51 pm
Even a pale shadow of Rocky Jordan would have to be of interest.
March 10th, 2023 at 12:57 am
Indeed. So much is gained from tight production value and ‘sound patterns’ (as they used to call them). Creating rich, atmospheric background.
Serials like Scarlet Queen, Texas Rangers, Pat Novak, Philip Marlowe, Dragnet, Gunsmoke. Green Hornet. Johnny Dollar. Nero Wolfe. Dangerous Assignment. Harry Lime. Bold Venture. Paladin.
I’ll name one more, often overlooked: ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, with Marius Goring. It’s a hoot. French accented-voices something the ear isn’t over-used to. And the clash of steel on steel! A little variation from all the rampant gunplay on American airwaves at the time.