The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Film noir is a genre that reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. Characterized by dark lighting and inspired by crime fiction, it often features characters such as a tough-guy hero, mysterious beauties who may or may not be on the level, and prominent people with crimes to hide.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) is a beloved film in this exciting genre, and in this audio adaptation you will experience the same thrill, as the characters come alive in your mind as you hear their voices from the original motion picture. Itinerant gambler and war hero Sam Masterson (played by Van Heflin) returns to his hometown after 17 years, restarting a drama that left off when he ran away to the circus as a boy. Sam encounters old acquaintances: Martha Ivers (played by Barbara Stanwyck), a former rebellious girl, now a beautiful and formidable businesswoman, and her husband, Walter O'Neil (played by Kirk Douglas), a hard-drinking district attorney tormented by shadows from his past. Sam also meets Toni Marachek, a deep-voiced beauty just paroled from prison, whom he rescues and befriends.

Sam's encounters with Martha, Toni, and Walter start a game in which characters vie to assess and manipulate one another's motives. The audio unravels a series of events that dredge up unwholesome secrets from the past and plunge the characters into a passionate melodrama with a bloody ending.

With a tight, well-constructed plot that hinges on its characters' strengths and weaknesses, threats of blackmail, and a tension between cynicism and decency, this gripping story will delight and captivate longtime fans of film noir as well as newcomers to the genre.