It’s old home week at hour-long Suspense as Robert Montgomery had the story of one of his most successful film appearances presented on the series. Keith Scott notes that five of the cast members of this production were in the original 1937 movie that starred Montgomery.
He plays a drifter who stays with a wealthy family and accepts a job working in the home. He takes a liking to their maid, but the daughter is suspicious when the body of a young woman is found, and she suspects he might be responsible for her disappearance and murder.
The original psychological mystery was a stage play by Welsh author Emlyn Williams. He starred in the 1935 production in London and later in New York. The story became a movie in 1937. Montgomery earned a best actor Oscar nomination for his performance, and Dame May Whitty was nominated for her supporting role.
Film background can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Must_Fall_(1937_film)
The film can be viewed at The Internet Archive (video includes Spanish subtitles) https://archive.org/details/night-must-fall-richard-thorpe-1937-vose-fac-2
The Suspense production was adapted by Robert L. Richards. The story was originally planned for the Summer 1942 season of the series, but was not used. It is possible that an unbroadcast adaptation had been developed to some extent by Harold Medford in that short season.
Night Must Fall was presented multiple times on radio, and this was the only time it was used on Suspense. The other productions were:
Philip Morris Playhouse 1941-10-24 and starred Burgess Meredith, Maureen O'Sullivan and Flora Robson (no recording is available)
Screen Guild Theater 1944-06-44 starring James Cagney, Rosemary DeCamp and Dame May Whitty
Molle Mystery Theater 1946-04-12 starring Ian Martin
Hallmark Playhouse 1951-07-19 starring Dan Duryea (no recording is available)
Screen Guild Theater 1952-03-27 starring Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury
Best Plays 1952-12-21 starring Alfred Drake, Mary Boland, Carmen Matthews
Despite the film’s notoriety, it was never produced on Lux Radio Theatre.
Suspense and Best Plays were the only hour-long productions presented on radio. This Suspense production is longer than the story needs it to be in terms of maintaining interest and a pace that increases tension along the way with a payoff for the listener that it was a worthwhile investment in time. While this production may have been true to the original story, it was unlikely to result in listener delight and surprise.
Whitty and Matthew Boulton also appeared in the original London stage production.
This story may have been selected because Montgomery knew that his Suspense position was concluding with the following week’s broadcast. He wanted to take the opportunity to present an important story in his career and re-unite as much of the cast from the movie as possible.
Suspense was being broadcast by transcription on Sundays to the CBS Pacific Network. This broadcast was made on Saturday evening by transcription because of a schedule conflict for its normal 4:30pmPT Sunday time slot.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP48-03-27
THE CAST
ROBERT MONTGOMERY (Series host / Danny), DAME MAY WHITTY (Mrs. Bramson), HEATHER ANGEL (Olivia Grayle), RICHARD NEY (Hubert Lowery), MATTHEW BOULTON (Inspector Belsize), Peggy Webber (Dora Parker), Jeanette Nolan (The Cook), Bill Johnstone (Signature Voice)
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