Film Music Friday: The films of Gene Hackman.

Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday pays tribute to Gene Hackman, who died in February, including the score for The French Connection (1971; director William Friedkin, composer Don Ellis, screenwriter Ernest Tidyman [author of Shaft]).

Score to Cape Fear (1991).

In Film Score Friday, Scott Bettencourt discusses the release by Quartet Records of the score to Cape Fear (dir. Martin Scorcese, 1991), in which composer Elmer Bernstein incorporated elements of composer Bernard Herrmann's score for the earlier Cape Fear film (dir. J. Lee Thompson, 1962) as well as Herrmann's score for Torn Curtain (1962) that Alfred Hitchcock rejected (see Steve Vertlieb's account for the story behind that, which resulted in a permanent rupture in the Hitchcock-Herrmann relationship). To listen to clips from the 1991 Cape Fear score, go here. Both films were based on the novel by John D. MacDonald.

New: The Harry O Viewing Companion.

New from McFarland: The Harry O Viewing Companion by Steve Aldous and Gary Gillies, with comprehensive information on the 1972–76 TV series with David Janssen as Harry Orwell, a San Diego cop turned private detective. It includes goodies such as interviews with co-stars Anthony Zerbe (who won an Emmy for his performance in the series) and Les Lannom; fascinating details from the papers of series creator Howard Rodman; a look at guest stars such as Farrah Fawcett, Jodie Foster, and Kurt Russell; as well as behind-the scenes images lent by Zerbe and photos of shooting locations.

J.C. Bernthal on Agatha Christie, Best Part of the Book podcast.

J. C. Bernthal, author of Agatha Christie: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, will discuss the life, work, and enduring popularity of Christie as well as his experiences as a Christie fan and challenges in writing the book on the Mar 14 episode of The Best Part of the Book, McFarland and Co.'s podcast. I edit the companion series. 

Take 25% off the Christie Companion with coupon code BESTPART on the McFarland website.

2025 Dove Awardee: David Geherin.

The Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Assocation announced its latest Dove Awardee: David Geherin, professor emeritus of English at Eastern Michigan University, who is an Edgar nominee in the Best Critical/Biographical category this year for Organized Crime on Page and Screen. He received earlier Edgar nominations for The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations (2022), Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction (2008; also nominated for a Macavity Award), and The American Private Eye: The Image in Fiction (1985). His other books include Carl Hiaasen: Sunshine State Satirist (2019), Funny Thing About Murder: Modes of Humor in Crime Fiction and Films (2017), Small Towns in Recent American Crime Fiction (2015), and Elmore Leonard (1989).

The award, given to individuals who have contributed to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction, honors well-known mystery scholar George N. Dove. The chair of the Dove Award Committee is Rachel Schaffer (Montana State University Billings). Past recipients include Frankie Y. Bailey (University at Albany, SUNY), Martin Edwards, Barry Forshaw, Douglas G. Greene, P.D. James, Christine Jackson, H. R. F. Keating, Margaret Kinsman, Maureen Reddy (Rhode Island College), Janet Rudolph, J. K. Van Dover (Lincoln University), and yours truly.  

• David Geherin reads from Organized Crime on Page and Screen.

The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton.

Various venues will be hosting The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton, a one-man show with actor Mark Farrelly as the talented but troubled playwright-author of works such as Rope, Angel Street (aka Gaslight), and Hangover Square. 

• Petersfield Museum (Petersfield, UK), Apr. 17, 2025 

• Hope Mill Theatre (Manchester, UK), Apr. 25–26, 2025

• The Swallow Theatre (Whithorn, Scotland), Oct. 3–4, 2025

• Interview with Mark Farrelly

Conductor Leonard Slatkin and composer Bernard Herrmann.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin, ca. 2015.
Wikimedia Commons

Over on ClassicalMusic.com, conductor Leonard Slatkin shares fascinating memories about the orchestras of 20th Century–Fox and Warner Brothers—his father, Felix, was lead violinist in the 20th Century–Fox orchestra, and his mother, Eleanor Aller, was first chair in the cello section of the Warner Brothers orchestra. He met composer Bernard Herrmann and witnessed the recording of Herrmann's score for The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Other composers he met included Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Franz Waxman, and he has appreciative words for Carl Stallings, the well-known composer for Merrie Melodies of cartoon fame. He also shares his picks for memorable film scores, including John Williams' score for The Fury (1978).

Celebrating the work of R.C. Sherriff.

R.C. Sherriff. NYPL

Marking 50 years since the death of playwright-author-screenwriter R. C. Sherriff (1896–1975), the R.C. Sherriff Trust is celebrating his work this year and is publicizing various events (such as film festivals). Sherriff might be best known for his World War I play Journey's End (1928), but his oeuvre includes the screenplay for The Invisible Man (dir. James Whale, 1933), the screenplay for the film noir Odd Man Out (dir. Carol Reed, 1947), and the murder mystery plays Home at Seven (aka Murder on Monday, 1950; film, dir. Ralph Richardson, 1952) and A Shred of Evidence (1960).

On the set of Odd Man Out, w/James Mason, left;
cameraman Russell Thompson (looking through
viewfinder); director of photography Robert Krasker
(seated); and director Carol Reed (at right).

Film Music Friday: The Maltese Falcon

The latest episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday on Warner Brothers films includes selections from The Maltese Falcon (1941).

Edgar nomination for Sallis companion.

James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Nathan Ashman (University of East Anglia) has been nominated for an Edgar Award in the best Critical/Biographical category. This is no. 13 in the McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction series that I edit. Sallis may be best known for the novel Drive (filmed with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan), although he is the author of numerous mysteries and a well-regarded book on Chester Himes, is a poet, and has been active in the science fiction community. 

Other companion volumes that have previously been nominated for an Edgar are James Ellroy (by Jim Mancall) and Ian Rankin (by Erin E. MacDonald, also a Macavity Award nominee).

J. S. Fletcher on his ouput.

As reported in the February 1933 issue of American Mercury, mystery author J. S. Fletcher (1863–1935) wrote to his publisher, Alfred Knopf, on 7 November 1932 about his output: 

Some controversy having arisen in a literary journal as to whether I have written as many books as Edgar Wallace, I asked the British Museum people to tell me how many books I have published. I have just had their reply—233. 

Awful!

Film Music Friday: "Sherlock Holmes in the Movies."

 

Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes in
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)

A recent episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday is on "Sherlock Holmes in the Movies," with selections ranging from The Hound of the Baskervilles and Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror to The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and Young Sherlock Holmes.

Still more on Simenon, Maigret, etc.

As I noted in blog posts in 2019 and 2022, Christopher Osterberg of the Budapest Times has been reading his way through the Georges Simenon oeuvre. Here are links to his reviews since July 2022:

• The New Investigations of Inspector Maigret

• The Widow Couderc

• The World of Bond and Maigret (a 1964 dialogue between Ian Fleming and Simenon; link to booklet)