The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr

[Riklaa]

The Hollow Man
by John Dickson Carr
Dramatised by John Keir Cross
Produced by Audrey Cameron
128K

Broadcast on the Home Service, 10th January 1959 Saturday Night Theatre

One wintry night in London, two murders are committed in quick succession. In both cases, the murderer has seemingly vanished into thin air.

In the first case, he has disappeared from Professor Grimaud's study after shooting the professor—without leaving a trace, with the only door to the room locked from the inside, and with people present in the hall outside the room. Both the ground below the window and the roof above it are covered with unbroken snow.

In the second case, a man walking in the middle of a deserted cul-de-sac at about the same time is evidently shot at close range, with the same revolver that killed Grimaud and only minutes afterward, but there is no one else near the man; this is witnessed from some distance by three passersby—two tourists and a police constable—who happen to be walking on the pavement. It takes Dr Gideon Fell, scholar and "a pompous pain in the neck," who keeps hinting at the solution without giving it away and at the end finally condescend and minutely reconstruct the two crimes and thus solve the mystery.


Dr. Gideon Fell ......... Norman Shelley
Mme Ernestine Dumont .... Barbara Couper
Superintendent Hadley ... Lockwood West
Ted Rampole ............. David March
Boyd Mangan ............. David Spenser
Professor Grimaud ....... Anthony Vickers
Stuart Mills ............ John Scott
Pierre Fley ............. John Graham
Drayman ................. Duncan McIntyre
O'Rourke ................ Ronald Baddiley



Trivia: In 1981 a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers selected The Hollow Man (known as The Three Coffins in the US) as the best locked room mystery of all time.

The Hollow Man LINK

[Jim Robarts]

Wow...Thanks.  This one sounds classic.

[WWB]

Rick, Thanks.  I'm trying to catch up on the SNTs you upload for our listening pleasure, and even though I'm falling behind -- keep'em coming.  WWB

[Robert Flood]

Thanks so much for another great mystery to make my weekend.

Bob

[abby]

Thanks again, Rick!!

[Riklaa]

All y'all welcome.  ------------------  Rick

[Michael Walker]

Thanks for this.

A vast upgrade to the copy I have..................Michael

[Anson (Bob) Roberts]

This is a truly classic mystery.  It will be fun to compare this version with the 1997 one starring Donald Sinden.

Thanks!

[Riklaa]

You are welcome.  I enjoyed it immensely.  -------  Rick

[semoshorts]

Thanks for sharing.