Heflin V. Mohr

Your Response To Heflin Versus Mohr

You ask which version of the Philip Marlowe story Red Wind we prefer.  I can't say, myself.  Van Heflin's performance included more subtleties than Mohr's, but I think Mohr's hardness was more appropriate.  I can only guess, never having read any of Raymond Chandler's fiction, but I suspect Chandler's idea of Marlowe was somewhere in between the ways the two actors portrayed him.
Mohr appeared in some low-budget films about the time he was heard as Marlowe. I think that if his face and voice had both been just slightly less pleasant, he'd have been another Humphrey Bogart. Phil C.

The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe is one of my absolute favorites. I love Gerald Mohr because of his voice, but the Van Heflin episodes are gritty and so evocative of the detective OTR genre of the era. I love hard-boiled detective stories and black and white film noir. There is a blooper in the Gerald Mohr Red Wind episode. He never asks Mrs. Barceley her first name, yet, he knows it’s Lola. In the Van Heflin Red Wind episode he makes it a point to ask her what her first name is some time after she tells him her address (using her husband’s name: Mrs. Frank Barceley). Pretty much the dialogue in both is the same except for the blooper.

I love Lurene Tuttle too, so the Red Wind episode with Van Heflin is my favorite but I still have a weakness for Gerald Mohr’s voice and my favorite episode with him is Where There’s a Will. Charlotte Wiggs

I must amend my comments about Mr. Heflin's performance as Philip Marlowe. I listened again to Trouble Is My Business and enjoyed it thoroughly. I don't know if Gerald Mohr did one also or not, if he did I haven't heard it. But much as I love Mr. Mohr in the role, at least, on radio, it's hard to imagine that that performance could be improved upon. With Red Wind, though what can I say? "Mohr is Better!" Now if I could only find somewhere where he plays a character named Lester I could say "Les is More" and my joy would be complete! Cass M.

I have read that Raymond Chandler himself described Red Wind with Van Heflin as thoroughly flat which is why he lasted only one season compared to Mohr's four years in the role. Gerald Mohr was made for the part of the Hard-boiled detective but there is something about the first episode. I think Lyn Murray's music probably adds a lot to the atmosphere.

When I added the mini poll for a bit of interest I suspected that it would be responded to by fans of the hard-boiled Marlowe and that Mohr would come out the favorite. Not so, as it turns out. The cultural changes that make Van Heflin's Marlowe top dog today compared to being the loser 60 years ago would make very interesting reading. Let me know your comments!

Happy listening my friends,