If you just want to do a fast ompare, listen to two key segments of each episode. The first is at the beginning of each show (starting at about 1:00) where the narrator character (Chris Warner) walks up the gangplank and meets Mother Willis, then walks in to Captain Wood's office to discuss shipping the deadly Bushmaster. The second is the fight at the end (between 17 and 24 minutes into the show).
Listen for the following:
- The three main characters - their tone and apparent age.
- The sound fx - in the first segment it will be ambient harbor sounds, in the second it will be the cat and the snake's strikes.
- The narrator during the fight - the relative tenseness and rapidity of his delivery.
Some of the narrators are a bit too nonchalant for me (cough ... John Lund ... cough), as if they are working at being a 'cool' or trendy voice rather than thinking about how the character would be feeling at that moment in the story. And the sound effects. I'm not sure any of the cats sound realistic to me, but some are definitely better than others. As the years go on, it seems the effects proliferate. The harbor noises in the later episodes are certainly more notable than those in the earliest.
24:31 (1947)
29:14 (1948)
29:31 (1949)
29:30 (1950)
23:47 (1957)
20:42 (1960)
Escape #10
A Shipment of Mute Fate
15 Oct 1947
19471015(010)_ESCP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(JackWebb).mp3
AUDIO PROBLEM AT 13:12 - Unfortunately right at a key moment in the story. William N. Robson (producer, director), Martin Storm (author), Les Crutchfield (script), Jack Webb (Chris Warner), Raymond Lawrence (Captain Wood), D.J. Thompson (Mother Willis), Cy Feuer (music conceiver, conductor) - verified
Escape #34
A Shipment of Mute Fate
28 Mar 1948
19480328(034)_ESCP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(HarryBartell).mp3
Norman Macdonnell (director), Martin Storm (author), Les Crutchfield (script), Harry Bartell (Chris Warner), Berry Kroeger (Captain Wood), Peggy Weber (Mother Willis), Don Diamond, Sarah Selby, Frank Gerstle, David Light (effects), Wilbur Hatch (music) - verified
Escape #60
A Shipment of Mute Fate
13 Mar 1949
19490313(060)_ESCP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(JohnLund).mp3
Norman Macdonnell (director), Martin Storm (author), Les Crutchfield (script), John Lund (Chris Warner), Berry Kroeger (Captain Wood), Lois Corbett (Mother Willis), David Ellis, Don Diamond, Vivi Janis, Earl Kean & Gus Beys (effects), Lief Stevens (conductor) - verified
Escape #118
A Shipment of Mute Fate
7 Jul 1950
19500707(118)_ESCP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(DavidEllis).mp3
William N. Robson (producer, director), Martin Storm (author), Les Crutchfield (script), David Ellis (Chris Warner), William Conrad (Captain Wood), Sarah Selby (Mother Willis), David Light (Clara the cat), Verna Felton, Ted de Corsia, Harry Bartell, Paul Frees, Ivan Ditmars (music) - verified
Suspense #680
A Shipment of Mute Fate
6 Jan 1957
19570106(680)_SUSP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(JackKelly).mp3
Jack Kelly (Chris Warner) - verified (all other credits clipped)
Suspense #847
A Shipment of Mute Fate
3 Apr 1960
19600403(847)_SUSP_AShipmentOfMuteFate(BernardGrant).mp3
Martin Storm (author), Les Crutchfield (script), Bernard Grant (Chris Warner), Inga Swenson (Mother Willis), Ralph Bell, Bob Dryden, Frank Thomas Jr., Frank Milano - verified
Lachesis Muta, immortalized on a stamp
Well, that was quite a marathon. They obviously all used the same script, with only minor variations. There's no standout 'best', though I think the first might be the overall best. The last one has some strong suits, particularly in the casting of the stewardess and sound effects. The narrator has a good tone in the beginning, but then he loses it toward the end and lacks the pathos in the final denouement that some of the others had. In the second version the voice acting was not so great. It seemed odd for someone who sounded like a young John Wayne telling the biddy old grandma that she was the best looking stewardess on the ocean. This scene was jarring in most versions, but best in the last one. The cat fight was almost always more distracting than effective, though it did succeed in putting the listener on edge, mainly through being annoying. The third version was seriously hampered by cheesy organ music. What was your favourite, Ray?
ReplyDeleteTh.
I think I like the Harry Bartell one. I agree with you about the flirting. I took it to be insincere. Like how young, good looking waitresses flirt with me. I know they want something - and that it's not "me!" :)
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