Out of the list of stories, I was compelled to pick Sherlock Holmes. I have always been a big fan of mystery and have watched numerous movies and read many of Sherlock Holmes’ books.

The first story I listened to was the 1954 version of A case of Identity. It was the second story on the list and sounded interesting. However, I was a bit upset about the actual content of the story. It was about a young girl who had fallen in love with a man her stepfather did not approve of. However, the young lovers arranged a marriage. On the day of the wedding the young girl saw her beloved step into a car, but when they arrived at the church that car was empty. She was very worried and didn’t know who else to go to but Holmes. She described in detail their relationship and gave Holmes some letters that the two loves had exchanged. A day later Holmes had the case figured out. Turns out that the young girl gets 100 lbs a year. If she lives with her stepfather, he gets this money. But if she leaves, say to get married, he no longer gets this money. The stepfather and mother came up with the devious plan of disguising the step father as someone else and letting the young girl to fall in love with him only to rip it all away. They thought that the fact that she had this one true love she would not fall in love with anyone else and would stay with them forever. This was a horribly cruel plan AND Holmes didn’t even tell the poor girl! To say the least I was very upset by the story. I guess the point of a story is to pull an emotion out, and this one sure got one!

I didn’t hear too many effects in the story. They had just music playing in the beginning and the end but none covering up voices. There was one scene that consisted of a flashback where it sounded like a Ball was going on in the background. The voices seemed a bit “dreamy” sounding. Other than a few footsteps, doorbell, and crinkling papers, there was not very much extra. I did notice how distinctly different the voices were. I am assuming this is to clearly identify the characters. They also talked in a very dramatic effects. Emphasis was put on some things, while others were just plainly said. I also expected a bit more action. This was a mystery story so I expected Holmes to be investigating things. However, he just sat in his chair and thought about the case and discussed it with Watson. I don’t recall any sounds that Homes actually moved out of his chair. This is an earlier episode, so they may not have developed the extra effects quite as well.

The next story was #13 on the Sherlock Holmes list. It was called Murder by Proxy. It is the story of cadavers being stolen from a hospital. Holmes goes to the hospital and investigates the room. He finds a few finger prints and another cadaver there. This cadaver is then stolen overnight. The next day the doctor of the hospital is murdered. The murderer tries to frame the doctor’s cook, but Holmes knew better than that. He eventually sets the facts straight. Turns out, there is an insurance scam going on here. When people die, they use the cadavers as the dead bodies and then the disguise themselves as someone different and collect the insurance money that was left to them in their will. It was quite a confusing story to follow and again I was disappointed by this Sherlock Holmes series.

The background effects were more riveting in this episode than the first one I listened to. In the beginning of the story, another host was talking to Watson and they were discussing coffee (I assume as a sort of commercial) that was out of context of the story which I found a bit odd.  Music was used to distinguish between  different days. It had a mysterious feel to it which fit in perfectly with the story. Also, there were more sound effects. A train horn was used and more footsteps to signal walking. Doors were opened and closed. A big thing I noticed is that when someone was entering or leaving a room, their voice would fade in or out as if to give the effect of approaching or leaving. Most of the story was just normal every day conversation and there wasn’t too much adventurous things going on.

As you can probably tell, I like action. I like things happening, with radio I feel it is hard to have a significant amount of action in a story. It just seems like a bunch of conversation with a few footsteps here and there. However, I was still a bit taken in by the story. I could feel myself trying to imagine what the setting was and how the characters looked. I did get to use my imagination to try and paint the scene. It was very different from having a picture put in front of me and say “this is what this looks like, here ya go”.