Like most people, I associate Rex Harrison with two main roles; that of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 feature My Fair Lady, and the melodious, critter-conversant doctor in the colourful 1967 musical, Doctor Doolittle. To be honest, to my taste, those don't appeal much. He's very charismatic, but for other than a very few nice supporting parts, he's mostly off my radar.
The Private Files of Rex Saunders is really the Harrison role that I've been looking for; he's his usual dapper British self, with that relaxed style and incredibly smooth diction, but here he's also a fearless man of action. I'm a sucker for 'gentleman detective'-type stuff, so it really hits the spot. Rex Saunders has very much of the Ronald Colman Bulldog Drummond in him, which is a very good thing, in my book.
As a general description of The Private Files of Rex Saunders, I would say that if you imagined a hard-edged crime thriller like Broadway is my Beat, but with E.W. Hornung's gentleman thief Raffles as the main character, this would be that show. Saunders is very similar, but without the high-class burglary or (sadly enough) Cricket. He has an air of indestructibility about him, and in the most serious situations he's as calm as if he's at a cocktail party. I find that entirely amusing. His earnest American sidekick, Alec (played by former 1930's child star Leon Janney), is a mildly more inept version of Raffles' bumbling associate Bunny Manders, and I can see why some listeners (according to web chatter) don't care for him.
The Private Files of Rex Saunders is really the Harrison role that I've been looking for; he's his usual dapper British self, with that relaxed style and incredibly smooth diction, but here he's also a fearless man of action. I'm a sucker for 'gentleman detective'-type stuff, so it really hits the spot. Rex Saunders has very much of the Ronald Colman Bulldog Drummond in him, which is a very good thing, in my book.
As a general description of The Private Files of Rex Saunders, I would say that if you imagined a hard-edged crime thriller like Broadway is my Beat, but with E.W. Hornung's gentleman thief Raffles as the main character, this would be that show. Saunders is very similar, but without the high-class burglary or (sadly enough) Cricket. He has an air of indestructibility about him, and in the most serious situations he's as calm as if he's at a cocktail party. I find that entirely amusing. His earnest American sidekick, Alec (played by former 1930's child star Leon Janney), is a mildly more inept version of Raffles' bumbling associate Bunny Manders, and I can see why some listeners (according to web chatter) don't care for him.
There were only fourteen episodes in the entire series, clocking in at half an hour each. It was produced by radio legend Himan Brown, who was responsible for thousands of programmes, including such classics as (the aforementioned) Bulldog Drummond, Dick Tracy, The Adventures of the Thin Man, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and Flash Gordon, among many others. It was also fun to learn that he directed one of my radio favourites, Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, as well as occasional episodes of his other productions. It really is an excellent show, with great scripts and lots of murder and mayhem. In the world of incredible 1950's radio shows, The Private Files of Rex Saunders stands out as exceptional. I look forward to listening to the entire run again, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Download The Private Files of Rex Saunders - Shallow Graves HERE
Download The Private Files of Rex Saunders - Shallow Graves HERE
RSS Feed
