Double Jeopardy: A radio drama about Raymond Chandler

You may think that a monotone is being apparent since I am talking about radio so much. But this is the Raymond Chandler season on BBC Radio 4 and we have not yet discussed the brand new radio dramas of his novels yet.  Today however, I would rather stick to the biographical program. Fear not, this is in fact a dramatization- not a dry documentary.  This is the Friday afternoon play based on real life events and the protagonist is the great author himself.

The play Double Jeopardy derives its name from the movie Double Indemnity, whose screenplay was a joint collaboration between Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. The story of the play is the story of these two illustrious writers working together.  We get a whiff of what to expect when we hear Billy Wilder say that the title is the clue as to why he would not want to work with a particular writer twice.

Written by Stephen Wyatt it does a stellar cast, with Patrick Stewart playing Chandler and Adrian Scarborough as Wilder. Scarborough’s delicious Viennese accent would make you wiggle your toes in delight, as would the Englishness of Stewart’s Chandler. The story is told in parallel narratives: Wilder narrates part of the story and then Chandler takes over.

Wilder had come across a novel by James M Cain called Double Indemnity, a story about a wife conspiring with an insurance salesman about murdering her husband. He wanted to make a film out of it but needed a collaborator on the screenplay. Unable to get Cain because of the latter’s prior commitments, he comes across a novel called The Big Sleep written by Raymond Chandler. Smitten by the writing style, he decides that Chandler is the guy for him to collaborate with.

Chandler takes over the narrative with a little bit of history of his life. The call from Wilder came to him at a rather low point of his career. He was invited to come in for a consult with Wilder. What was interesting was the mutual description of each other- adversarial from the beginning. It was a taste of what was to come.

At first, to Wilder’s astonishment Chandler offers to do the screenplay in six days, for a thousand dollars. Having no experience with writing a script, he bungles it. However the story is not the problem but the novelist. Chandler has a very low opinion of the writing talent of James Cain. His description of Cain’s capacity for dialogue was, “Unspeakable! And I use the term advisedly.”  Wilder suggests that they begin a long period of working together.  Chandler somewhat reluctantly accepts.

Their mutual idiosyncrasies begin to drive each other crazy. Wilder is a serial womanizer who does not hesitate to make his assignations over the phone, not at all caring who was within earshot; he would wear a hat indoors and swing a riding crop. Chandler smoked his pipe, the smell of which drove Wilder crazy. He also took regular swigs of bourbon as soon as Wilder stepped out.

Since they got on each other’s nerves, they had to suspend their working for a while. After an apology (an apparently unheard of thing in Hollywood) from wilder, Chandler begins to work again, this time both of them trying to make amends for their behavior. However this was not enough. The ups and downs of the screenwriting process have their own sets of craziness and it drove the two men round the bend. By the time it was finished and one of the finest examples of film noir came into existence, the two men had come close to blows.

Resoundingly entertaining, Double Jeopardy is firstly the story of making of a screenplay. We find out the genesis of the many aspects of the movie and how they came about because of the writers’ ideas about what would work and what would not. The adversarial relationship between the two created an organic feel to the edginess of the script: it was as if they were piling on the bile just to get back at each other.

If you are interested in the writing process and what it involves, this may be something you want to listen to. If you like a good yarn, you may like the biographical aspect of it since it is a dramatization of real events. And if like me you are a fan of Raymond Chandler and the Hollywood film noir tradition, then you would definitely relish the story about how Chandler came to learn the art of writing screenplays. This was his beginning which led to him working with Alfred Hitchcock.

So go ahead, turn on the BBC Radio 4 podcast and enjoy yourself for forty five minutes of radio drama involving the creator of Phillip Marlowe. You know you want to!

 Double Jeopardy is available in podcast form in BBC iPlayer and BBC Radio 4.

My Aunt. RIP

I only knew her from her visits.

When I was little, I remember going to her house but that is a rather faint recollection. As I was growing up, I had had few opportunities to see her. But she did visit from time to time, and they were quite joyful.

A somewhat lonesome child would welcome any kind of disruption of the daily routine, so nothing new there. But she was radiant in her presence, always ready to smile at the slightest opportunity. As I learned later, she had found humor as a means of dealing with hardship, of which there were plenty.

She had been married very young, an orphan girl who had lost her father rather early in life. I guess she and her two little brothers had a David Copperfield upbringing, what with war, Partition and being a refugee. As fate would have it, she married a decent man who treated her well and with respect. They had four children: a daughter and three sons.

It has to be said of her parenting skills, they must have been rather superb. She had raised all her children to be strong in character and be very close to each other. To this day, her three sons have very close relationships with each other. They are known for being being honorable men at a time when that phrase seems quaint. Her daughter was a remarkable woman of her own right who later became a senior civil servant.

I was always rather curious about her relationship with my father. You see, I have older sisters myself and I wanted to know how my father dealt with his sister. I have known him to be the head of the family and it was rather strange to see him slip into the role of the younger brother, deferential and respectful. She always treated her baby brother with kindness. One day, at a family gathering I saw her steal a glance at him and smile. I could tell she loved him very much.

I think she was probably closest to my sister Jenny. It was obvious the way she spoke to her, that there was a closeness which was special. She was her favorite niece and very dear to her heart.

I always found her to be easy to approach. She never spoke to me in any kind of condescending or patronizing manner. She would never fail to appear impressed by my paltry academic achievements and would always encourage me to do better. She had this quiet smile when she would look at you, as if she was both pleased and a little baffled that you have grown up so quickly.

The last time I saw her, I was leaving for college. She had asked me what I would like and I mentioned carrot cakes. She spend the afternoon making them and they were hot, but probably the tastiest I have had.

A humble woman who preferred simplicity of appearance rather than any form of vanity, she had always led her life in an exemplary fashion. She was deeply faithful and yet never wore it on her sleeve. She had had to deal with quite a lot of tragedies in the last few years. The death of her mother, her daughter and lastly her husband. She had remained unflinchingly stoic through all of that.

The last time I spoke to her was a little after the death of my uncle, a man she had shared over sixty years of her life with. She was composed and stoic in her grief- propriety and strength of character had not left her even at the most vulnerable moments. Instead, she tried to console me.

She died on Friday, February 4, 2011. A diminutive woman, she has left a very large hole in all our lives.

I never said it often enough, but I loved you, Fupi (Aunt). And I am grateful that you loved and cared for me.

May your soul rest in peace forever.

A Coat, a Hat and a Gun: the life of Raymond Chandler

Yes, we are talking about Raymond Chandler.

No I am not going to talk about any of his works. Not yet. One day, when I am ready to talk about how Chandler's work has influenced my life, I will speak at length about his novels. May be I will write about what a great literary critic he was as well as being a great novelist.

But that is all for some other day. Today I speak on the Radio 4 treatment of Raymond Chandler, the remake of his novels into brand new radio dramas.

BBC Radio 4 has begun airing a brand new dramatization of several of Chandler's novels, all centering around his iconic creation: the hard boiled detective Phillip Marlowe. Toby Stephens is starring as Marlowe, a good reason as any to give these new versions a try. These will mostly take the form of the Radio 4 Afternoon Play.

However, what I want to talk about today are two biographical portrayal of Raymond Chandler that Radio 4 is airing as part of promoting their new radio plays. One takes the form of biographical portrayal in the form of interviews of people who are fans of Chandler's work. The other is a narrative dramatization, a work of imagination which seeks to portray a certain period of Chandler's life. More on that later.

In the half hour program called A Coat, a Hat and a Gun, Harriet Gilbert presents a radio documentary about the life and works of Chandler, as the kick-off event of the beginning of the Raymond Chandler season on BBC Radio 4. I love the fact that he gets a whole season on BBC radio as does Agatha Christie. In light of his essay The Simple Art of Murder, the fans would appreciate the restoration of balance in the arena of the crime drama.

Gilbert begins with the history of the life of the author, his early life and influences. He was born in Chicago to an Irish Protestant mother and an American father. His mother later moved back to Ireland and then England without his father. He went to Dulwich College where he learned the English public school code of honor and the somewhat idealized version of integrity from his teachers. No wonder Marlowe's moral stance is so absolute: he has been the result of a Puritan education!

One of the facts that is quite fascinating about Chandler is the sheer English nature of his being. This is a man who went on to create an American world that would remain seared in our memory through the various film noirs remakes of his novels. And yet he never stopped being the quintessential Englishman. Another very interesting fact is that P G Wodehouse also went to Dulwich College and also later moved to Southern California.

We have a very detailed look into the early literary life and career of the author: of all the various jpobs he had held. Civil Servant, accountant, fruit picker and a soldier in World War I. He fell in love with Cissy Pascal and became an oil executive in 1932.

However, at the age of forty five, he gave up everything and became the virtuoso writer of the pulp fiction private eye genre. He sensed that American literarture lacked cadence: you could read it, but not hear it. The verbal aspect of the literary work was missing. He worked very hard to fill that gap. His detective novels starring Phillip Marlowe are one of the most unique: funny and cynical and wolrd weary but not jaded: there is always room for doomed romance.

Apart from interesting tidbits of his life, we learn about the construction of the American myth of the hero against the corrupt world. The gray moral landscape being shattered by the advent of the man who must go down the mean streets of the city and yet himself is untainted corruption.

If you are interested in the life and literary works of Raymond Chandler, as you should be, you should check out this program. It is a fascinating half hour of reconstruction of a life that has been lived to the fullest. He has had his ups and downs of life but most importantly he has created one of the greatest and most interesting detectives ever to have entered our consciousness.

A Coat, a Hat and a Gun is available as a podcast from BBC Radio 4.

Solaris- A review

I like Stanislaw Lem.

I like George Clooney and Natasha McElhone.

No wonder I'm a big fan of the movie Solaris.

Released in November 2002, Solaris was a remake of the 1972 Soviet version. Both of the movies were based on the 1961 science fiction novel by the Polish author Stanislaw Lem. The 1972 version was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and the 2002version by Steven Soderbergh.

Solaris is in essence a psychological drama in space. It examines the topics of human desire and love and hate. The eternal human quest of wish fulfillment and the price that we pay for it.

George Clooney stars as the psychologist Chris Kelvin. Kelvin is haunted by the recent loss of his wife, Rheya, played by Natasha McElhone. He feels entirely detached from his everyday life and is unable to empathize with his patients.

His friend Gibarian, who is a scientist on board the space station surrounding the planet Solaris, sends him a cryptic message, asking him to travel to the station. Apparently there had been some trouble within and he did not want to elaborate because he did not want anyone else to eavesdrop.

The corporation which owns the space station dispatches Kelvin to check what really has been happening out there. Kelvin arrives to find Gibarian dead and the rest of the crew either dead or disappeared, except Dr Gordon and Snow.

Kelvin is surprised to catch glimpses of a little boy, ostensibly Gibarian's son, running around the space station. The first night, he dreams of Rheya and how they met. When he wakes up, to his horror he discovers Rheya in front of him, alive. Apparently, in the proximity of Solaris, one can dream a person into existence. Such is the curious nature of the alien life on the planet that it can invade the psychological barriers of the human mind and bring thoughts into reality.

Kelvin's first response is to trap the replica of Rheya into a space pod and release her into space. However, he begins to understand why Gordon and Snow are so jittery: apparently the crew members have had their loved ones make appearances as well. The little boy in question is the replica of Gibarian's son who had died on Earth.

His dreams continue to revolve around Rheya and lo and behold when he wakes up, there she is again, although quite unaware of the fate of her predecessor. She has her memories but she does not have the experience of living through them. To her, the life she had lead on earth was entirely abstract and very much the construction of kelvin's mind. She lacked a distinct personality and appeared to be an extension of Kelvin's experiences of his wife.

Kelvin becomes aware of the fact that Gordon had been involved in the deaths of the other replicas. She reveals the fact that the replicas approach her to ask for their deaths, since without their primary loved one their existence has become meaningless. Rheya, after discovering that Kelvin had killed her previous manifestation, asks Gordon to allow her to die.

Kelvin and Gordon stumbles onto the original body of Snow. Confronted with the evidence, the replica version of Snow admits to killing the original Snow, although according to him it was self defense. As Gordon began using her apparatus to kill the replicas, Solaris had reacted by drawing the space station closer so that they could not escape the gravitational field of the planet. Gordon and Kelvin decides that since the space station was beyond rescue, they must escape using a smaller escape ship.

Next we see Kelvin, he is back on Earth, going about the tedious routine of his life. One day he cuts himself, only find that the wound has healed automatically. Rheya appears to him again and he remembers that he did not get into the escape pod. He was in fact in Solaris. But was he himself or just a replica?

The psychological aspect of the drama is very intriguing as is the concept of dreams as explored in the movie. However, the main event of the movie is the downward spiral of love between Kelvin and Rheya. Do the Solaris manifestations of their earthly selves reflect the reality of their relationship? Or was their love on Earth doomed to begin with and the replicas reenactment of it a mere superficial construct?

Well, only you can answer that.

Mark Steel's In Town: A Radio 4 Program on Local History of England

It has to be a dedicated history buff to like local history of a small town. But when the man talking about the local history happens to be Mark Steel, you know this is going to be different.

Before I say anything about the program, I should say a word or two about Mark Steel. Many may find it difficult to believe, but from where I stand he is one of the greatest historians of our time. His friends in the comedy circuit may laugh and he himself would probably not take my claims seriously.  A standup comedian specializing in politics and with left wing credentials, how do we connect him with the subject of history? Especially when he has no formal degree on the subject?

I have learned more about history from listening to Mark’s programs on radio than I would have from any other sources. His approach to history is radically different from your average historian: he actually makes it interesting.  So when he takes an interest in local history of a town, you know he is not going to quote you statistics but talk about the people and the interesting bits of their past.

Mark Steel’s in Town is not a program exclusively directed to the viewer or listener. What is unique about it is that Mark presents it in front of a live audience who are mostly local residents of the town in question.  What he is doing is presenting the history of the place to the people who live there, bringing the history of their home to their own doorstep.

The selection of the towns also reflect Mark’s own attitude towards history and politics. He prefers to cover townships that have a long history of working class struggles and rebellions. It is interesting to know that the working class in England has always resisted the big landowners and mill owners. Time and time again, people have stood up against repression and inhuman treatment. They have made their mark on the places they have lived and they did not take injustice lying down. With great empathy and humor Mark Steel presents their unsung stories.

One often gets the impression that the struggle for rights of workers and voting rights of women are mostly Twentieth Century affairs. Who would have known that before leaving for America, Tom Paine may have had his political education in defying authority from the town he lived in: Lewes. Who knew that Merthyr Tidfil’s reputation as a working class hot bed of dissent would inspire the entire country into developing industrial action? How about the anarchist history of Walsall, as well as its hippo in the center of the town?  How about Darford’s connection to Mick Jagger (he’s from there) eclipsed by the fact that it used to be Wat Tyler’s HQ during the revolt of 1381?

All of this and let us not forget the current occupants. Mark mentions the current places of import and calls on people to come on stage to describe what they do. This particular local involvement gives it flair of homegrown element, not just an outsider’s view. Mark is very conscientious about making sure that local traditions are covered- especially ones that are centuries old and are rooted in working class history.

But it is not just the local history that Mark covers. He is also into discovering the important roles each town had played in the national political scene.  How Lewes played an important role in the post Magna Carta England. How Boston gave rise to the Puritan tradition that eventually led to the formation of its sister city of Boston in America. Merthyr Tidfil’s influence on working class resistence has already been outlined.  Many more such information is to be found in the program. It has had two seasons and have covered twelve towns so far.

I dare say that if you want a really funny and entertaining presentation of local histories of the small towns of England, Mark Steel’s in Town would be just the thing you are looking for. It is highly informative and is presented by a man whose passion for history would make you passionate on the subject, I promise.

Mark Steel’s in Town is on BBC Radio 4.

Law & Order UK- A review

You often hear about TV shows in the UK traveling across the pond to the US where they get remade into American versions. Big Brother, American Idol, The Office are some of the successes. Mostly are horrendous failures, such as  Life on Mars.

So it was rather interesting to watch a TV show move the opposite direction.

Law & Order the original show may have been discontinued in the American network TV but it made a new home in the UK channel ITV as Law & Order UK. It follows the same pattern as the original with the show divided into two parts. In the first half the detectives investigate and in the second half the Barristers of the Crown Prosecution Service conduct the courtroom trial.

One would think that having a change of venue and legal system should necessitate a change in the formula of the show. However, the producers felt reasonably confident that the tried and true methods would not let them down, despite the strange costumes. It was rather amusing to see that the English justice system works in its tradition bound ways. Judges and lawyers in wigs and gowns: now there’s a courtroom where solemnity prevails with impunity!

The Scotland Yard team consists of Detective Sergeants Danny Brooks and Matt Devlin, played by Bradley Walsh and Jamie Bamber. Honestly, folks, if you are a Battlestar Galactica fan, this show is worth a shot for Jamie Bamber alone! They are supervised by Detective Inspector Natalie Chandler, played by Dame Harriet Walter.

DS Brooks, the elder partner, is worldly wise and has seen a lot of rough action in his younger days. His world weary and wry sense of humor and apparent cynicism barely hides a good hearted man having to face down an ugly world. DS Devlin is more full of fire and brimstone and gung ho about justice. He really wants to get the bad guy. They have a very supportive boss in DI Chandler. As an investigative team, they are rather well matched- they share banter and back each other up emotionally. And boy do they need the support from each other: the writers of the show are not squeamish about depicting real life horrors. 

This excellent team is complemented by the barristers of the CPS. James Steel, played by the excellent Ben Daniels, is the Senior Crown Prosecutor. He is assisted by the Junior Crown Prosecutor, Alesha Phillips, played by the delicious Freema Agyeman. Well, Doctor Who fans, what more motivation do you need? Bill Paterson plays George Castle, the director of the CPS.

A scrupulous adherence to law and justice for the victims are the watch word for the CPS. They work hard to bring the perpetrators to the jury and have them convicted. Steel is devoted to the job and is loathe to compromise. He would rather face the verdict of the jury than make a deal with a criminal for a lesser sentence. He is ably backed by Phillips and Castle even though the circumstances and politics of the day may not always be favorable.

I was interested by the cast alone. Bradley Walsh in a drama series, away from comedy is a great attraction, as is Jamie Bamber. But when I saw that Ben Daniels and Freema Agyeman was  there as well, I guess you could repeat the line about wild horses.

I am quite fond of the original Law & Order series. I like the format and the minimalist approach towards character that the producers go for. It is fun to see the format repeated in a different environment and get similar results. I think this is a show that you would quite enjoy, if you are into gritty police dramas.

This show is definitely not for the consumption of the young. However for adults looking for good drama, this would be a good choice. And if you are an old school L&O fan, this is definitely for you.  

Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles

She’s the Queen of Crime, having sold over two billion copies of her books  worldwide . Her stories are full of murder and mayhem in the middle of the English country house. And her body of work extends to about eighty novels and collection of short stories. And she had created a string of detectives who never leave your consciousness: Hercules Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.

We are of course talking about Agatha Christie.

Her first work, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920. Written after her sister Madge challenged her ability to come up with a written novel, it was composed around the War years.  Agatha Christie was a nurse during the War, her fiancé Captain Archie Christie being a volunteer in the newly formed RAF.  Her extensive knowledge of poisons, very handy for any crime writer, date from that era.

 In this book we first meet Christie’s most famous detective, the little Belgian, Hercules Poirot. Because of the German invasion he had become a refugee and Mrs. Cavendish of Styles Court had provided the assistance required for Belgian refugees to settle in Essex. Captain Hastings, on ;eave from the Western Front, is visiting Styles Court. Mrs. Cavendish had recently married a younger man, Alfred Inglethorp. Her late husband had left her Styles Court and a considerable inheritance. Her two stepsons, John and Lawrence would only come to their inheritance after the death of their stepmother.

Mrs. Inglethorp’s recent marriage to an apparent fortune hunter, though a matter of discomfort to her family, is not enough of an incident to create a family rift. However, her friend and companion, Evelyn Howard is not shy of showing her disapproval.  A few days after the arrival of Captain Hastings, Mrs. Inglethorp has a huge argument with someone- either Alfred or John and as a result she makes significant changes to her will.

In the early hours of next morning, Mrs. Inglethorp is found poisoned from strychnine in her coffee. Hercules Poirot and Captain Hastings begin the investigation with a sullen grudging approval from Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard. Would they discover who killed Mrs. Inglethorp? Would that come as a total surprise?

The answer to the last question is of course a resounding yes. The plot twists and mystery of the identity of the killer is very much up to the reader to discover. I can only recommend the book but I would not be heartless enough to spoil the ending!

Styles, being her first work, is of quite the significance for the avid Christie fan. She also devotes quite a few pages of her celebrated autobiography on the genesis of the book. It reflects her choice of family gatherings over country house parties and close observations of little things that add flesh to a character. Eden Phillpotts, her mentor, had commented on her skill with dialogue and told her to stick to it. One can feel the justice of his words when one reads any of her works. The ease with which she uses the dialogue as a narrative device shows how talented she really was as a writer.

The plot twists and ingenious ways with which murder was committed in an Agatha Christie novel had been heavily criticized by Raymond Chandler. Although I agree with much of his criticisms, I cannot bring myself to apply them to Styles.  

This was not the first Christie book I had read but I did find her stories fascinating. I made quite an effort to get hold of Styles. I believe I was fifteen when I first read it and to this day it still remains one my favorite detective novels.