Out of the Ether: Radio Mysteries and Thrillers on Screen Opens Friday at UCLA

A fascinating new series opens at UCLA this Friday, January 22nd. It's titled Out of the Ether: Radio Mysteries and Thrillers on Screen.

The series continues through March 21st.

The description on UCLA's site says in part: "With the advent of talking pictures, studios experimented with the cross-promotional possibilities of radio and film, fulfilling the desire of radio fans to see what they had heretofore only heard; later, as wartime demand for entertainment surged, Hollywood looked to radio for content."

The series opens with a double bill of Joan Bennett in THE TRIAL OF VIVIENNE WARE (1932), paired with William Gargan, Janis Carter, and Jeff Donnell in NIGHT EDITOR (1946), which I reviewed in 2010.

I plan to be there on opening night, and I also hope to attend a pair of "Whistler" movies next Saturday, THE WHISTLER (1944) and THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER (1945), both starring Richard Dix. Janis Carter and Jeff Donnell of NIGHT EDITOR also costar in THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER.

Additional titles on the schedule include I LOVE A MYSTERY (1945), SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948), and CRIME DOCTOR'S MAN HUNT (1946). It looks like a really interesting series!

Please visit the UCLA website for the complete series schedule.

UCLA's series of films directed by Cy Endfield will be simultaneously playing over the next two months, concluding on March 18th.

January 22nd Update: Kenneth Turan has written about the radio series for the Los Angeles Times.

My review of THE TRIAL OF VIVIENNE WARE may be found here.

Update: Here are reviews of I LOVE A MYSTERY (1945) and THE UNKNOWN (1946).