Orson Welles and The Black Museum.

Illustration of Orson Welles 
to advertise The Lives of
Harry Lime, ca. 1951

Over on Wellesnet, Ray Kelly discusses Orson Welles' role in The Black Museum, an early true-crime radio program based on Scotland Yard cases, and The Adventures of Harry Lime (US title: The Lives of Harry Lime), a radio program based on Welles's shady character in the film The Third Man. 

Listen to Black Museum episodes here.
Listen to The Lives of Harry Lime episodes here.

Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report, 1955).

Orson Welles in Amsterdam,
1952. Photo by Harry Pot.
Anefo, Dutch Nat Archives

Starring, written, and directed by Orson Welles, Mr. Arkadin features a confidence man looking into the shrouded past of a millionaire, as key witnesses are bumped off. The film costars Michael Redgrave, Patricia Medina, and Mischa Auer. It has a somewhat torturous history, with incarnations that include radio plays, deleted scenes, and a European version called Confidential Report.

BBC Radio's focus on SH, the gothic.

BBC Radio 4 Extra hauls out of its vault a series of programs (dubbed "the Holmes Service") that feature various incarnations of the Great Detective. These include:

• A Study in Scarlet (with Robert Powell as Holmes, dramatized by Michael Hardwick)
• The Adventure of the Speckled Band (with Cedric Hardwicke as Holmes, 1945)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (with Roger Rees as Holmes)
• The Final Problem (with John Gielgud as Holmes and Orson Welles as Moriarty, 1954)

Horace Walpole, NYPL

A separate series of programs focuses on the gothic, which includes:

• Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw"
• Richard Marsh's paranormal bestseller The Beetle 
• Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho
• Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto

Three Cases of Murder (1955).

As the title indicates, there are three segments to Three Cases of Murder. "In the Picture" (from a story by Scottish writer Roderick Wilkinson) features a painting with supernatural elements. "You Killed Elizabeth" (from a 1951 story by Davis Dresser, aka Brett Halliday) involves two friends competing over a woman, who is subsequently killed. Orson Welles directs (and is the title character) "Lord Mountdrago" (from a story by Somerset Maugham), in which the tormented Welles grapples with the effects of his cruelty on a politician colleague.

Christie's Love from a Stranger (1937).

Agatha Christie's "Philomel Cottage," in which a wife suspects her new husband of sinister intentions, has been adapted several times. These include a 1937 film (also known as A Night of Terror; see below) with Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone and a 1947 film with stars John Hodiak, Sylvia Sidney, and John Howard, and a screenplay by Philip MacDonald (The List of Adrian Messenger, etc.). Other versions include a play by Frank Vosper and the October 1943 Suspense episode with Orson Welles and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

BBC Film Programme: Eric Ambler.

In this December 4th broadcast of BBC Radio 4's Film Programme, Adrian Wootten discusses the "profound influence" of espionage master Eric Ambler on film and points out that 2009 marks Ambler's centenary.

About the image: Orson Welles (foreground) and Joseph Cotten in Eric Ambler's Journey into Fear (dir. Norman Foster, 1943).

50th anniversary DVD, Touch of Evil.

All three versions of Orson Welles's noir film Touch of Evil (1958) appear on a new DVD release from Universal Studios Home Video. Go here for further details.

Happy birthday, Orson Welles.

Writer, actor, director, producer, and all-around genius Orson Welles was born today in 1915. He died in 1985.

Monday's "It's a Mystery" will air two Wellesian radio performances: as Lamont Cranston, aka "The Shadow," from 1937, and as con artist Harry Lime from 1952. "It's a Mystery" airs at 11 AM ET and is Webcast here.