NIGHT EDITOR

William Gargan [second from left] confronts a suspect

NIGHT EDITOR (1946). Director: Henry Levin.

"You're like me -- there's a meanness inside you that has to hurt or be hurt!"

A veteran editor of the New York Star tells a cautionary tale to a troubled young reporter (Coulter Irwin) which is illustrated in the long flashback scenes that comprise most of the movie. During prohibition days, married cop Tony Cochrane (William Gargan) is having an affair with a cold-hearted, married blonde named Jill (Janis Carter). While the two are parked on the outskirts of town, they witness a woman being brutally murdered. Afraid of losing his wife and son, Cochrane doesn't report the murder, leading to the expected complications. While Hitchcock might have done a lot with this very workable premise, Night Editor does little more than hold the attention, although Gargan's performance is quite good. The oddly-named Jeff Donnell is also good as his wife, Martha, while the supporting cast is at the very least competent. This was based on a radio series that later became a television program. Gargan also played a cop in Who Done It? and many other movies. Janis Carter also played a nasty lady in Framed when her leading man was Glenn Ford.

Verdict: Standard crime drama probably churned out in two days. **1/2.

GREAT OLD RADIO EPISODE: CHICKEN HEART

End of the World?

CHICKEN HEART Lights Out radio episode. 

The days when families would gather around the radio to listen to shows like Lights Out! were quite a bit before my time, so I never had occasion to listen to some of these classic programs. However, many are now available on CD and at the Internet Archives. For 99 cents I was able to download and listen to this famous episode of the horror/suspense show Lights Out! produced by Arch Oboler. I mean, when I found out what the plot was I just had to listen.


"Chicken Heart," believe it or not, is about a chicken heart that is injected with a formula or some such thing and grows and grows and grows at an astonishing rate until it smashes cities, smothers humanity, and destroys the earth! No, this is not one of my infamous phony April's Fool movies [or in this case radio episode]; this actually aired and yes you can find it on amazon. The whole thing is only about seven minutes long. and I swear I could recognize the voice of Edgar Barrier of The Giant Claw [how fitting, as the monster in that is a big fowl] as one of the scientists. The show begins with the heart already breaking out of containment, so if I recall correctly you never really learn how or why the thing begins to grow except as part of some outre experiment. I mean, why exactly would anybody want a giant chicken heart in the first place? On the soundtrack behind the actors' voices you hear the beat beat beat of the giant heart as it gets bigger and bigger. Somehow I don't think the audience was expected to take this very seriously, but in spite of that it's kind of, well, creepy. I mean, what a way for the world to end. Or revenge of the Sunday chicken dinner! I feel like making up tee shirts: I Survived Chicken Heart. More on Lights Out! in the future.

Verdict: It's certainly different, but one hopes it was not a typical Lights Out! offering. **1/2.