We’re paying another visit to our Listener Library! This time we’re checking out “The Golem,” an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater recommended to us by our mysterious listener, Clare! (Thanks, Clare!) This World War II-era tale features a married couple who must choose between protecting their own family and sheltering a young Jewish woman and her grandfather. As the story unfolds, the grandfather acts strangely, collecting all the necessary elements to create the legendary entity known as the Golem! Will the couple help the fugitives or betray them? Is the Golem only a figure from folklore or might it truly come to life? How will our conversation incorporate both Johnny Carson and Superman? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!
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I really wanted to like this but I didn’t care for it at all. Found myself nodding in agreement with most everything Eric said. I also agree with Joshua that CBSRMT shoots itself in the foot with the teaser introductions.
I thought the Nazi lieutenant was the best character – so calm and creepy! He immediately reminded me of Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds, so throughout the entire radio show I couldn’t help but picture Christoph Waltz as the lieutenant.
Agreed. Particularly that moment when he realized there was a sleeping child in the house and called off the search. His conscientiousness was unsettling. Definitely a Hans Landa moment.
Every time you’ve presented an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater, I’ve listened to Eric proclaiming that CBSRMT was one of the greatest radio series ever, and every time, I’ve thought, “Well, why doesn’t he share one of the *good* episodes, then?” After this episode … I’m still waiting for one of the good ones. But it was interesting to hear Eric come to the realization that CBSRMT wasn’t as great as he remembered it. This episode wasn’t *terrible* — it didn’t have an annoyingly lame cop-out ending like “The Thing in the Cave”, or a twist reveal that just… Read more »
Also, regarding the use or non-use of foreign accents: I agree that the Nazi was much more frightening with an American accent than he would have been with a mock-German one. If a story features foreign characters in a setting where everyone is supposed to be speaking English, so we’re hearing everything exactly as it supposedly happens, then it makes sense for the foreign characters to have foreign accents. But if a story has a foreign setting and the characters are supposedly speaking a foreign language, and we’re just *hearing* it in English, then there’s really no logical reason why… Read more »
Oh, just one more thing: Next episode is from “Obsession”? Isn’t that Joshua’s brother’s podcast? 🙂
Fair points. If like Eric, you were looking for the suspense to come from the literal action of the story (Will Rachel and the old man escape? Will the old man make a Golem in time? Will the Golem be able to kill the Nazis?) then the story probably felt padded and ultimately unsatisfying. If like Tim and I, you found suspense in the moral or spiritual choices made by the characters (Will the woodsman jeopardize his family to do what he believes is right? Will the wife compromise her spiritual convictions to save her husband and child? Will the… Read more »
It was a nice surprise to hear Ralph Bell as the Lieutenant. I remember him from golden age shows, like the two-part Counterspy where he played criminal mastermind Professor Horn (“The Case of the Cold-Blooded Professor”). I didn’t know his voice acting career extended to the 1970s.
I think there was even more going on here: Tomcheck’s (spelling?) retelling of his first encounter with the fugitives was reminiscent of eyewitness accounts during the Nuremburg trials, and there was a whole big Christian/New Testament vs Jewish/Old Testament interpretation of God thing (apologies to all religions everywhere if I messed that up). Nice discussion about comedy foreign accents: contemporary BBC radio dramas tend to shy away from that, or use regional British accents (for example a play set in Yemen or Mexico will have Welsh actors, or actors doing Welsh accents) to convey that the setting is not middle… Read more »
Would like to give a book recommendation of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon). Story features the inert Golem being smuggled out of Prague.