ROGER TORREY – The Bodyguard and Other Crime Dramas. Black Dog Books; trade paperback; 1st printing, 2009. Introduction by Ron Goulart.

   Roger Torrey is probably not the first name you’d come up with if you were to start listing some well-known writers who wrote for the detective pulp fiction magazines, but in his day, he was one of the more prolific ones, and he traveled in high circles, with a considerable amount of his output in the 1930s being for one of the most prestigious of them all, Black Mask.

   Torrey wrote nearly 50 or so stories for that particular magazine, beginning in 1934 and continuing on to 1943, and one wishes that some of those could have been included in this particular collection. But alas, no. Even though this is a strikingly handsome volume, small press operations such as Black Dog Books do not have large budgets, and from all appearances the stories herein are all in the public domain.

   The magazines these stories were reprinted from, such as Romantic Detective, Private Detective and Super Detective, were not even of the second rank, as far as pulp magazines went. More like third or even fourth level, counting downward. Prestigious publications they were not.

   I am sorry to have to tell you this. But not all is lost. Bodyguard is a handsome volume, as I mentioned before, and the stories that are in it were certainly among the best of the magazines they were in.

   Most of Torrey’s leading characters were private eyes, also a great big plus as far as I am concerned, but only a few of them have well-heeled clients or work for a big agency and have a steady job. Most of them seem to be struggling along in life as well as everybody else who inhabit these tales, and sometimes their clients have less money on hand than they do.

   One gets the feeling that Torrey’s characters live in the other end of town, and the stories he tells are earthier and closer to the ground than some of those by his contemporaries. One of the stories has a scene that is more than slightly risque, but otherwise the leading characters and the women they meet in these stories do what ordinary people do, casually but behind closed doors. Lots of hints, in other words, but nothing more than that.

   The detective in “Two Dead Men” (Romantic Detective, August 1938) is a fellow named John Linehan, who in the course in telling this story reveals, without quite saying so, for example, that he’s been stepping out with his secretary on more than one occasion. It also is telling that she’s quite jealous when Lineham seems to be spending too much time in close proximity to a lady friend of his client, as they travels from party to nightclub and back again with his client and her boy friend.

   It seems as though she’s being blackmailed (her boy friend already has a wife) by someone who knows far too much about her, including the fact that she and the aforementioned boy friend were sharing a hotel room right next to one that from which a dead man jumped, falling not feet from Lineham, not working for Miss Morrison at the time.

   It is a wonder that Lineham can solve the case, what with all of the heavy drinking that goes on in this story, but solve it he does. I’m not as sure of the “why” as he is, but I agree with the “who.” But readers of Romantic Detective were not so much interested in the detective end of things, I presume, and Torrey delivers what it was they were looking for.

   Story number two is “Cook to Order” (Spicy Detective, October 1939), told by private eye George Andrews, who’s asked by a waitress in a place where he eats to find out what’s been bothering her roommate. Turns out that that’s just a ploy to get him over to her apartment, but as it turns out again, there actually is a case for “Andy” to solve.

   The plot is far too complicated for a story only ten pages long. The picture of tough living, dingy hash houses and bare-bones living quarters will stay with you a whole lot longer.

   The title story, “Bodyguard” (Private Detective, December 1938) is one of the longer tales in the collection, almost forty pages long. It doesn’t mean that it’s one of the better ones, I admit, but it has it moments.

   The bodyguard in question is William Dugan, who hired by a man of some wealth when some threats against his life have escalated into actual shots being taken at him. To my mind, Bill is not much of a bodyguard, although in all honesty the beating death of a gardener can’t be held against him, since the incident happened before he showed up.

   Nor can the shooting of a deputy sheriff, since the man was hardly one of the family. But when the throat of one of Miles’s two daughters is found with her throat slit, you’d think he might be fired on the spot, but he manages to keep his job until the case is solved.

   The dead girl was the pure in faith one; the other, a honey blonde with the morals of a tramp is the one who’s all over Bill — picture one guy with a stiff arm out to stave off her advances, and you’ve got our detective pictured to a T. And naturally Angela is more than jealous when Bill takes up with the other good-looking woman who’s recently come to town — a platinum blonde who claims to be a reporter, but her newspaper has never heard of her.

   Bill checked — one of the better moves he makes.

   This is as far I’m going to go. I’m sure you have the idea. There are eight more stories in this book, and I enjoyed them about as much as I did these first three. None of them is as good as Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, and maybe they’re not even half as good. On the other hand, who is?

PostScript. Two more things. There is, first of all, a well-done checklist of all of Torrey’s pulp fiction that fills the last dozen pages of this book. (Torrey wrote only novel in his career — he died in early 1946 of acute alcoholism– that being 42 Days for Murder, published first by Hillman-Curl in 1938.)

   Secondly, if you are a pulp fiction fan of any vintage, old or new, you should also go visit the Black Dog Books website. They have a large number of other collections like this one already out or coming soon, including the one just above and to the right, and I recommend all of them to you very highly.

    In the comments that followed Bill Pronzini’s review of Warren Adler’s Trans-Siberian Express (1977), the discussion in the comments turned first to other favorite mysteries set on trains.

   Here’s David Vineyard’s list, repeated here for ease and convenience:

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS — Agatha Christie
DREAD JOURNEY — Dorothy B. Hughes
MURDER ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIN — the Gordons
STAMBOUL TRAIN — Graham Greene
COMPARTMENT EAST — Pierre Jean Remy
THE EDGE — Dick Francis
LADY ON A TRAIN — Leslie Charteris
THE WHEEL SPINS — Ethel Lina White (THE LADY VANISHES)
MURDER ON THE LINE — John Creasey
RUNNING SPECIAL — Frank L. Packard
THE MAN IN LOWER 10 — Mary Rinehart
THE ST. PETERSBURG-CANNES EXPRESS — Hans Koning
GHOST TRAIN and the THE WRECKERS both by Arthur Ripley based on his plays
BOMBAY MAIL — Lawrence G. Blochman

   What reminded me of David’s list was that I came across another Top 10 Train Thrillers list. It’s not clear who came up with this one, entitled “Murder on the Literary Express,” but it was sponsored by abebooks.com:

1. Strangers on a Train – Patricia Highsmith.
2. The Wheel Spins – Ethel Lina White.
3. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie.
4. Stamboul Train – Graham Greene.
5. The Necropolis Railway – Andrew Martin.
6. The Edge – Dick Francis.
7. La Béte Humaine – Émile Zola.
8. 4.50 From Paddington – Agatha Christie.
9. Mr. Norris Changes Trains – Christopher Isherwood.
10. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – John Godey.

   Most of the others I’ve come up with that are not on either list involve timetables, not actual train travel, and while I’ve not read all of the above, I can’t think of any that would replace the ones in either list.

      Steve,

   Here’s another “Man On The Run” question: I recently watched Odd Man Out with James Mason and could you or David recommend any other urban-type MOTR films? Whether they be wartime, comedic or western doesn’t matter much.

   I am interested in a city atmosphere. I imagine Escape from New York would be one although that is a little too sci-fi for my tastes. Anything at all that comes to mind would be of enormous assistance to me.

         Best,

            Josh

      — —

   This is, of course, a follow-up to David Vineyard’s four Top Ten lists of “Man on the Run” thrillers posted here about three weeks ago. Naturally I tossed the question on to him, graciously offering to let him tackle it. Here’s his reply:

   Hmm, urban man on the run films — there are quite a few of those, so I’ll limit myself a bit. Obviously Odd Man Out is an excellent choice, but here are a few more. Just to keep from going too far astray I’ll stick to ones where the protagonist is on the run in an urban setting rather than what I call ‘hunt the man down’ films like Panic in the City or M which feature classic manhunts.

   These are in no particular order, and vary as to genre (spy, crime, etc.). I’ll also leave off films like Desperate Hours and He Ran All The Way where the bad guy hides out in a home in an urban setting, that’s a genre to itself. Not included, but worth checking out, is The Lost Man with Sidney Poitier, a reworking of Odd Man Out set in the ghetto. Not really a success, but worth seeing. Others:

This Gun For Hire. (Based on Graham Greene’s novel.) Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar. Remade as Short Cut To Hell, directed by James Cagney and as a television movie with Robert Wagner. Stick to the original.

Street of Chance . (Based on Cornell Woolrich’s Black Curtain). Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor. Amnesiac is hunted as he tries to regain his memory. Also an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (reviewed here ) with Richard Basehart.

Dark Corner. (Novel by Leo Q. Ross — Leo Rosten.) Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, William Bendix, Clifton Webb. Private eye Stevens gets help from secretary Lucy when he is set up for murder — great noir film with outstanding performances by all — especially Webb and Bendix.

The Fugitive. Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones This made the first list due to the train wreck and the dam escape in the first part of the film, but much of the action takes place in Chicago making good use of the urban setting and that city in particular.

A Man Alone. Ray Milland. Noirish little western directed by Milland about a fugitive trying to clear himself of a murder in a small town. Perhaps not gritty or urban exactly but tense and claustrophobic. His The Thief set in New York is also worth checking, done with sound, but no dialogue.

The Confidential Agent. (Novel by Graham Greene.) Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, George Colouris. Boyer is in London to get help for his cause (Republican Spain in the novel) surrounded by enemies and Fascist agents, falling for Bacall who aides him.

Night and the City. (Based on the novel by Gerald Kersh.) Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney. Great film as Widmark’s wrestling promoter tries to avoid the fixers he has double-crossed in London. Skip the remake with Robert De Niro.

Whistling in Brooklyn. Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford Third film of Red’s series of films about radio sleuth the Fox has him on the run from crooks and cops in Brooklyn including a hilarious turn as a bearded baseball player with the real Brooklyn Dodgers. Probably not what you are looking for, but entertaining.

The Sleeping City. Richard Conte. Once controversial film finds undercover cop Conte in big city hospital ferreting out corruption and with every hand against him.

Twelve Crowded Hours. Richard Dix, Lucille Ball Offbeat and entertaining B of reporter and girl racing to clear an innocent man.

Dr. Broadway. MacDonald Carey Early Anthony Mann film and part of a proposed series that never developed has young doctor getting involved with gangsters and finding himself hunted by crooks and cops. Based on the pulp stories of Borden Chase.

Somewhere in the Night. John Hodiak, Lloyd Nolan A war hero with amnesia returns to his home town where he was a less than honest private eye and finds himself pursued by everyone.

D.O.A. Edmond O’Brien One of the greats. O’Brien is hunting down the man who poisoned him, but at the same time he is literally on the run from death as his time runs out.

Slayground. (Based on the Richard Stark novel.) Peter Coyote is Parker hunted in an amusement park.

Side Street. Farley Granger Part time postman Granger steals some money and finds himself hunted on all sides. Beautiful use of location work in NYC, expertly directed by Anthony Mann. Great car chase finale in a careening taxi.

My Favorite Brunette. Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr. Early spoof of film noir staples (1947, yet they hit them all) as baby photographer Bob is mistaken for private eye Alan Ladd and finds himself hunted by the crooks who want heiress Lamour’s money and the cops who think he is a murderer.

The Web. Edmond O’Brien, William Bendix, Vincent Price. Bodyguard O’Brien gets framed by boss Price in good noir mystery.

Take One False Step. William Powell, Shelly Winters Powell gets involved with Winters and wanted by the police in entertaining tale with script by Irwin Shaw based on his own story.

Dark Passage. (Novel by David Goodis.) Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall. Bogie is an innocent man who escapes prison, Lauren always believed he was innocent and helps him hide out, get plastic surgery, and catch the real killer. Extensive use of the subjective camera from the hero’s point of view for the first half of the film (until Bogart emerges after the plastic surgery).

The Big Clock. (Novel by Kenneth Fearing.) Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Sullvan Editor at Time-like magazine conglomerate is framed for murder of the publisher’s mistress and ends up hunting himself in the claustrophobic building where he works. Remade as No Way Out and ‘borrowed’ countless times.

Ride the Pink Horse. (Novel by Dorothy B. Hughes.) Robert Montgomery, Thomas Gomez. Tough guy out for revenge and blackmail of vacationing gangster in New Mexico tries to elude killers and police during carnival. One of the greats of film noir. Remade for television as The Hanging Man with Robert Culp.

Mirage. (Based on the novel by Howard Fast.) Gregory Peck, Walter Matthau. Amnesiac loses his memory (or regains it partially) in a blackout and is hunted as he tries to piece his story back together by his former associates.

Arabesque. (Novel by Gordon Cotler.) Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren. While evading spies and assassins Peck and Loren try to put together puzzle involving a threat to a visiting Arab prince in largely comic caper from Stanley Donen (Charade).

Nowhere to Go. (Novel: Donald MacKenzie.) George Nader, Maggie Smith. A thief in London tries to evade police and fellow crooks in this excellent sleeper with notable jazz score by Dizzy Reece.

The Limping Man. Lloyd Bridges. Man finds himself on the run in London from a false charge.

Interrupted Journey. Richard Todd. Man on the run with another woman in suspenseful film — until the end.

Captive City. John Forsythe. Small town newspaper editor finds himself a fugitive in his own town in well done noir film based on a true story.

It Takes All Kinds. Robert Lansing, Vera Miles. Lansing accidentally kills a sailor and Miles hides him out.

The Whistler. (Based on the radio series.) Richard Dix. Solid entry to the B-series in which a man tries to cancel the contract he took out on his life when he thought he was dying.

Rampage. (Novel: Allan Calliou.) Robert Mitchum, Elsa Martinelli, Jack Hawkins. Mitchum and Martinelli find themselves hunting a killer leopard Hawkins has set free in Munich while Hawkins hunts them.

Arch of Triumph. (Novel: Erich Maria Remarque.) Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman. Paris on the eve of the Fall with refugees desperate to escape.

Saboteur. Robert Cummings. The second half of the film has innocent Cummings on the run in New York trying to stop the spies and clear his name including the famous Hitchcock shootout in the movie theater, the ship sinking (based on the suspected sabotage of the Normandie), and the finale atop the Statue of Liberty with assassin Norman Lloyd. And if you can call Monte Carlo urban or gritty, To Catch a Thief.

Cairo. Richard Johnson, George Sanders More or less a remake of The Asphalt Jungle but with a bit more of the urban man on the run theme for Johnson’s half breed character at the end.

Bedeviled . Anne Baxter, Steve Forrest. Seminary student Forrest helps Baxter when she is witness to a murder.

Christmas Holiday. (Novel by W. Somerset Maugham.) Gene Kelly, Deanna Durbin. Durbin tries to hide and protect her sociopathic killer hubby Kelly, directed by noir great Robert Siodmak. Kelly is good in unsympathetic role.

All Through The Night. Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, William Demarest, Judith Anderson. Bogie is a Runyonesque gambler who is framed for murder of Edward Brophy when he stumbles on a ring of fifth columnists. Genuinely funny film with a great cast including Jackie Gleason, Frank McHugh and Phil Silvers. Watch for the scene where Bogie and Demarest double talk a room full of Nazi saboteurs. Great looking film too with serial-like action and sharp script.

I Wake Up Screaming. (Novel: Steve Fisher.) Victor Mature, Betty Grable, Laird Cregar. PR man Mature is framed for murder and on the run in glitzy New York in this noir classic. Remade as Vicki with Jeane Crain, Eliot Reed, and Richard Boone.

Man Hunt. (Based on the novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household.) Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders. While this Fritz Lang film is a classic of the man hunted in rough country, the scenes in London with Pidgeon shadowed by Nazi agents and his deadly battle with killer John Carradine in the underground are fine examples of the chase film done in an urban setting. Those aspects are largely missing from the well made Rogue Male with Peter O’Toole. Lang recreates the subway setting in his serial killer manhunt film While The City Sleeps.

The Quiller Memorandum. (Novel: Adam Hall — Elleston Trevor.) George Segal, Alec Guiness, Max Von Sydow. Segal’s Quiller finds himself on the run in West Berlin in well done spy film with a screenplay by Harold Pinter.

27th Day . (Novel by John Mantley.) Gene Barry. Preachy but entertaining sf film of group of people from different nations hunted by everyone when aliens give them the power to destroy the world and twenty-seven days to decide whether to use the power.

Ministry of Fear. (Novel: Graham Greene.) Ray Milland, Dan Duryea. Fritz Lang film of amnesiac Milland framed and on the run and the hunt for a spy ring in wartime London. Atmospheric.

The Game. Michael Douglas, Sean Penn. Doesn’t really hold up, plus it’s mean-spirited, but Douglas finds his life turned upside down when his brother gives him an unusual birthday present

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands. (Novel: Gerald Butler.) Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine. Ex-POW accused of murder hiding out in London in noirsh film.

The Killers. (Story by Ernest Hemingway.) Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien Insurance investigator O’Brien unravels the story of Swede (Lancaster) a one-time boxer who got involved with crooks who he double crossed and then was hunted down and killed by. Hemingway’s favorite film of his work though only the first few minutes of the film actually recreate the story. William Conrad and Charles McGraw memorable as the killers. Ava Gardner just plain memorable. Remade by Don Siegel with Ronald Reagan (his last film and only villain), Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin, and John Cassavettes.

Enemy At the Gates. Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Ed Harris. Semi-fit of the theme as Russian sharpshooter Fiennes and German sharpshooter Harris hunt each other in the devastation of the battle of Stalingrad.

Five Fingers. James Mason, Michael Rennie. Valet turned spy in WWII Istanbul must evade British and German agents when he is revealed. Based on a true story if not the true story.

Behold a Pale Horse. (Based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressberger.) Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn. Again a mix of rough country and city chase. Legendary gunman Peck returns to Franco’s Spain to assassinate brutal Fascist police chief Quinn and becomes object of a manhunt.

The Paris Express. (Based The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By by Georges Simenon.) Claude Rains. Meek embezzler finds himself hunted for more than he expected.

   And since we started with James Mason and Carol Reed we’ll end with James Mason and Carol Reed:

The Man Between. James Mason, Claire Bloom. In post-war Berlin black marketeer Mason falls for Bloom and finds himself torn between East and West and hunted by both.

   But for this list more than the others I think we can count on numerous additions.

             — David

Or at least I hope I am, because I thought I was where I think I am now a couple of times before.

I hope that sentence makes sense.

To explain, working on my own, I thought I’d cleared up the problems at least twice before, only to have the virus vermin come back again, and in full force.

But thanks to the long distance assistance of my son-in-law Mark — they live in IL while we’re here in CT — everything appears to be back to normal, and in fact my old clunker of a computer is working better than it has in quite a while.

What seems to have done the trick are two Anti-Virus programs you might think about trying: Malwarebytes (free) and Hitman 3.5 (free for 30 days). A Google search will turn each of them up very quickly. Both of them found and deleted 10 or 12 pesky infestors, even after Norton and SpySweeper had done their thing and scanned my entire computer system several times each.

As for the coincident problems with the latest Firefox download, I really don’t know what to make of that. The last time I downloaded it, early yesterday morning, I refused all of the proffered add-ons, mostly Java-based, but at Mark’s suggestion, I did choose an AdBlock add-on and a Noscript program.

So far, so good, and it’s been nearly a day now. It’s time to switch over to a new computer, but after this week’s woes, I think some good-fashioned R&R is what I need more, techwise, that is.

If I owe you an email or other response, my apologies. I’ll get back to you soon, and if I don’t, give me a nudge.

I can use my wife’s computer to post here, but without having access to my scanner and WordPerfect files upstairs, not to mention the Internet itself, there aren’t any easy workaround’s to be able to say this blog will be back in business anytime soon.

Every time I think I’ve found all of the bad stuff on my computer, I blink twice and it comes back. Last night I was able to receive and send email for the first time, but I can’t use Firefox as a browser, or so it seems. Whenever I try, it stalls and goes dead, and when I give Explorer a try, it sends me a continual stream of error messages and popup windows, even after I turn it off and stop using it.

I don’t know if it was coincidence or not, but it was right after I’d downloaded the latest version of Firefox (and/or the fixes and add-ons that came soon after) that the troubles began.

It’s time to let the professionals go to work, I think. I have a new computer that I can switch over to, but setting up the networking is beyond me. And if they can clean up the old one while they’re here, it can always be saved as a backup machine so we can have easy access to the Internet whenever we want downstairs.

So that’s the news from here. Not good, but not disastrously bad. Go out and enjoy the good weather, which I hope is as nice where you are as it is here today. I am!

Either my computer’s going bad on its own, or there’s a virus whatever that I’ve caught that’s causing problems. Whichever it is, it looks like my being able to post much of anything here until it’s cleared up (or cleaned out) is not going to happen.

I’ll be back when I can! Here’s hoping it won’t take too long.

BEAT THE DEVIL. United Artists, 1954. Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard. Screenplay by Truman Capote and John Huston, based on the novel by James Helvick. Director: John Huston.

   A legendary mess. Scripted by Truman Capote, directed by John Huston, with a great cast that includes Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Peter Lorre, Gina Lollobrigida and Robert Morley, and it’s still a dreadful muck-up time has not redeemed; something about a bunch of con men stuck in Italy trying to buy land in Africa, I think, but the plot doesn’t matter because it never really goes anywhere.

   There are some witty lines, but Huston always seems to be looking the other way when someone says them. Likewise the acting: some good turns by Morley, Lorre and Ivor Barnard as “the Galloping Major” but the characters are never defined well enough for us to be sure what the acting’s all about.

   Worst of all is Humphrey Bogart. It’s hard for a life-long Bogie-man like me to say it, but he’s dreadful here. Already cancer-stricken at 54, in ill-fitting wigs and gaudy clothes, he looks like an aging queen tarted up for one last night out with the boys.

   Bogie expressed some doubts about the project at the time, and it shows in his performance; at the heart of Devil we need the relaxed, self-assured leading man of Casablanca and The Big Sleep, but what we get is a nervous icon walking through the movie like an old man trying to cross a busy street.

   By the way, I’m always fond of reading the source books that notable movies were made from, so I looked up James Helvick’s novel Beat the Devil on the internet. The cheapest copy I found was $200, and if anyone wants to send me a copy, feel free.

BROADWAY LOVE. Bluebird Photoplays, 1918. Dorothy Phillips, Juanita Hansen, William Stowell, Harry von Meter, Lon Chaney, Eve Southern, Gladys Tennyson. director and author of the screenplay: Ida May Park. Shown at Cinecon 45, Hollywood CA, September 2009.

   This was an unusual screening, a silent film directed by a woman. Ida May Parks, according to Wikipedia, directed some 14 films, and wrote at least 50 screenplays, in a career that lasted from 1914 to 1930.

   The star was the then popular Dorothy Phillips, who plays Midge O’Hara, a small-town girl who goes to New York where she gets a job as a chorus girl. She is befriended by Cherry Blow (Juanita Hansen) who attempts to introduce the virtuous Midge to the incidental pleasures of her new life at a riotous party in the apartment of Cherry’s sugar daddy.

   Midge is rescued by an Arizona millionaire, only to find that his intentions are dishonorable. She flees New York, pursued by the persistent Henry, as well as by Elmer Watkins (Lon Chaney), her loutish suitor from back home.

   Parks sets up her shots for the actresses with great care, and is particularly successful with the party sequence. Relatively few Universal silent films (Bluebird Photoplays was Universal’s prestige feature unit) survived the studio’s purge, and the survivors are often in poor condition.

   However, the print shown was in excellent condition, and the film was more than competently directed, making one hope that other films directed by Parks may have survived.

“The Tender Poisoner.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 1, Episode 14). First air date: 20 December 1962. Dan Dailey, Howard Duff, Jan Sterling, William Bramley, Philip Read, Richard Bull, Bettye Ackerman. Writer: Lukas Heller, based on the novel Five Roundabouts to Heaven (1953; aka The Tender Poisoner, US, 1953) by John Bingham. Director: Leonard Horn.

   Barney Bartel (Dan Dailey) is an unhappily married man who has fallen for a woman, Lorna (Bettye Ackerman), ten years younger than his wife Beatrice (Jan Sterling). Barney’s pal Peter Harding (Howard Duff) knows about the affair and seems anxious to discourage Barney — but things aren’t always what they seem, are they?

   For Peter the situation has its advantages, indeed it does; for Barney, though, the situation is becoming intolerable. The first step involves getting rid of Beatrice, in preparation for which Barney must do an experiment on his dog, one involving poison …

   Longtime hoofer Dan Dailey proves in this show that he could do serious crime drama. Most of us may have forgotten the TV series Dailey did in 1959-60, 39 episodes of The Four Just Men inspired by characters created by Edgar Wallace. His only other series was the comedy The Governor & J. J. (1969-70).

   Howard Duff’s character is almost identical to the shifty guy he played in Naked City (1948). He also appeared in Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949), Spy Hunt (1950), Shakedown (1950), Private Hell 36 (1954), Women’s Prison (1955), While the City Sleeps (1956).

   On TV he was in Dante (26 episodes, 1960-61) and Felony Squad (73 installments, 1966-69), one Ellery Queen (1976), six appearances on Police Story, 37 episodes of Flamingo Road, and one as Thomas Magnum’s grandfather on Magnum, P.I.

   Jan Sterling was in a few crime dramas: Mystery Street (1950), Union Station (1950), Appointment with Danger (1951), Split Second (1953, reviewed here), The Human Jungle (1954), Female on the Beach (1955), and two episodes of The Name of the Game.

Hulu: http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi869793817/

Editorial Comment:   The photo you see of Howard Duff is strictly a case of “None of the Above,” as far as the credits go as listed for him by Mike. If you know the part he’s playing, then you almost assuredly know who it is who’s in the scene with him.

LEE CROSBY – Too Many Doors. E. P. Dutton, hardcover, 1941. Thriller Novel Classic #25, no date [1944], as Doors to Death (condensed). Belmont Books, pb, 1965.

   Wendal Crane, head of the Crane family and the family’s doll factory, has invited the entire family to hear a special announcement.

   What happens instead is that the great hurricane of 1938 cuts the house off totally from the outside world and murders begin taking place. Not to mention the voices from the walls and the little Malay figurines who may be coming alive.

   Fortunately, Dorcas Brown, a cousin of the Cranes, has brought with her Eric Hazard, psychologist and crime investigator. He gets it all straightened out in a novel that has nothing in particular to recommend it.

Bio-Bibliographic Data: [Expanded from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]

CROSBY, LEE. Pseudonym of Ware Torrey Budlong, 1905-1967; other pseudonyms: Meg Padget, Judith Ware and Joan Winslow
       Terror by Night (n.) Dutton 1938 [Eric Hazard]

       Too Many Doors (n.) Dutton 1941 [Eric Hazard]

       Midsummer Night’s Murder (n.) Dutton 1942

       Night Attack (n.) Dutton 1943
       Bridge House (n.) Belmont 1965

PADGET, MEG
       House of Strangers (n.) Lancer 1965

WARE, JUDITH
       Quarry House (n.) Paperback Library 1965
       Thorne House (n.) Paperback Library 1965
       The Faxon Secret (n.) Paperback Library 1966
       Detour to Denmark (n.) Paperback Library 1967

       The Fear Place (n.) Paperback Library 1967
       A Touch of Fear (n.) Signet 1969

WINSLOW, JOAN
       Griffin Towers (n.) Ace 1966

   The author was also a newspaperwoman, feature writer, editor, book columnist, foreign correspondent, short story writer. Her husband was Theodore Budlong, an advertising executive. At various times she lived in Upper Darby PA (1940s) and Bridgeport CT (1961).

   Her writing career was split into two parts, separated by a passage of some twenty years. When she began writing again in the mid-1960s, it was as part of the “Gothic romance” boom. Note that Too Many Doors was reprinted as one of the latter to take advantage of the tremendous, nearly unending demand for books in the category.