Cornell Woolrich and Radio Noir

Abstract

Of all the writers to transition from pulp magazines to noir movies, Cornell Woolrich was by far the most prolific. The heyday of ‘classic’ Hollywood film noir saw not only seventeen films based on Woolrich properties but also over seventy radio dramas and a large number of television adaptations that would continue into the early 1960s. Drawing on a range of critical and archival materials, this article assesses Woolrich's contribution to radio drama in the classic noir era and explores several adaptations of his 1936 story ‘The Night Reveals’, one of the most popular selections on the acclaimed CBS anthology series Suspense (1942–62).