Episode 468 - Star of "Captain Horatio Hornblower"

Take to the seas with Gregory Peck as C.S. Forester's British naval hero in Captain Horatio Hornblower. Peck starred as Hornblower in Raoul Walsh's 1951 swashbuckling adventure, and we'll hear Peck recreate his role on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on January 21, 1952). But first we'll hear him on a different type of dangerous trip in "Hitchhike Poker" from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1948). Finally, we'll hear a spoof of the film from The Jack Benny Program (originally aired on CBS on September 23, 1951).

Let's win one for the Gipper with Pat O'Brien and future president Ronald Reagan in Knute Rockne, All American. The biopic starred O'Brien as the legendary Notre Dame football coach and Reagan as the player whose struggles off the field inspire his teammates. We'll hear them recreate their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre production (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1940), as well as episodes of Suspense: Ronald Reagan in "One and One's a Lonesome" (originally aired on CBS on March 23, 1950) and Pat O'Brien in "True Report" (originally aired on CBS on August 31, 1950).

Comedy legends Bob Hope and Lucille Ball head west in the romantic comedy Fancy Pants. Hope is an actor posing as an English butler, and Ball is the rough riding lady he's tasked with teaching the ways of refinement. We'll hear them in Suspense shows - "A Little Piece of Rope" (originally aired on CBS on October 14, 1948) and "Death Has a Shadow" (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1949) before they reprise their film roles on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 10, 1951).

We wrap up our Hitchcock series with a bonus episode featuring stories from Suspense that were later adapted as episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on television. Charles Laughton is a patriarch with a problem in "Wet Saturday" (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943), and Charles Ruggles' indigestion may have a sinister origin in "Suspicion" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944). A talented cast of radio players brings Ray Bradbury's chilling tale "Riabouchinska" to radio life (originally aired on CBS on November 13, 1947). Claude Rains and Vincent Price hunt for a murderer stalking the streets in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948), and Herbert Marshall takes a cross-country trip in "The Long Shot" (originally aired on CBS on February 9, 1958). Finally, Stan Freberg finds that committing murder is easy, but covering it up is hard in "Alibi Me" (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1958).

Shadow of a Doubt was Alfred Hitchcock's favorite of the many classic films he directed, with its small town setting disrupted by the arrival of a dastardly murderer on the run from police. Joseph Cotten played the charming killer, and Teresa Wright was his niece and namesake who discovers his horrible secret. We'll hear Mr. Cotten recreate his role on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on September 11, 1946) and in a Suspense adaptation of "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945). We'll also hear his co-stars Hume Cronyn and Macdonald Carey in Suspense shows: "The One Who Got Away" (originally aired on CBS on November 14, 1946) and "The Missing Person" (originally aired on CBS on May 12, 1952).

Before he thrilled television audiences with Alfred Hitchcock Presents, there were attempts to bring the master of suspense to radio in his own anthology series. We'll hear the three audition shows as we continue our salute to the great director. First, it's an adaptation of "The Lodger" - the audition show for what became Suspense - featuring Herbert Marshall and Edmund Gwenn (originally aired on CBS on July 22, 1940). Then, it's a pair of adaptations of "Malice Aforethought" - first for Once Upon a Midnight with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and for The Alfred Hitchcock Show featuring Joseph Kearns.  

Alfred Hitchcock put nine people in a Lifeboat in his thrilling wartime drama, and the cramped and crowded conditions are the perfect setting for some suspense. We'll hear four of the film's stars - Henry Hull, Hume Cronyn, William Bendix, and John Hodiak - in radio thrillers: "The Pit and the Pendulum" (originally aired on CBS on November 12, 1943); "Too Many Smiths" (originally aired on CBS on June 13, 1946); "The Gift of Jumbo Brannigan" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1951); and "The Mountain" (originally aired on CBS on March 16, 1953). Then, Tallulah Bankhead recreates her lead role in an adaptation of the film from the Screen Directors' Playhouse (originally aired on NBC on November 16, 1950).

We kick off a series saluting Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, and some of his classic films recreated for radio. First up is his wartime espionage drama Foreign Correspondent. We'll hear two of the film's stars in Suspesnse stories: Herbert Marshall in "The Beast Must Die" (originally aired on CBS on July 13, 1944) and Edmund Gwenn in "Murder in Black and White" (originally aired on CBS on April 14, 1949). Joseph Cotten steps in for the film's star Joel McCrea as the movie is adapted on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on July 24, 1946), and we'll hear Mr. McCrea, not on Suspense but in his own radio series Tales of the Texas Rangers. He stars in "Hanging By a Thread" (originally aired on NBC on November 26, 1950).

Broken Arrow was unique in the world of Hollywood westerns as one of the first films to offer a sympathetic, nuanced portrayal of Native Americans. Jeff Chandler earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Cochise alongside Jimmy Stewart, and we'll hear both of them in episodes of Suspense: Mr. Stewart in "Consequence" (originally aired on CBS on February 21, 1946) and Mr. Chandler in "The Case Against Loo Doc" (originally aired on CBS on January 7, 1952). Then, Chandler co-stars with Burt Lancaster in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film (originally aired on CBS on January 22, 1951).

Get ready for your close-up with the stars of Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder's classic noir set on the darker side of Hollywood. We'll hear Gloria Swanson and William Holden in Suspense thrillers: Ms. Swanson in "Murder by the Book" (originally aired on CBS on July 10, 1947) and Mr. Holden in "Blood on the Trumpet" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1950). Then the pair reprise their screen roles on the Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951). And as a bonus, Jack Benny and his gang put their own spin on the story (originally aired on CBS on March 25, 1951).