Sergio looks at Michael Anderson's 1958 suspense drama, CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW, a clever mystery with a strong cast and memorable payoff. It stars Anne Baxter as an heiress driven to near madness when a man turns up claiming to be her dead brother and everybody but her believes him. Richard Todd is the the smooth impostor and Herbert Lom plays the understandably confused police inspector.

Though uncredited, the premise of the film, and its memorable final twist on which the whole plot depends, had first been used on radio in 1946 for an episode of The Whistler:

"Stranger in the House" (CBS, 2 September 1946), starring Virginia Gregg and Gerald Mohr. Script: Harold Swanton and Mark Smith; Music: Wilbur Hatch; Producer / Director: George W. Allen

The radio play is included in today's podcast, which also looks at some of the many screen and stage variations that followed it. These include the following adaptations of the 1960 stage play by Robert Thomas, Piege Pour Un Homme Seul:

1965: Catch Me If You Can (Stage Play)

Witten by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert Directed by Vincent J. Donehue

Starring Tom Bosley, Dan Dailey, Bethel Leslie, George Mathews

1969: Honeymoon with A Stranger (TV Movie)

Written by Henry Sleaser and David P. Harmon Directed by John Peyser

Starring: Janet Leigh, Rossano Brazzi, Barbara Steele, Cesare Danova

1976: One of My Wives is Missing (TV Movie)

Written by Peter Stone Directed by Glenn Jordan

Starring: Jack Klugman, James Franciscus, Elizabeth Ashley, Joel Fabiani, Garry Walberg

1987: Vanishing Act (TV Movie)

Written by Richard Levinson and William Link Directed by David Greene

Starring: Mike Farrell, Elliot Gould, Margot Kidder, Fred Gwynne

For this special Christmas episode, Sergio is joined by Scott K Ratner for an in-depth look at Dashiell Hammett's novel The Thin Man. We also consider the series of six movies it spawned, all of them starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles and Skippy as their pet Terrier, Asta. Here's a full list of the films in the series:

The Nick and Nora Charles Screwball Mystery Movies

1. The Thin Man (1934)
2. After the Thin Man (1936)
3. Another Thin Man (1939)
4. Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
5. The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
6. Song of the Thin Man (1947)

We also look at some of our favourite movie whodunits, including AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945), GREEN FOR DANGER (1947), WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957), DEATH ON THE NILE (1978) and Rian Johnson's KNIVES OUT series starring Daniel Craig.

Scott K. Ratner is a Southern-California based writer/magician/actor whose endeavours are largely rooted in his interests in Golden Age detective fiction and classic era Hollywood cinema. He has written the libretto and lyrics for two whodunit musicals (All Talking! All Singing!! All Murder!!! and Murder on the High C’s) and a one-act Agatha Christie-related comedy (Kill A Better Mousetrap), as well as several nerdy articles for such magazines as Crime and Detective Stories and Mystery Scene. His magic act was once publicly praised by no less than Harry Blackstone, Jr. and the great Dai Vernon, though the truth of that story is considerably less impressive when the details are known. His brief sojourn as a teenage actor in television connected him with a few important players of the classic Hollywood era, and he regrets that he didn’t know enough about their filmographies at the time to ask the interesting questions. As a magician and theme park entertainer, he worked over two decades apiece at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

Sergio is joined by Luke Deckard and Matthew Booth, the hosts of the excellent Mean Streets podcast (https://meanstreetspodcast.podbean.com/) to find out what their top 10 Film Noir remakes are. The films under discussion include (in chronological order) are:

1. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
2. THE KILLERS (1964)
3. FAREWELL MY LOVELY (1975)
4. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981)
5. NO WAY OUT (1987)
6. NARROW MARGIN (1990)
7. CAPE FEAR (1991)
8. THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY (1999)
9. CASINO ROYALE (2006)
10. NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2021)

Luke and Matt are the hosts of the Mean Streets podcast, which you can find at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/luke-deckard/. Both are published crime fiction authors. Luke's homepage can be found at: https://www.lukedeckard.com/. Details of Matthew's published novels can be found at the Crime Writer's Association website: https://thecwa.co.uk/find-an-author/booth-matthew/.