Favorite fictional early (before 1930) detective poll besides Sherlock Holmes

[sdreid]

Some are private detectives, some are police detectives, some are amateur sleuths and some are sort of secret agents.

[cappuccina]

I like Sergeant Cuff who appears in Wilkie Collins' works...

[sdreid]

I believe with the exception of Dupin, all the names on the list had at least one radio series in production at one time.

[sdreid]

They are all in movies and I believe all but Dupin were in movie series.

[sdreid]

Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan and The Saint were each adapted into a traditional TV series.

[sdreid]

Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan and The Saint were each adapted into a traditional TV series.

Starring Kent Taylor, J. Carrol Naish and Roger Moore respectively.

[Sister Hyde]

François Vidocq. well he was a real life character, escaped convict who became afterward a private detective, and they've made very nice fiction with him.

[Mayerling]

Vidocq and Mr Chan

François Vidocq. well he was a real life character, escaped convict who became afterward a private detective, and they've made very nice fiction with him.

Hi all,

Vidocq was one of the founders of France's Surete.

There is an old movie (directed by Douglas Sirk) that came out in the 1940s called, A Scandal in Paris, about Vidocq. It is totally fictional, but well made, and is about how he reforms to become the smart detective he became. George Sanders played Vidocq. Gene Lockhart (June's dad) was in a supportig role as was Alan Napier (the future Alfred the butler on television's Batman).

I have just finished an book, CHARLIE CHAN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE HONORABLE DETECTIVE AND HIS RENDEZVOUS WITH AMERICAN HISTORY by Yunte Huang. I recommend it to everyone as a nice piece of social history.


Jeff

[Mayerling]

Thanks Jeff.

I believe Bullshot Crummond, as a WWI flying ace and racing driver, was, in addition to the Sapper character, inspired by Eddie Rickenbacker who was both, having competed in 4 Indianapolis 500s. Rickenbacker also wrote a related comic strip in the 1930s-40s about a fighter pilot called Ace Drummond.

When he had time, he started an automobile company, ran Eastern Airlines and owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - pretty much the ultimate renaissance man.

Hi Stan,

I have a biography of Rickenbacker I have to read among my books on aviation. I don't know about his having any effect on the film satire BULLSHOT (making fun of Sapper is easy enough). Rickenbacker was our
"Ace of Aces" in World War I, and (unlike his young rival Frank "Balloon Buster" Luke) survived the war. He also survived a grueling three week liferaft incident in World War II when the plane he was on crashed at sea (I forget if it was shot down or not). A film about that incident was made, called CAPTAIN EDDIE, and starred Fred MacMurray as Rickenbacker.

Jeff

[Sister Hyde]

Hi all,

Vidocq was one of the founders of France's Surete.

There is an old movie (directed by Douglas Sirk) that came out in the 1940s called, A Scandal in Paris, about Vidocq. It is totally fictional, but well made, and is about how he reforms to become the smart detective he became. George Sanders played Vidocq. Gene Lockhart (June's dad) was in a supportig role as was Alan Napier (the future Alfred the butler on television's Batman).

I have just finished an book, CHARLIE CHAN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE HONORABLE DETECTIVE AND HIS RENDEZVOUS WITH AMERICAN HISTORY by Yunte Huang. I recommend it to everyone as a nice piece of social history.


Jeff

Oh thanks for the tip, I'll ceck it out. There have been a lot of movies made about Vidocq, the last one being the movie of the same name, a strange mix of the Vidocq myth 5 played by Depardieu) enquiring on a serie of occult murders attributed to a urban legend of the 19th century in Paris, A pure piece of fiction and fantasy, but very well shot, with a very nice atmosphere, very entertaining.

Cam

[Mayerling]

Oh thanks for the tip, I'll ceck it out. There have been a lot of movies made about Vidocq, the last one being the movie of the same name, a strange mix of the Vidocq myth 5 played by Depardieu) enquiring on a serie of occult murders attributed to a urban legend of the 19th century in Paris, A pure piece of fiction and fantasy, but very well shot, with a very nice atmosphere, very entertaining.

Cam

Hi Cam,

You might also like to check out some of the novels of Honore de Balzac. Balzac was acquainted with Vidocq and used him for his unscrupulous but brilliant criminal mastermind Vautrin in several novels of his series. One is Pere Goriot [Old Goriot or Father Goriot in translation].

Jeff

[Sister Hyde]

Hi Cam,

You might also like to check out some of the novels of Honore de Balzac. Balzac was acquainted with Vidocq and used him for his unscrupulous but brilliant criminal mastermind Vautrin in several novels of his series. One is Pere Goriot [Old Goriot or Father Goriot in translation].

Jeff

oh yes thank you for making me reopen my secondary school cardboxes over 10 years later Jeff

Cam

[sdreid]

Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan and The Saint were each adapted into a traditional TV series.

I believe the first two were half hour broadcasts while The Saint was an hour long airing.

[sdreid]

There have been some other short lived runs of The Saint on TV with different actors but Roger Moore is the one most identified with the role in that medium.

[Magpie]

There have been some other short lived runs of The Saint on TV with different actors but Roger Moore is the one most identified with the role in that medium.

Ian Ogilvy did a great job in "The Return of The Saint" in the late 70's.

I have a few of the paperbacks released to coincide with Roger Moore's time as the Saint, but I've not seen a lot of the episodes.

Vincent Price was absolutely brilliant as Simon Templer on the radio.