DOCTOR WHO: THE BAD PENNY [2018]

"STAY BACK!  I . . . . HAVE . . . . LUGGAGE!"

"THE BAD PENNY" is the 2nd story in the 4 disc Big Finish box set "THE FOURTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES SERIES 7:  VOLUME 2".  The story is written by Dan Starkey (who viewers of the modern DOCTOR WHO series will recognise as the Sontaran Strax from the Tennant, Smith & Capaldi series) and directed by Nicholas Briggs (voice of the modern Daleks and head honcho of Big Finish Productions).  From the CD blurb:  "In the 1970s, hotelier Ron Tulip is having a difficult time. Many of his customers seem to be absconding without payment. The few who remain complain of strange noises and terrible sleep. And to top it all he’s just been summoned to the VIP suite... which is something of a problem as he didn’t even realise the hotel had one. When turbulence in time takes the TARDIS off course, the Doctor and Leela find themselves visiting the same establishment and in the middle of a temporal paradox and a terrible plan. Because that’s the thing about the Cross-Keys hotel. You can check in... but you can never leave."    . . . . this rather light-hearted adventure is something like a cross between DOCTOR WHO and FAWLTY TOWERS.  

Once in a while, Tom Baker can sound a little tired (but for a man his age this is totally acceptable); however in "THE BAD PENNY" he sounds like a man half his age and performs his lines with a vigor that makes me think he has a REAL Tardis and has travelled from the 1970's to record this Big Finish adventure!  In fact, the chemistry between Baker and Louise Jameson as Leela is absolutely brilliant with them playing off one another like dear, long-time friends (which, of course, they are).  It doesn't hurt that the script is full of one-liners including the one up there at the top of this post which Leela speaks as she tries to wield the overly-heavy suitcase of a time-tossed woman who is on her way to 'Michelle's hen party'.  Leela comes back with a typical Leela line:  "I do not know Michelle . . . or her hen!"  In another scene, when the Doctor is mistaken for a jazz musician due to his garb, Tom Baker gleefully says, "Ohhh, thank you!  Well, I have been known to tinkle the ivories now and then.  Da da da da da DAH!  BOOM!  But mostly I play the fool!"

All this witty dialogue aside, "THE BAD PENNY" is not a comedy but has a straight-ahead timey-wimey story that includes a nasty monster and genuine consequences while still managing to include some smiles.  The characters who are thrown together from many different time periods are eccentric in that most British way.  But most of all the joy of a fun and entertaining script gives us one of the best Tom Baker/Louise Jameson double acts we've heard yet!

DOCTOR WHO: STATIC [2017]

"WE ARE ALSO ARMED.  AND THE DEAD OUTNUMBER THE LIVING!"

"STATIC" is one of the best DOCTOR WHO audio adventures I've listened to and is surely at the top of the heap as far as Big Finish's audios go!  Written by Jonathan Morris (who gave us such corkers as BLOODTIDE, THE HAUNTING OF THOMAS BREWSTER and THE CRIMES OF THOMAS BREWSTER) and directed by Jamie Anderson (AND YOU WILL OBEY ME, VAMPIRE OF THE MIND and THE TWO MASTERS) provide one of the genuinely scary and creepy entries in Ole Sixie's (or any other Doctor's) career.  I listened to it on the recommendation of the indispensible Doc Oho whose glowing review (beware Doc Oho's reviews have spoilers) gave "STATIC" a 10 out of 10!  I was looking for a really great Big Finish Doctor Who I didn't already have and this one actually lived up to the high praise!

From the back of the compact discy comes this quite good blurb:   "Deep in the heart of nowhere, near a place called Abbey Marston, there’s a caravan site. The perfect place to get away from it all. Close by, there’s a stone circle they used for human sacrifice in olden times. A little further afield, there’s an old RAF research station, where they did hush-hush things in the war. There’s only one rule: the use of radios, cassette recorders and portable televisions is strictly forbidden. People come here to get away from it all, you see. No-one wants to hear the noise. No-one wants to hear the voices in the static… No-one wants to hear the ghosts." . . . and the creep factor rushes in 100%!  There are indeed ghostly voices in the static as well as warning not to answer a ringing phone . . . if you know what's good for you.  There are indeed also reanimated dead and strange, goop-covered bodies found inside trees.

Miranda Raison, Colin Baker & Lisa Greenwood

In this story, even though it IS a few years old, Colin Baker continues to reign as the greatest Doctor as far as audio adventures are concerned (with Paul McGann a close second).  The absolute renaissance Big Finish gave to Colin Baker's portrayal of the Doctor puts the TV adventures to shame.  Here is where Colin Baker shines and the stories in which he appears are usually superbly written as well.  Here Ole Sixie faces the ghoulish goings-on with his companions the World War II-era WREN Mrs. Constance Clark (Miranda Raison) and rambunctious teenager Flip (Lisa Greenwood) who, while both unfamiliar to me as this was my first time encountering them, quickly fit in like a pair of old gloves. 

David Graham & Nicholas Briggs

Special mention should also be made of the presence of veteran actor David Graham here as the quite scary and occasional axe-wielding Percy Till.  Graham goes back almost to the very beginning of DOCTOR WHO when in 1963 he voiced a certain pack of pepperpots in the serial "THE DALEKS" as well as "THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH", "THE CHASE" and "THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN" as well as appearing as Charlie the barman in "THE GUNFIGHTERS" and as scientist Professor Kerensky in "CITY OF DEATH".  If a stranger to the great job Big Finish has done with DOCTOR WHO audio adventures over many years, this would be a pretty good place to start.  And if you're looking for a fantastically good Big Finish DOCTOR WHO you haven't heard yet, here's a terrific one! 

DANGER MAN [1960 - 1966]

I WAS A TEENAGER WHEN I FIRST SAW ONE OF THE GREATEST TV SERIES OF ALL TIME:  THE PRISONER.

Patrick McGoohan's passion project really did change the face of television and I've loved it and rewatched it ever since.  However,  I had never watched McGoohan's previous international hit spy series DANGER MAN (SECRET AGENT in the U.S.) until just now.  I must say that I'm having a hell of a time.  Right now, I seen the first 2 series and I'm beginning Series 3 having just watched the excellent episode "The Black Book" and the show is just soooooo good!  

Patrick McGoohan plays John Drake:  an undercover agent for the British M9 who is fearless to a fault, does not wield a gun and operates by an iron-clad code of personal ethics.  Every episode takes place in a different location and often country where Drake carries out his mission (sometimes with more than a little regret).  Very fascinating for a PRISONER fan is the fact that the very first episode of DANGER MAN takes place in Portmerion, Wales -- the setting of the Village used in THE PRISONER series.  There are also several other episodes of DANGER MAN that are of particular interest to PRISONER fans such as "Colony Three" (which features an artificial faux-English town behind the Iron Curtain in which Communist spies train to be "British") as well as "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" (in which Drake gets in a car accident and basically hallucinates the whole episode due to a head injury).  However, any links to THE PRISONER aside, the main reason to watch DANGER MAN is because it's a cracking good spy series with top notch acting, writing and directing.

The first series of DANGER MAN ran from 1960-1961 and consisted of 39 half hour episodes.  Then the show just . . . went away . . . until 1964 when the James Bond movie DR NO sparked the powers-that-be to revive their lapsed spy series.  From then on, DANGER MAN would be an hour episodes and this is where the programme really hits its stride.  The stories are less perfunctory and have more room to breathe.  But despite this fact, the episodes never lag.  In fact, the hour episodes bring into focus how sometimes rushed the half hour episodes could feel.

Now, the theory that THE PRISONER is actually John Drake who resigned from M9 and was transferred to the Village and it's understandable to think that.  However, Patrick McGoohan always denied they were the same man:  "They just look alike" was his quip.  However, now having watched a good chunk of DANGER MAN, I too am of the opinion that John Drake is not the Prisoner.  Coincidentally, I've just finished reading three books on THE PRISONER including one by filmmaker Alex Cox who offers up an interesting theory of his own on why John Drake is not the Prisoner.  Either way, it doesn't really matter.  THE PRISONER is one of the greatest TV shows ever made -- and DANGER MAN is one of the best spy TV shows ever made.  An embarrassment of riches!

THE VINYL DETECTIVE BY ANDREW CARTMEL

A NEW SERIES OF BOOKS I'VE BEEN ENJOYING ARE THESE MYSTERY NOVELS BY ANDREW CARTMEL.  

DOCTOR WHO fans will know Cartmel as the script editor of the final 3 series of the classic run of DOCTOR WHO starring Sylvester McCoy.  Truth be told, I didn't even realize this fact when I first heard about these books about a detective who specialises in finding rare vinyl records.  I can't quite remember if I read about the books somewhere or saw someone on youtubers talking about them.  Either way, I decided I wanted to read them before seeing the author's name and realizing this was the same man who came up with the legendary "Cartmel Masterplan"!  

Regardless of Andrew Cartmel's Whovian credentials, these novels are wonderful page-turners mixing mystery/crime novels with nutty music/vinyl enthusiasts like me.  The title character is an unnamed detective who finds rare vinyl for his clients.  It's interesting that the main character is unnamed; just as Dashiell Hammett's "Continental Op" had no name (although Cartmel swears this was not an homage since he didn't realise it until later).  Besides his monumental hi-fi system, the Vinyl Detective shares his home with two beloved cats:  Fanny and Turk (short for Turquoise to match her eyes) who are secondary but vital members of the cast.  During the course of the first novel in the series (WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX), a mysterious woman named Nevada enters his life and the suddenly-turned-deadly case which he undertakes.  Along for the ride (literally!) is a London cabbie named Agatha whom our main characters nickname "Clean Head" because of her shaved head and as a tribute to jazz great Eddie "Clean Head" Vinson.  Clean Head soon becomes a member of our hero's team of sleuths along with the detective's slacker/audiophile friend Tinkler.  

The first book, as stated, is "WRITTEN IN DEAD WAX" which refers to the stretch of vinyl between the final song on a record side and the paper label inside which is usually etched a recording number and anything else that might find it's way there (like signatures).  An increasing number of (sometimes shady) people all seem to be interested in finding a certain rare jazz album . . . .and then people start turning up dead!  I read a ton of murder mysteries as a teenager but haven't read any for a very long time now.  I read the first Vinyl Detective novel cover to cover in about 4 days (which is very unusual for me since I always have about two dozen books going at the same time and I pop back and forth reading them all at the same time.  However, this can quite truthfully be called a page turner since I practically devoured it.  Then I started reading the second Vinyl Detective book "THE RUN-OUT GROOVE" which focuses on a rare psychedelic 60's by an enigmatic singer named Valerian who mysteriously hanged herself after her son disappeared.  This novel again I tore through in a few days!  Now, I'm in the middle of the third book in the series:  "VICTORY DISC" which concerns the Vinyl Detective's search for rare records of a British swing band during World War II . . . and a notorious sex murder.  

All the Vinyl Detective books I've read so far do have occasional violence and sex but these are depicted in a non-graphic fashion and the books themselves have a nice, light touch in the writing department.  In short, the books are a lot of fun.  Sort of if Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler had a baby -- that would be Andrew Cartmel's Vinyl Detective books.  And like in all book series, the recurring characters are what keeping bringing the reader back; you just enjoy spending time with them.  These are no towering classics of the mystery novel genre but they are ridiculously enjoyable for someone like me who enjoys murder mysteries as well as having a deep love of vintage music.  There are 5 books in the Vinyl Detective series:  Book 4 is called "FLIP BACK" and the soon-to-be-released "LOW ACTION" will be book 5.  I intend to read them all.

IN NAME ONLY [1939]

Alec Walker (Cary Grant) is a rich guy stuck in a loveless marriage with his wife Maida (the wavishing Kay Francis) who previously dumped the love of her life to marry for money. Julie Eden (Carole Lombard) is a young widow with a daughter Ellen (Peggy Ann Garner). Alec and Julie "meet cute" while she does a spot of hopeless fishing in a fishless stream. They quickly fall in love (wouldn't YOU?!?!?!). At first, Maida seems ready to give Alec a divorce . . . but she's not going to give up her cash cow without a fight. Certainly a 1930's "soap opera/tearjerker", IN NAME ONLY is probably one of the best of it's kind. 

The film was directed by John Cromwell; who helmed everything from the Hedy Lamarr starmaker "ALGIERS" and Bette Davis powerhouse "OF HUMAN BONDAGE" to Katharine Hepburn-as-hillbilly misfire "SPITFIRE" and slightly disappointing Carole Lombard/James Stewart romance "MADE FOR EACH OTHER". While I have not seen very many of Cromwell's films, it seems to me he was a bit hit or miss and depended on really strong material and acting for a great movie. He certainly has that here.

The acting is uniformly top notch with Lombard, Grant and Francis giving powerful performances. Charles Coburn as Alec's father also gives a sensitive performance when called on to do so. Even little Peggy Ann Garner (who would win a Juvenile Academy Award for her work in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN" manages to be a child actor who is never cloying or saccharine but gives a great performance too. In fact, I struggled with myself over the rating of "IN NAME ONLY" because it's not really my go-to genre of film; however the superb acting alone bumped it from 3 1/2 to 4 stars! 

Also the screenplay is very sensitively written. Sure there are some typical romantic movie cliches but here they are handled delicately without the usual hand-wringing bombast some "tearjerkers" of this era can feature. I'm almost positive this is due to the fact that one of the script's co-writers wrote the original novel. Bessie Breuer wrote the original novel "MEMORY OF LOVE" on which "IN NAME ONLY" was based and she co-writes the screenplay with Richard Sherman (FOR ME AND MY GAL, THE STORY OF VERNON & IRENE CASTLE). This is Breuer's only film credit, unfortunately, as she appears to have been a wonderful writer. Sherman, I have a feeling< was brought on to help an author not experienced with screenwriting to adapt her novel. Interestingly, Sherman also co-wrote THE STORY OF VERNON & IRENE CASTLE with Irene Castle herself, so I suspect I'm right in this. 

I've never read the novel but, from the example of this film's script, Breuer seems to have been both a writer devoid of "purple prose melodramatics" as well as having a very clear eye. The characters stuck in this extremely unfortunate and uncomfortable situation are well-rounded and behave realistically. Breuer seems like she was a fascinating woman: award-winning author of many short stories, a one-time only playwright (her only play "SUNDOWN BEACH" was about PTSD among World War II pilots and was the first production by the Actor's Studio on Broadway), Sunday editor of the New York Tribune and national director of magazine publicity for the American Red Cross during World War I. So, as I said before, the film's expertly-written screenplay and superb acting are probably what makes this film work so well. It appears director Cromwell just stayed out of the way. My reason for believing this is that, during the same year of 1939, Cromwell directed Carole Lombard in another similar romantic film with James Stewart and the results were decidedly lacking. 

If this type of heartbreaking romantic film is your thing, than "IN NAME ONLY" will surely make your day. And if it's NOT your thing, this superbly written and acted film may change your mind . . . at least about the best ones.