Showing results by author "Mr Punch" in All Categories

Hollywood Playhouse - The Heartthrobs Collection is a unique compilation of three Oscar-winning films specially adapted for the radio and performed by many of the original film stars in front of a live studio audience. Originally broadcast on the radio, they were to become as popular with the public as the movies themselves.

Mr Punch Presents: Rebecca, based upon the best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier. Laurence Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, and Vivien Leigh is the shy and naïve ladies companion that he meets while holidaying in Monte Carlo. They fall in love, get married and return to Maxim's beloved Manderley in Cornwall, where the second Mrs de Winter now meets the mysterious Mrs Danvers and finds that Rebecca is not forgotten. The film was to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Mr Punch Presents: National Velvet, telling the story of Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor), the idealistic English farm girl with a passion for horses, who wins the spirited steed ‘Pie’ in the local town lottery. Her infectious enthusiasm encourages the embittered jockey Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) to train the horse ‘Pie’ for the Grand National - England's greatest racing event.

Mr Punch Presents: All About Eve, the Oscar-winning story of the self-effacing and ambitious actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) who cleverly manipulates her way into the life of ageing Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis). This venomous depiction of show business and backstage life has become a classic story of ambition and betrayal and one of Hollywood's all-time masterpieces.

Set in 1915 on the treacherous rivers of war-torn Africa. Humphrey Bogart plays the gin-sodden river trader Charlie Allnut, who reluctantly agrees to help the prim missionary Rose Sayer, played in this radio version by Greer Garson, to travel down river on a hazardous journey and destroy a German gun boat. Humphrey Bogart won the 1951 Oscar for Best Actor and again plays the uncouth captain of the tramp steamer in this special radio production.

Mr Punch Presents: Shane, the classic Western, nominated for six Academy Awards, is set in the late 1860s and tells the story of the mysterious retired gunslinger played by Alan Ladd, who arrives at the ranch of a family of homesteaders, only to find himself involved in a violent range war. In this special radio production both Alan Ladd and Van Heflin reprise their original film roles from the Oscar-winning movie.

The Philadelphia Story, known as Hollywood's most sophisticated and sparkling romantic comedy, tells the story of Philadelphia heiress Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) who is preparing for her second marriage, when Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), her first husband, re-enters her life on the day before her wedding, determined to spoil things. Holiday Inn is the story of Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) who is head over heels in love with Linda Mason (Dinah Shore), in this radio version of the Irving Berlin musical, featuring the smash hit songs 'White Christmas' and 'Easter Parade'.