HARD BOILED DETECTIVES

This collection of post-war radio plays was plucked from the middle of the barrel and lower. Even the two incarnations of Johnny Dollar presented, Edmond O’Brien’s and Bob Bailey’s, do not rise to the best of the often excellent “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.” Even so, with writing and acting no better or worse than mediocre TV episodics of today, the radio medium itself, with its appeal to the imagination, gives these potboilers considerable distinction. Here are sonic adventures of Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Bulldog Drummond, et al. Standing out is Jack Webb in examples of two of his series before “Dragnet.” His aural personality and naturalistic style makes him the most believably hard-boiled and compelling of the included flatfeet. Y.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]