Tuesday, July 31, 2018

The Man in the Net (1959).

Directed by Michael Curtiz with a screenplay by Reginald Rose (Twelve Angry Men, etc.) and based on the novel by Hugh Callingham Wheeler (aka Patrick Quentin), The Man in the Net features Alan Ladd as a former advertising agency artist who is suspected of foul play when his wife (Carolyn Jones) disappears.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Unpunished.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Library of Congress, Prints &
Photographs Division
Harvard's Houghton Library recently transitioned from its Oasis catalog to one called Hollis, and one of the goodies I found is the corrected typewritten manuscript of Unpunished, the only mystery novel of feminist icon Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935). Unpunished, thought to have been written in the 1920s, was not published until 1997, when the Feminist Press edition was issued.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Nancy Drew exhibition, UNCG.

Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Jackson Library is hosting the exhibition "Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Cultural Icon" that includes books and artifacts from the archives (such as The Nancy Drew Mystery Game and lunchbox).

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Crown v. Stevens (1936).

In this film directed by Michael Powell (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, etc.), a young man (Patric Knowles) becomes entangled in the murder of a moneylender and the schemes of his employer's wife (Beatrix Thompson) to inherit her husband's estate early. The film is based on Laurence Meynell's Third Time Unlucky.

Link to clips at tcm.com.

Monday, July 23, 2018

The Great Detective film series in Australia.

Michael Redgrave and
Margaret Lockwood in
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Envy the lucky Australians who can attend The Great Detective, a series showcasing mystery films at Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, until September 2. Films include the following:
  • Sherlock Holmes (1916)
  • Sherlock Jr. (1924)
  • The Lady Vanishes (1938)
  • And Then There Were None (1945)
  • Rear Window (1954)
  • Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
  • Vertigo (1958)
  • Charade (1963)
  • A Shot in the Dark (1964)
  • Dirty Harry (1971)
  • Death on the Nile (1978)
  • The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
  • Evil under the Sun (1982)
  • Erin Brockovich (2000)
  • Mystic River (2003)
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Hammett's Woman in the Dark (1934).

Based on the novella "Woman in the Dark" (1933) by Dashiell Hammett, this film features Fay Wray on the run from villain Melvyn Douglas, entangling ex-con Ralph Bellamy along the way.

Monday, July 16, 2018

The game is afoot.

Mention of the Parker Brothers game Sherlock Holmes
in Life 3 Dec. 1904: 586

The Law & Humanities blog features the article by Ross E. Davies (George Mason University) "A Grand Game Introduction, or the Rise and Demise of 'Sherlock Holmes,'" which traces the short-lived history of the Parker Brothers game Sherlock Holmes.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Decoy: "Stranglehold" (1957).

1958 ad for Decoy
This pilot episode of the TV series Decoy features Beverly Garland as undercover policewoman Casey Jones, whose assignment is to get close to a murder suspect's girlfriend (Joanne Linville, who is known for her role as a Romulan commander on Star Trek) in an effort to find the suspect.

Monday, July 09, 2018

Abstract portal opens,
2019 Popular Culture Assn conference.

The next Popular Culture Association conference will take place on April 17–20, 2019, at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. The portal for abstract submissions is now open through October 1, 2018 (must register for an account to access the portal). The PCA's Mystery and Detective Fiction Area has always been very active; first-time presenters are eligible for the Earl Bargainnier Award (named for a distinguished mystery scholar). Please encourage undergraduate and graduate students to submit paper proposals; members of the Mystery/Detective Fiction Area always have been interested in nurturing the next generation of mystery scholars.

Can't make it to DC? Check out the regional Popular Culture Association conferences.