Cornell Woolrich: Nightwebs (A Collection of Stories)

2. 3/37 The Humming Bird Comes Home. (WI 16, CW 20, EQMM 3/50, under original title; SMM 2/64, The Saint Magazine Reader (Charteris & Santesson, ed., 1966), as “The Humming Bird.”)

3. 4/37 Death in Round Three. (EQMM 7/51.)

1. 10/62 The Poker Player’s Wife. (Revised, CW 21.)

2. 5/63 Story To Be Whispered. (CW 21, with a different ending.)

NOTE: The magazine’s title was now changed to Saint Magazine.

3. 10/66 Mannequin.

4. 9/67 Intent to Kill.

1. 3/34 Between the Acts.

2. 3/34 Insult. (Published under pseudonym of Ted Brooks.)

3. 6/34 The Very First Breakfast.

1. 4, 5/47 Death Escapes the Eye. (Revised, CW 15, as “Murder, Obliquely.”)

2. 12/47, 1/48 Death Between Dances.

NOTE: The February-March 1947 issue of this magazine contains a one-page autobiographical letter from Woolrich.

1. 9/28 Girls, We’re Wise to You.

2. 11/28 Girls, I Know Your Line.

NOTE: These are articles, not stories.

1. 4/36 The Night Reveals. (WI 4; CW 20; Fear and Trembling, Hitchcock, ed., 1948; EQMM 8/48; Story Jubilee, Whit Burnett, ed., 1965; Ellery Queen’s 1970 Mid-Year Anthology.)

2. 10/37 Goodbye, New York. (The Story Pocket Book (Whit Burnett, ed., 1944), EQMM 3/53, Ellery Queen’s 1969 Anthology, under original title; CW 15, as “Don’t Wait Up for Me Tonight.”)

1. 7,8/39 The Street of Jungle Death. (Later expanded into CW 9.)

1. 8/38 Deserted, Part 1.

1. 9/38 Deserted, Part 2.

1. 10/38 Deserted, Part 3.

1. 11/38 Deserted, Part 4.

1. 9/37 Taxi Dance Murder.

1. 1/36 Baal’s Daughter.

1. 4/46 They Call Me Patrice. (Later expanded into WI 10.)

1. An Apple a Day. (In WI 4.)

2. The Blue Ribbon. (In WI 11; reprinted in World’s Greatest Boxing Stories, 1952.)

3. Husband. (In WI 11.)

4. The Night of June 20, 1896. (In CW 16.)

5. The Night of April 6, 1917. (In CW 16.)

6. The Night of November 11, 1918. (In CW 16.)

7. The Night of October 24, 1929. (In CW 16.)

8. The Night of... (In CW 16.)

9. The Night of September 30, 1957. (In CW 16.)

10. The Number’s Up. (In CW 18; reprinted in CW 22.)

11. Tokyo 1941. (In CW 19, constituting a new Part 4; reprinted in The Award Espionage Reader, Santesson, ed., 1965.)

12. The Clean Fight. (In CW 21.)

13. The Idol with the Clay Bottom. (In CW 21.)

14. I’m Ashamed. (In CW 21.)

15. The Release. (The last chapter of Woolrich’s unfinished novel The Loser, published separately in With Malice Toward All, Robert L. Fish, ed., 1968.)

16. Life Is Weird Sometimes. (The first chapter of the same novel, published separately in CW 22.)

The most complete essay in this area is Edward Connor, “Cornell Woolrich on the Screen,” Screen Facts, Vol. I, No. 5 (1963). James Agee, the greatest film critic of the 1940’s, comments penetratingly on several of these movies in Agee on Film, Vol. I (1958). Messrs. Nevins, Knott and Thailing disagree at times as to the films’ quality with each other and with Connor and Agee, who also differ at times.

1. Children of the Ritz (First National, 1929). Directed by John Francis Dillon from a screenplay by Adelaide Heilbron based on CW 2. Players: Dorothy Mackail, Jack Mulhall. “The critics were not enthusiastic. Film Daily said: ‘Not for an intelligent audience, but will please the flapper minds.’” Connor, p. 36.

2. Manhattan Love Song (Monogram, 1934). Directed by Leonard Fields from a screenplay by Fields and David Silverstein based on CW 6. Players: Robert Armstrong, Nydia Westman, Dixie Lee, Helen Flint, Franklin Pangborn. “A labored comedy.” Connor, p. 36. “It is a bit removed from the thing Woolrich actually wrote,” Thailing remarks.

3. Convicted (Columbia, 1938). Directed by Leon Barsha from a screenplay by Edgar Edwards based on BM 6. Players: Rita Hayworth, Charles Quigley, Marc Lawrence. “The reviews were poor with many comments on the cheapness of production.” Connor, p. 37.

4. Street of Chance (Paramount, 1942). Directed by Jack Hively from a screenplay by Garrett Fort based on CW 8 (The Black Curtain). Players: Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor, Louise Platt, Sheldon Leonard. “Of the Woolrich films I have seen, my favorite is Street of Chance,” Knott writes. “It is one of the rare occasions, I think, when Hollywood made a movie that was better than the book.” Thailing says: “I can’t quite agree that Street of Chance was better than The Black Curtain.”

5. The Leopard Man (RKO, 1943). Directed by Jacques Tourneur from a screenplay by Ardel Wray based on CW 9 (Black Alibi). Players: Dennis O’Keefe, Jean Brooks, Margo. “Of all Woolrich books brought to the screen The Leopard Man was truest to the spirit and content of the original.” Connor, p. 38. Knott disagrees: “It had a badly mutilated ending, but the early scenes of terror, especially in the cemetery, were very well done.”

6. Phantom Lady (Universal, 1944). Directed by Robert Siodmak from a screenplay by Bernard C. Schoenfeld based on WI 1. Players: Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Thomas Gomez, Alan Curtis, Elisha Cook, Jr. “No great shakes as a movie.” Connor, p. 40. Knott differs: “It was well done except for revealing the murderer too early.” James Agee remarks: “Some of the dialogue... is like a nail on a slate; and the producer also permits a good deal of amateurish reading. Even the effects are not all they might be... The late reels of the picture slacken, and the ending... is halfheartedly done. But... there is plenty in Phantom Lady to enjoy, and to be glad of.” Agee on Film, Vol. I, pp. 77–78.

7. Mark of the Whistler (Columbia, 1944). Directed by William Castle from a screenplay by George Bricker based on BM 19. Players: Richard Dix, Janis Carter, Paul Guilfoyle, Porter Hall. “High quality.” Connor, p. 41.

8. Deadline at Dawn (RKO, 1946). Directed by Harold Clurman from a screenplay by Clifford Odets based on WI 3. Players: Bill Williams, Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Lola Lane. “At best Deadline at Dawn was only a fair picture.” Connor, p. 41. Agee comments: “At its worst the picture is guilty of... pseudo-realism and pseudo-poetry about the lost little people of a big city... But on the whole I think it is a likable movie. Odets... is obviously one of the very few genuine dramatic poets alive.” Agee on Film, Vol. I, p. 197.

9. The Black Angel (Universal, 1946). Directed by Roy William Neill from a screenplay by Roy Chanslor based on CW 10. Players: June Vincent, Dan Duryea, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford, Wallace Ford. “As a movie Black Angel wasn’t bad but the story it told was certainly not the one found in the book, and a very exciting and suspenseful tale got lost in the transfer.” Connor, p. 42. Knott dissents: “The Woolrich mood came through perhaps best of any of the movies.” Agee remarks: “Most of the people who wrote, directed, photographed, and played in this one have worked as if they believed that no job is so trivial but what it deserves the best you have. I particularly liked Dan Duryea’s performance.” Agee on Film, Vol. I, p. 217.