Born on this day – Cornell Woolrich:

Cornell Woolrich

Writer

December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968

Credits:

Books:

Cover Charge (1926); Children of the Ritz (1927); Times Square (1929); A Young Man's Heart (1930); The Time of Her Life (1931);  Manhattan Love Song (1932); The Bride Wore Black (aka Beware the Lady) (1940); The Black Curtain (1941); The Black Alibi (1942); Phantom Lady (1942); The Black Angel (1943); The Black Path of Fear (1944); Deadline at Dawn (1944); Night has a Thousand Eyes (1945); Waltz into Darkness (1947); I Married a Dead Man (1948); Rendezvous in Black (1948); Fright (1950); Savage Bride (1950); Marihuana (1951); Strangler's Serenade (1951); You'll Never See Me Again (1951); Hotel Room (1958); Death is my Dancing Partner (1959); The Doom Stone (1960); Into the Night (1987); Nightmare (1956); Violence (1958); Beyond the Night (1959); The Ten Faces of Cornell Woolrich (1965); The Dark Side of Love (1965); Nightwebs (1971); Angels of Darkness (1978); The Fantastic Stories of Cornell Woolrich (1981); Four by Cornell Woolrich (1983); Rear Window (1984); Vampire's Honeymoon (1985); Blind Date With Death (1985); Darkness at Dawn (1985); Night and Fear (2003); Tonight Somewhere in New York (2005); Love and Night (2011); Death in the Air (2020); Senor Flatfoot (2020); All at Once, No Alice (2020); The Drugstore Cowboy (2020); Hot Water (2020); Dilemma of the Dead Lady (2020); The Cornell Woolrich Omnibus (1998); Four Novellas of Fear (2010); Speak to Me of Death (1935); The Screaming Laugh (1938); Through a Dead Man's Eye (1939); Somebody's Clothes-Somebody's Life (1958).

Movies and television:

A Intrusa (1962); Aa bakudan (1964); Actor's Studio (1949); Akai shisen (1980); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956–1958); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1986); Arde, María, arde (1978); Armchair Theatre (1959); Bire on vardi (1963); Black Angel (1946); Children of the Ritz (1929); Climax! (1956); Cloak & Dagger (1984); Colgate Theatre (1950); Convicted (1938); Corsa in discesa (1989); Darkroom (1982); Deadline at Dawn (1946); Die Unschuld der Krähen (1998); Dro itsureba gantiadisas (1965); El ojo de cristal (1956); El pendiente (1951); Escapade (1957); Fall Guy (1947); Fallen Angels (1993–1995); Fear in the Night (1946); Fearful Dream (1966); Ficciones (1974); Four Star Playhouse (1956); General Electric Theater (1957); Gran Teatro (1960); Grande Teatro Tupi (1956); Gun Moll (1975); Hanayome wa nemurenai: Gôu no naka no shussan (1987); Histoires insolites (1979); Hit List (2009); House of Horror (1929); I Married a Shadow (1983); I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948); If I Should Die Before I Wake (1952); I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990); Intrigues (1985); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1956); Journey to the Unknown (1968); Kamen no hanayome - Kurayami e no waltz (1981); Kuroi kâten (1982); La huella de unos labios (1952); La noche al hablar (1964); Les yeux qui hurlent (1973); Lights Out (1952); Lux Video Theatre (1954–1957); Manhattan Love Song (1934); Manhunt (1951); Martha (1974); Mississippi Mermaid (1969); Moment of Fear (1960); Mrs. Winterbourne (1996); Nash Airflyte Theatre (1950); Never Open That Door (1952); Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948); Nightmare (1956); No Man of Her Own (1950); Obsession (1954); Original Sin (2001); Phantom Lady (1944); Playhouse 90 (1956); Polis 3 (2001); Primera fila (1965); Rear Window (1954 / 1998); Rendez-vous en noir (1977); Robert Montgomery Presents (1950–1951); Schlitz Playhouse (1958); Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972); Seven Footprints to Satan (1929); She's No Angel (2002); Shisha to no kekkon (1960); Sít na bludicku (1983); Stage 7 (1955); Street of Chance (1942); Studio 57 (1957); Suspense (1949–1950); Suspicion (1957); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962); The Best in Mystery (1954); The Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse (1949); The Boy Cried Murder (1966); The Bride Wore Black (1968); The Chase (1946); The Ford Television Theatre (1955); The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957); The Guilty (1947); The Haunted House (1928); The Hunger (1997–2000); The Leopard Man (1943); The Mark of the Whistler (1944); The Mask (1954); The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1953); The Return of the Whistler (1948); The Revlon Mirror Theater (1953); The Silver Theatre (1949); The Web (1957); The Window (1949); Théâtre d'une heure (1966); Thriller (1961); Tras la puerta cerrada (1964–1965); TV de Vanguarda (1954); TV Teatro (1959); Union City (1980); Vikno navproti (1991); Yoru no wana (1967); You'll Never See Me Again (1973 / 1986); Your Play Time (1954).

Recommended reading:

 

Four Novellas of Fear

by Cornell Woolrich.
 
Paperback.
First published 2010.
Published by A. J. Cornell Publications.

ISBN-10: 0972743987
ISBN-13: 978-0972743983
 
Contents: Eyes That Watch You, The Night I Died, You'll Never See Me Again, Murder Always Gathers Momentum.
 
Description:
 

Cornell Woolrich, best known as the author of "Rear Window," is unsurpassed in his ability to create and sustain sheer suspense. In his tales of terror, ordinary people find themselves in the most extraordinary circumstances and, as readers, we share their spine-tingling tension every step of the way. Here, collected for the first time, are four of his most nail-biting novellas.

 

Eyes That Watch You

Greedy Vera Miller plots her husband’s murder right under the nose of her mute, paralyzed mother-in-law. After all, the old lady won’t be able to tell anyone about the crime. Or will she?

 

The Night I Died

Nice guy Ben Cook, goaded by his scheming common-law wife, fakes his own suicide and moves to another town all to trick his life insurance company into making a large payout. No one en route or at the new address will recognize him, will they?

 

You’ll Never See Me Again

Ed Bliss’s new bride, miffed by her husband’s insults about her biscuits, promises that Ed will never have to see her again and storms out! When she doesn t return within a few days, Ed begins to suspect foul play but when he reports the crime to the police, he’s the first one they suspect!

 

Murder Always Gathers Momentum

For his wife’s sake, Dick Paine approaches a former employer for back wages he is owed but things go terribly wrong and the old boss ends up dead. Now the guilt-ridden Paine, who’d never before committed a crime, is convinced that people will figure out what happened. As his paranoia gathers momentum, anyone he meets is at risk of becoming his next victim.

Cornell Woolrich from Pulp Noir to Film Noir

by Thomas C. Renzi

Published 2006.

Published by McFarland.

Illustrated edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 078642351X

ISBN-13: 978-0786423514

Description:

Extremely popular and prolific in the 1930s and 1940s, Cornell Woolrich still has diehard fans who thrive on his densely packed descriptions and his spellbinding premises. A contemporary of Hammett and Chandler, he competed with them for notoriety in the pulps and became the single most adapted writer for films of the noir period. Perhaps the most famous film adaptation of a Woolrich story is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). Even today, his work is still onscreen; Michael Cristofer’s Original Sin (2001) is based on one of his tales.

This book offers a detailed analysis of many of Woolrich’s novels and short stories; examines films adapted from these works; and shows how Woolrich’s techniques and themes influenced the noir genre. Twenty-two stories and 30 films compose the bulk of the study, though many other additions of films noirs are also considered because of their relevance to Woolrich’s plots, themes and characters. The introduction includes a biographical sketch of Woolrich and his relationship to the noir era, and the book is illustrated with stills from Woolrich’s noir classics.