The Marlowe Files

Originally Aired: July 20, 1948
Philo Vance #2, "The Merry Murder Case,"
Renowned psychologist Joseph Merry finishes a lecture on the power of the subconscious mind when he receives a mysterious visitor in his office. Shortly afterward, Merry is found shot dead, and Detective Philo Vance finds himself in the middle of an impossible case. Alice Barkley arrives at his office claiming she killed Merry, holding a still-warm gun but unable to remember anything except standing over the body. Just as Vance brings this information to District Attorney Markham and Sergeant Heath, the situation grows more bizarre. Heath has already arrested Frances Adams for the murder, and moments later, a man named Anderson calls to confess that his wife Joan shot Merry with his gun.
Three women, three confessions, and one dead psychologist. As Vance examines the evidence, he must unravel whether this is a case of multiple would-be murderers or something far more sinister connected to Merry's theories about the subconscious mind. The truth behind this perplexing case may lie in Merry's own lecture about the controlling bands that keep our hidden impulses in check.

Originally Aired: July 13, 1948
Philo Vance #1, "The Eagle Murder Case," begins with an impossible crime that baffles the police. James Dalton, injured in a car accident alongside his wife and two business partners from the Eagle Manufacturing Company, is placed alive in an ambulance with only minor fractures. When the vehicle arrives at the hospital, however, he's dead with a knife in his side. The ambulance was never opened during transit, and suicide is ruled out due to Dalton's fractured right arm. District Attorney Markham turns to private investigator Philo Vance and his quick-witted secretary Ellen Deering to solve the seemingly impossible murder.
Vance begins investigating the three people who were with Dalton during the accident: his wife and his partners Ed Edwards and Bill Graves. Each suspect points fingers at the others, with Edwards suggesting marital troubles and Mrs. Dalton claiming both partners wanted her husband out of their profitable costume jewelry firm. As Vance digs deeper into the tangled web of business relationships and personal animosities, he must determine not only who committed the murder, but how anyone could have stabbed Dalton inside a sealed ambulance.

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired to locate Norma Delaney, a troubled woman who vanished after an argument with her dangerously jealous husband. The search leads through foggy Los Angeles streets to a fortune teller, a secret lover, and a trail of deception that grows darker with every clue. As Marlowe pieces together the mystery, he uncovers a chilling plan involving blackmail, murder, and a staged suicide designed to let two lovers escape justice. But a single overlooked detail—a pair of ornate Persian slippers—reveals the truth behind a carefully constructed crime.

Originally aired: October 3, 1948.

Cast:
Gerald Mohr, Virginia Gregg, Larry Dobkin, Louis Van Rooten, Jeff Corey, Jean Bates Tags:
PhilipMarlowe, RaymondChandler, privateeye, noir, mystery, murder, investigation, blackmail, deception, LosAngeles, hardboiled, crimefiction, betrayal, suspense, detective, classicradio

On a night when the hot Santa Ana winds blow trouble into Los Angeles, private detective Philip Marlowe stumbles into a barroom killing that quickly turns personal. A small-time hood named Waldo is gunned down, leaving behind stolen money, a trail of blackmail, and a terrified woman desperate to recover a priceless necklace tied to a lost wartime love. As Marlowe navigates jealous husbands, hired killers, and double-crosses fueled by greed and grief, the case peels back layers of illusion—ending with a quiet, bittersweet reckoning on the edge of the Pacific.

Originally aired: June 17, 1947.

Cast: Van Heflin, Lorreen Tuttle, Wendell Niles

When a small-time hood named Waldo turns up riddled with bullets, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired to untangle a case no one else wants. The trail leads through cheap nightclubs, frightened witnesses, and a tangle of double-crosses involving stolen money and misplaced loyalties. As suspects pile up and alibis crumble, Marlowe pieces together the truth behind a killing that was never as simple as it first appeared. Originally aired: June 12, 1947.

Cast: Gerald Mohr, Virginia Gregg, Lawrence Dobkin, Parley Baer, Howard McNear

Hired to keep a reckless young millionaire out of trouble, private detective Philip Marlowe heads to a county fair where a daredevil parachute act hides more than cheap thrills. When one of the performers plunges to her death before a stunned crowd, Marlowe uncovers sabotage, jealousy, and murder behind the colorful spectacle. As rivalries and greed collide midair, Marlowe races to stop a killer before another fatal “accident” claims its next victim.

Originally aired: November 26, 1949. 

Cast:
Gerald Mohr, Lois Corbett, Rita Lynn, Don Randolph, Junius Matthews, Jack Moyles Tags:
PhilipMarlowe, RaymondChandler, privateeye, noir, mystery, murder, investigation, parachute, carnival, jealousy, sabotage, Hollywood, crimefiction, suspense, detective, classicradio

In this episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, a blinding blizzard forces Marlowe off a mountain road and straight into a lodge filled with people who despise him—because six months earlier he killed Virgil Boraki in self-defense. What should have been a routine night of shelter becomes a suffocating trap of grief, resentment, and looming violence. Inside the isolated lodge, Marlowe meets Virgil’s embittered widow Helen, his stern mother, the volatile young Donna, and Ralph—Virgil’s hot-headed friend who makes no secret of wanting Marlowe dead. When an explosion destroys the cabin Marlowe is meant to sleep in, it’s clear someone is done waiting for the storm to finish the job. As tension rises, Marlowe uncovers the truth: Helen, pushed beyond sanity by loneliness and rage, engineered the “accident,” stole Marlowe’s gun, and built a meticulous plan to frame him—even planting evidence to make her own murder look like Marlowe pulled the trigger. Her obsession spirals into a full breakdown, and only Donna’s intervention prevents a tragedy. But the cruelest truth is the one Marlowe saves for last—Virgil had been in love with another woman, and his dying wish was that Helen never learn it. Protecting that secret becomes Marlowe’s final act of mercy toward a family already broken by loss. A haunting, snowbound thriller where guilt echoes louder than the storm outside, and Marlowe must fight not just for his life—but for the chance to walk away with anyone’s humanity intact.

In this episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, a quiet Christmas Eve turns into a whirlwind of double-cross, murder, and international intrigue—all centered around a mysterious relic known as the Sword of Cebu. When Marlowe is visited first by a desperate stranger waving money and then by his old client Henry Polne, he’s pulled into a tangle involving a murdered pearl dealer in Manila, a smuggler with a temper, and a beautiful blonde who lies as easily as she breathes. The sword—an ornate, hand-carved ceremonial blade—turns out to be more than a curio. Hidden in its sheath is a list of black-market contacts worth killing for, and several people already have: Polne’s partner in Manila, a Romanian thug named Bebesco, and a red-haired gunman who won’t hesitate to add Marlowe to the pile. The blonde—Clara Saunders—tries to outplay everyone by stealing the sword and selling it to the highest bidder, but she’s only one move ahead until the bodies start dropping faster than she can improvise. As Marlowe pieces the truth together, he uncovers the real puppeteer: Henry Polne himself, who engineered the Manila murder, hired Marlowe as unwitting cover, and planned to eliminate every associate between him and a clean escape. But his final ambush collapses when Marlowe shows up with a different “friend” behind the curtain than Polne expected—and the killer’s careful scheme finally caves in on him. A fast, exotic, and deadly story where everyone reaches for the prize, but only Marlowe walks away intact.

In this episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, a half-dead Marlowe is jolted from a few minutes’ sleep by a terrified young woman named Carolyn Shepherd—beautiful, shaken, and certain that a man has been following her for weeks. But before Marlowe can even pour the coffee, she vanishes out of his apartment without a sound, leaving only her wallet behind. When he hunts down her address, Marlowe finds that Carolyn has been lying about nearly everything: her name, her residence, even the people she claims to know. A roommate named Dee Dee is frantic, a cigar-smoking stalker jumps Marlowe in broad daylight, and a landlady who never sleeps hands out cryptic clues. Every thread Marlowe pulls only tightens the knot. Then Carolyn cracks. In a moment of hysteria, she begins begging a ghost named Steve to leave her alone—insisting he’s dead, insisting she killed him. That’s when the pieces snap into place. A call from Barstow confirms the truth: her husband, Stephen Shepherd, was murdered months earlier, and Carolyn fled town. The “blackmailer” she’d been paying was no friend—just a man who saw a chance to milk a killer who’d come apart at the seams. In the end, Marlowe realizes the figure haunting Carolyn wasn’t a stalker at all. It was her own mind—guilt, fear, and a memory she could no longer outrun. A grim, unsettling tale where the real villain is conscience itself, and where a beautiful woman’s descent into madness becomes the final evidence of the crime she tried so hard to bury.

In this episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, a simple missing-person search turns into a deadly game of impersonation, cover-ups, and a murder that was never supposed to see daylight. Marlowe is hired by a polite, too-slick Philadelphia lawyer named Martin Almond to find a man named Buff Ryan—an easy job on the surface, since Buff has allegedly inherited $5,000 from a deceased aunt. But when Marlowe starts knocking on doors, people get nervous, lies pile up fast, and everyone connected to Buff seems to be running from something. Buff himself is a Skid Row wino with a bad past and worse friends, including Blossom—the glamorous burlesque dancer who still loves him—and a twisted tough who shadows Marlowe through back alleys and theater catwalks. But the biggest twist comes when Marlowe checks Buff’s police jacket: Buff is also known as C.A. Douglas… and as a key witness in the unsolved murder of his own Aunt Julie Leader. That’s when Marlowe realizes the truth: lawyer Martin Almond isn’t here to give Buff an inheritance—he’s here to kill the only witness who can tie him to murder. Marlowe races Blossom to Buff’s hiding place in time to stop Almond from finishing the job, leading to a tense standoff that finally exposes the killer for who he is. In the end, Buff isn’t a crook on the run—just a scared man who saw too much and drank himself numb trying to forget it. With Almond exposed and justice finally in reach, Buff and Blossom get a chance to start over, trading Skid Row for a clean slate and—maybe—something like happiness. A sharp, fast-moving tale of deception, identity, and the dangerous price of being the one man who knows the truth.