HEART OF DARKNESS, THE INVESTIGATOR

It turns out that Canadian old-radio drama is just as good as the best of the U.S. shows. These two Canadian Broadcasting Corporation shows from the 1950s feature stellar casts, effective staging and excellent use of sound effects to enhance the stories. Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS is rendered here in its full anarchistic gloom, with a pre-"Bonanza" Lorne Greene as the wasted and haunted Mr. Kurtz. THE INVESTIGATOR cleverly parodies the McCarthy hearings with a distinctly Canadian sensibility. One minor quibble: The noise-reduction used here makes voices pump forward out of silence, bringing with them the random clicks and pops from the CBC's aged transcription records. It's disconcerting at times. T.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]