From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Red Box is the fourth
by . Prior to its first publication in 1937 by , Inc., the novel was serialized in five issues of
(December 1936 – April 1937). Adapted twice for Italian television, The Red Box is the first Nero Wolfe story to be adapted for the American stage.
I never knew a plaguier case. We have all the knowledge we need, and not a shred of presentable evidence. Unless the red box is found — are we actually going to be forced to send Saul to Scotland or Spain or both? Good heavens! Are we so inept that we must half encircle the globe to demonstrate the motive and the technique of a murder that happened in our own office in front of our eyes? Pfui!
— Nero Wolfe in The Red Box, chapter 14
Wolfe and Archie investigate the death of a model who ate a piece of poisoned candy. One of the suspects begs Wolfe to handle his estate and especially the contents of a certain red box. Wolfe is at first concerned about a possible conflict of interest, but feels unable to refuse when the man dies in his office before telling Wolfe where to find the red box. The police naturally think that he told Wolfe somewhat more before dying.
This novel presents the series' first instance of a murder taking place in Wolfe's office.
James Schucker illustrated The Red Box for its appearance in five issues of The American Magazine, beginning in December 1936.
The novel opens with Nero Wolfe confronted by a client, Llewellyn Frost, who is pressuring him to leave the his home to investigate a crime scene. Frost has hired Wolfe to investigate the death of Molly Lauck, a model who died after eating a poisoned
from a box of assorted candies. Frost wants to ensure that his
Helen is freed from the employment of Boyden McNair, the owner of the fashion boutique where Lauck died. Wolfe reluctantly agrees to leave the brownstone after Frost produces a letter signed by the directors of the Metropolitan Orchid Show urging him to do so. Wolfe and Archie subsequently meet and discuss the matter with McNair himself, who is noticeably agitated and distressed by events.
Following this, Wolfe and Archie interview the other models who were with Lauck when she died, Thelma Mitchell and Helen Frost. They say that Lauck had stolen the box of candy as a prank, but didn’t know where she got it. Although the interview is seemingly unhelpful, Wolfe is intrigued when Helen Frost indicates she knew the contents of the box despite apparently having never seen or handled it. Following the interview Llewellyn Frost, who has romantic feelings for his cousin and believes that Wolfe intends to incriminate her, tries to terminate his contract with Wolfe, but Wolfe refuses to drop the matter without being paid his full fee. Despite the efforts of Llewellyn Frost, his blustering father Dudley and Helen’s mother Calida, Wolfe refuses to budge.
Having heard the news of Wolfe taking the unprecedented step of visiting a crime scene himself, Inspector Cramer arrives to try and find out what Wolfe has discovered. Although Wolfe offers little to Cramer, he makes a suggestion: the next day, Cramer and Archie gather the people of interest in the case and one-by-one offer them a chocolate from a box similar to that which contained the poisoned item that killed Molly Lauck. Making note of who selects what, Archie notes that Boyden McNair’s response is different from the others in that he goes to select a Jordan almond, as the victim did, but then reacts skittishly to the chocolate.
Fearing that Wolfe is about to experience a "relapse" that will draw his attention away from the case, Archie arranges for Helen Frost to come to the brownstone, where Wolfe challenges her regarding her earlier falsehood. Reluctantly, Helen admits that she knew what the contents of the box of candy were, and that the expensive jewellery she wears was given to her by Boyden McNair, who displays a particular fondness towards her. Helen, who considers McNair an uncle due to his long-standing friendship with her mother, believes it is because she reminds McNair of his long-deceased daughter, Glenna, who would have been Helen’s age. Wolfe learns that Helen is only weeks away from her 21st birthday, at which point a trust fund managed by her uncle, Dudley Frost, reverts to her. Wolfe’s interview with Helen is interrupted by Llewellyn Frost, his lawyer Benjamin Leach, and Perren Gebert, another family friend of the Frosts who has designs of marriage towards Helen.
Later, Boyden McNair meets with Wolfe. He confesses that the box of candy had been intended for him and that he suspects that someone is trying to kill him, although he refuses to say who that might be. He declares that he has made Wolfe the executor of his estate, which includes a red leather box that contains information concerning dealings in his past that he regrets. Before McNair can say where the red box is, however, he is suddenly struck down and killed by poison in a tampered bottle of aspirins he has been taking.
Despite Wolfe's original contract being voided on McNair's death, Helen Frost — who deeply loved McNair as an uncle and is heartbroken by his death — hires Wolfe to locate the murderer. Wolfe determines that the red box will most likely reveal the culprit, and orders it found. As executor of McNair’s estate, he sends Saul Panzer, Orrie Cather, Fred Durkin and Johnny Keems to McNair’s cottage in the country to search the grounds for the box and to keep the police out should they attempt to interfere. Wolfe learns that by the conditions of her trust, if anything were to happen to Helen Frost her inheritance would go to Llewellyn Frost.
Later that night, the operatives at the cottage catch Perren Gebert trying to break in and retrieve something. Archie is sent to collect Gebert and bring him to Wolfe for questioning, but by that point the authorities learn of the existence of the cabin and attempt to search for the red box in it. Archie manages to prevent them from doing so, but is forced to surrender Gebert to their custody. While the police are unable to get any useful information from Gebert, Cramer reveals to Archie that Gebert has been receiving monthly payments of $60,000 from Helen Frost’s trust fund. The next night, after being released from custody Perren Gebert is murdered with a
trap set in his car.
As Cramer is confronting Wolfe about the case, Saul Panzer arrives with a package that prompts Wolfe to have the Frost family and the police summoned to his office in order that he might expose the murderer. Once everyone has arrived, Wolfe reveals that Helen Frost is in fact Glenna McNair, the daughter of Boyden McNair. It was in fact Calida Frost’s daughter Helen who died years before, but as the fortune that Helen would inherit would then go to Dudley and Llewellyn's side of the family, Calida Frost bought Glenna from the then-impoverished Boyden McNair and raised her as Helen. Bitterly regretting what he had done ever since, McNair proceeded to make his fortune, formed an attachment with Helen/Glenna and intimated that he was intendin Calida Frost killed him to prevent this. Perren Gebert, who knew of the arrangement, had been blackmailing Calida to keep the secret and intended to use this to force her consent to his plans to marry Helen/Glenna. Calida murdered him to keep him silent. Wolfe produces the red box that he claims holds the proo after she looks inside, Calida Frost commits suicide with a bottle of .
Afterwards, Wolfe reveals that the red box he used is a mock- the real box has not been found. Shattered by what she has learned about herself and her family, Glenna McNair has fled to the country, but Wolfe points out to Llewellyn Frost that the fact that they are not in fact cousins and his newfound fortune should eventually help warm her feelings towards him. The actual red box is eventually found in Boyden McNair’s boyhood home in Scotland with plenty of evidence to support Wolfe’s theories, but as Archie notes, "by that time Calida Frost was already buried".
"Nero Wolfe talks in a way that no human being on the face of the earth has ever spoken, with the possible exception of Rex Stout after he had a gin and tonic," said , executive producer of the A&E TV series, . Nero Wolfe's erudite vocabulary is one of the hallmarks of the character. Examples of unfamiliar words — or unfamiliar uses of words that some would otherwise consider familiar — are found throughout the corpus, often in the give-and-take between Wolfe and Archie.
, chapter 1. Wolfe to Archie:
More transparent was the reason for Mr. Frost's familiarity with so strange a term as 'ortho-cousin,' strictly a word for an anthropologist, though it leaves room for various speculations. ... Ortho-cousins are those whose parents are of the same sex — the children of two brothe whereas cross-cousins are those whose parents are brother and sister. In some tribes cross-cousins may marry, but not ortho-cousins. Obviously Mr. Frost has investigated the question thoroughly.
, chapter 3. Archie:
He [Llewllyn Frost] stopped, smiling from Wolfe to me and back again like a haberdasher's clerk trying to sell an old number with a big spiff on it.
Yclept, chapter 8. Archie:
Boyden McNair, with his right elbow on his knee and his bent head resting on the hand which covered his eyes, sat near Wolfe's desk in the dunce's chair, yclept that by me on the day that District Attorney Anderson of Westchester sat in it while Wolfe made a dunce of him.
and Wendell Hertig Taylor,
— Stout rarely has Nero Wolfe lured away from home on a case, but in this one Archie does it with orchids. Poisoning at a fashion show is the crime that Wolfe's method of exhaustive interrogation mixed with bluff is involved to solve. Archie is thinner and less amusing here than elsewhere, but we learn more about Wolfe from himself.
— Nero Wolfe leaves his orchids for the first time to solve the case of the poisoned fashion model. This one has practically everything the seasoned addict demands in the way of c you may guess the motive, but the mechanism is properly obscure.
Edmund Wilson wrote that the novel was "somewhat padded ... full of long episodes that led nowhere," and left him with the feeling that he "had to unpack large crates by swallowing the excelsior in order to find at the bottom a few bent and rusty nails."
The Red Box was the subject of a
in the September 28, 1946, issue of
paperback reissue of The Red Box drew the attention of , which listed 17 instances of Wolfe's finger-wiggling (September 28, 1946)
INFATUATION WITH SOUND OF
OWN WORDS DEPARTMENT
(FINGER-WIGGLING DIVISION)
[From "The Red Box," by Rex Stout]
Wolfe wiggled a finger at her. —Page 29.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 31.
He wiggled a finger at Frost. —Page 34.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 45.
Wolfe wiggled a finger. —Page 51.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 104.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 110.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 130.
He wiggled Fritz away with a finger. —Page 142.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at her. —Page 144.
He wiggled a finger at me. —Page 193.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at her. —Page 218.
Wolfe wiggled a finger. —Page 231.
Wolfe wiggled a finger. —Page 237.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 239.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at her. —Page 245.
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. —Page 255.
"The finical attention of The New Yorker magazine" was noted by critic
in a 1992 article for Million magazine. "It is my impression that Wolfe never again deployed his wiggling finger so often in a single book," Langford wrote.
The Red Box was adapted for the premier program in a series of Nero Wolfe films produced by the Italian television network . Directed by Giuliana Berlinguer from a teleplay by Belisario L. Randone, "Veleno in sartoria" aired February 21, 1969.
The series of black-and-white telemovies stars
(Nero Wolfe),
(Archie Goodwin), Pupo De Luca (Fritz Brenner),
(Inspector Cramer), Roberto Pistone (Saul Panzer). Other members of the cast of "Veleno in sartoria" include
(Helen Frost), Marisa Bartoli (Thelma Mitchell), Cecilia Todeschini (Molly Lauck), Andrea Lala (Lew Frost),
(Boyden McNair), Barbara Landi (Signora Lamont), Raffaele Giangrande (Dudley Frost),
(Callie Frost) and
(Claude Gebert).
Piero Bodrato adapted The Red Box for the seventh episode of the
TV series Nero Wolfe (Italy 2012), starring Francesco Pannofino as Nero Wolfe and Pietro Sermonti as Archie Goodwin. Set in 1959 in Rome, where Wolfe and Archie reside after leaving the United States, the series was produced by Casanova Multimedia and
and directed by Riccardo Donna. "La scatola rossa" aired May 17, 2012.
Park Square Theatre in , commissioned a world-premiere stage adaption of The Red Box, presented June 6–July 13, 2014 (previews beginning May 30). Written by Joseph Goodrich and directed by Peter Moore, the two-act production starred E.J. Subkoviak (Nero Wolfe), Sam Pearson (Archie Goodwin), Michael Paul Levin (Inspector Cramer), Jim Pounds (Fritz Brenner, Rene Gebert), Nicholas Leeman (Lew Frost), Rebecca Wilson (Helen Frost), Suzanne Egli (Calida Frost), James Cada (Dudley Frost) and Bob Malos (Boyden McNair).
"For audiences who might not be familiar with Wolfe and his trusty assistant Archie Goodwin, it's a terrific introduction to the characters and the milieu," wrote the .
The stage production was authorized by the estate of Rex S Stout's daughter, Rebecca Stout Bradbury, attended the opening. "It’s something of a surprise that none of the Wolfe novels have been adapted for the stage before," wrote the . "If The Red Box is any indication, many more will be."
1936, , serialized in five issues (December 1936 – April 1937)
1937, New York: , April 15, 1937, hardcover
In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I,
describes the
of The Red Box: "Gray cloth, front cover and sp rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly black, gray, red and white pictorial dust wrapper … The first edition has the publisher's monogram logo on the copyright page."
In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of The Red Box had a value of between $15,000 and $30,000.
1937, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1937, hardcover
1937, London: Cassell, 1937, hardcover
1937, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1937, hardcover
1943, New York: Avon Murder Mystery Monthly #9,1943, paperback
1946, New York:
82, published by special arrangement with Farrar & Rinehart Inc. R subject of a squib in the September 28, 1946, issue of The New Yorker magazine
1944, Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Company, The Nero Wolfe Omnibus (with ), January 1944, hardcover
1957, London: Penguin #, paperback
1958, New York: Avon #T-216, 1958, as The Case of the Red Box, paperback
1964, New York: Pyramid (Green Door) #R-983, March 1964, paperback
1976, London: Severn House, 1976, hardcover
1979, New York: Jove #M-5117, July 1979, paperback
1992, New York: Bantam Crimeline
January 1, 1992, paperback
1992, London: Scribners , hardcover
1994, Burlington, Ontario: Durkin Hayes Publishing, DH Audio , audio cassette (abridged, read by )
1995, Auburn, California: The Audio Partners Publishing Corp., Mystery Masters
June 1995, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
2009, New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group (with )
February 24, 2009, paperback
2011, New York: Bantam Crimeline
August 17, 2011,
Quoted in Vitaris, Paula, "Miracle on 35th Street: Nero Wolfe on Television," , issue #45, 2002, p. 36
Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989.
, April 17, 1937, page 100
, September 28, 1946, page 61
, , Ansible; retrieved April 30, 2012
, Casanova M retrieved May 27, 2012
, Italian W retrieved May 27, 2012
. Park Square Theatre.
. Preston, Rohan, , June 9, 2014.
. Papatola, Dominic P., Saint Paul Pioneer Press, June 7, 2014.
. Hewitt, Chris, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, June 7, 2014.
. Considine, Basil, , June 17, 2014.
Townsend, Guy M., Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980, New York: Garland P ), pp. 11–12. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history.
Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I (2001, New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, limited edition of 250 copies), p. 12
Smiley, Robin H., "Rex Stout: A Checklist of Primary First Editions." Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine (Volume 16, Number 4), April 2006, p. 32
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The dictionary definition of
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: Hidden categories:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a 2000 made-for-television film based on the 1953
by . Set in 1950s Manhattan, the
production stars
as the heavyweight detective genius , and
as Wolfe's assistant, , narrator of the Nero Wolfe stories. Veteran screenwriter
adapted the 1953
directed. When it first aired on the
March 5, 2000, The Golden Spiders was seen in 3.2 million homes, making it the fourth most-watched A&E original movie ever. Its success led to the A&E original series,
The voice of
() introduces us to the seventh-of-a-ton master sleuth
() — "a man who thinks he's the world's greatest detective. Truth being, he is." Wolfe lives in an opulent Manhattan
on West 35th Street, where he enjoys reading, the cultivation of rare orchids, beer, and fine food prepared by his resident chef,
(. The brownstone is also home to Archie, Wolfe's confidential assistant and legman, whose responsibilities include goading his sedentary boss into working occasionally to replenish the coffers.
When Archie joins him in the dining room, Wolfe is unfazed by the news that he is overdrawn at the bank — but he is taken aback at the discovery that Fritz has altered one of his favorite dishes without consulting him. The resulting tantrum prompts Archie to do something uncharacteristic when the doorbell rings: admit one of the neighborhood kids, Pete Drossos (), who says he has to see Nero Wolfe.
Pete has a case. He tells Wolfe he works the wipe racket — cleaning the windshields of cars stopped at intersections, for the occasional tip. About an hour before, Pete saw a good-looking woman wearing large gold earrings shaped like spiders, at the wheel of a 1952 Cadillac. As Pete wiped her windshield the woman mouthed the words, "Help. Get a cop." A male passenger stuck a gun in her ribs and the car drove off. Pete wrote down the license number. If the woman is found dead, Pete believes he can claim a reward by identifying the man who was with her. Since the case is too big for him to handle alone, Pete asks Nero Wolfe to go 50-50. Wolfe instructs Archie to call the police, to suggest they do a routine check on the license plate number, and Pete hurries home to his mother.
The next evening
() of Manhattan Homicide visits Wolfe's office. The car Archie had called the police about the previous evening has just been seen to run down and kill a boy — a boy named Peter Drossos. Stebbins' visit is interrupted by the arrival of Pete's mother (Nancy Beatty), who is there to do what her dying boy asked her to do: "Go to Mr. Wolfe. Tell him what happened. Give Mr. Wolfe the money. Tell him to find the guy who ran me down."
After Mrs. Drossos leaves, Wolfe tells Archie to return Pete's money — $4.30 — or give it to the Red Cross. Archie refuses and instead drafts a newspaper ad directed at the woman Pete saw at the wheel of the Cadillac. Archie is sure the ad will never be answered, but it will give Wolfe the feeling that he has earned his fee.
But the ad does draw
() of Manhattan Homicide, who wants to know what Wolfe is up to. The Cadillac has been found, along with evidence that it was used for another murder: that of an
agent named Matthew Birch.
The ad then attracts a woman reluctant to give her name — and she is wearing golden spider earrings. She offers $500 for information about the boy who saw her driving the car. After Wolfe explains that the boy is dead and the police are searching for the driver, the woman is shaken. She identifies herself as Laura Fromm (), a wealthy widow and philanthropist. She admits she was not driving the car, presents Wolfe with a $10,000 retainer for his expert advice, and promises to return the next day. First she must see someone, find out something. Wolfe accepts the retainer and warns Mrs. Fromm sternly about the danger of asking any questions herself, since two people have already been killed.
Mrs. Fromm is not on time for her appointment the next day. Instead, Wolfe is visited by two attorneys who report that Mrs. Fromm has been run down and killed by a car. One is ex the other is Dennis Horan (Gary Reineke), an attorney for the Association of European Refugees, a humanitarian organization with which Mrs. Fromm was closely involved. When asked to return the hefty retainer, Wolfe tells the lawyers that he intends to earn the money by finding the murderer.
Freelance operatives
() are called in to assist — to investigate the refugee organization, trace the distinctive golden spider earrings, and see if anything comes of Wolfe's conjecture that Matthew Birch was the passenger in the Cadillac. The inquiry reveals a blackmail ring that is victimizing hundreds of vulnerable people.
In the final scene, Archie meets with Pete's mother in the office and gives her half of Laura Fromm's $10,000 retainer, saying that Pete and Wolfe had agreed to take equal shares of any proceeds from the case. Even though she begins to cry — something Wolfe cannot bear — Archie reports to Wolfe that she kept her composure until she made it out the door.
In a 2002 interview in
magazine, executive producer
explained why the novel
was selected to introduce contemporary audiences to Nero Wolfe:
There are three or four really extraordinary novels — , , and , for example. These are some of the most famous and most complex and most amazing stories in the series, but we didn't want to start with those particular ones for a whole complex of reasons. We wanted to pick a story that had activity in it so that we could slowly bring people into the static milieu of Nero Wolfe's house. The Golden Spiders took you outside. There's a gunfight and a tough interrogation scene. It was a very strong story with a lot of pathos, because a young boy is murdered and Wolfe has to deal with his mother. So that was why we chose that one.
, who would take the role of
in the subsequent , was cast as
in the pilot. Prior to the original film's broadcast, Rubinek was asked what made him want to do the project:
Maury Chaykin and I have known each other for almost 30 years and so we know what each other's doing, and I've also been an aficionado of Rex Stout's. ... By total coincidence, I started doing book tapes. I must have done seven or eight book tapes reading Rex Stout novels. I've always known Maury would be great casting as Nero Wolfe... And as it turned out, there's a character called Saul Panzer, who is one of Wolfe's operatives. ... At one point, Saul has to go undercover and play an immigrant. ...
was a great humanitarian, and he did a tremendous amount of charity work, and he was very compassionate towards immigrants to the United States. It's not out of keeping with Stout's personality that he would have written about victimization of immigrants who are being blackmailed. The center of the story is about that. And don't forget that he's writing in the fifties, when there was a lot of reaction against immigrants after the Second World War coming into America, and it wasn't pleasant. I would imagine it's not so different from the eighties when the Vietnamese were coming into America, and there was a lot of reaction against that. There's always a period during American history where the American public might react against who we're letting into the country, and I think he had a great deal of compassion for that, for people who are stateless. I was born in a refugee camp myself, and my family are Holocaust survivors, and I was naturalized as a Canadian citizen before I became an American citizen, so it's a part of the story that I kind of connected to.
The Golden Spiders is an
Production in association with Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd. Shot in Toronto, the film features production design by
and cinematography by Michael Fash. The adaptation of Rex Stout's novel is the final credit of , a veteran screenwriter and film producer. "I have no need to work on things I don't care to," Monash told an interviewer about his work on The Golden Spiders. "This, I wanted to do."
His is a definitive performance, in much the same way that Jeremy Brett became Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet found the human being inside the caricature Agatha Christie created in Hercule Poirot.
— James D. Watts, "An Appetite for Crime,"
(March 5, 2000), on Maury Chaykin
as Nero Wolfe, private investigator
as Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's assistant and narrator of the story
as Inspector Cramer of Manhattan Homicide West
as Laura Fromm, socialite and philanthropist
as Fritz Brenner, Nero Wolfe's chef and major domo
as Saul Panzer, freelance detective working for Nero Wolfe
as Jean Estey, Mrs. Fromm's secretary
Gary Reineke as Dennis Horan, attorney representing the Association of European Refugees
as Lips Egan, organized crime figure
Elizabeth Brown as Claire Horan, wife of Dennis Horan
as Fred Durkin, freelance detective working for Nero Wolfe
Nancy Beatty as Mrs. Anthea Drossos, Pete Drossos' mother
as Sergeant Purley Stebbins of Manhattan Homicide West
as James Maddox, Mrs. Fromm's attorney and executor of her estate
Gerry Quigley as Lon Cohen, journalist
Rothaford Gray as Peckham, Mrs. Fromm's butler
as Pete Drossos, a 12-year-old boy who lives in Wolfe's neighborhood
Norma Clarke as the receptionist at the Association for European Refugees
as Angela Wright, executive secretary of the Association of European Refugees
as Mr. Gerstner, proprietor of Gerstner Jewelers
Brian Miranda as Irving Gerstner, a 12-year-old boy
as Orrie Cather, freelance detective working for Nero Wolfe
as Mort Erwin, a thug
James Purcell as Walter Neary, deputy police commissioner
Jack Newman as Bernard Levine, clothing store owner
Dwayne McLean as Matthew Birch, special agent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
Robert Bockstael as Paul Kuffner, Mrs. Fromm's publicist
A&E initially planned that The Golden Spiders would be the first in a series of two-hour mystery movies featuring Nero Wolfe. The high ratings (3.2 million households) garnered by the film, along with the critical praise accorded Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, prompted A&E to order a weekly one-hour drama series —
— into production.
(February 28, 2000) — If you’ve never read any of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries, here’s your chance to meet one of the most unusual and finely drawn characters in detective fiction. If you have read any of the 70 or so books that Stout wrote between the mid-30s and 1975, when he died — and if you treasured each and every one, as most Stout/Wolfe fans do — here’s your chance to see your favorites come alive.
Jerry Krupnick,
(February 28, 2000) — The Golden Spiders is a delightful mix of tangled webs and intriguing complications. ... All this comes complete with a nifty '50s setting, great cars and clothes and characters.
David Cuthbert,
(March 1, 2000) — The language is pure Wolfe and its delivery, by the superb actor Maury Chaykin, is smooth and measured, with just the requisite bite. ... Smart, witty and eminently watchable.
Steven Oxman,
(March 1, 2000) — Superb acting, stylish design and perfect pacing from director Bill Duke more than compensate for the convoluted storyline. Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin and a stellar ensemble deliver one juicy moment after another. ... The real pleasure here is not the plot, but the playing. Chaykin is wonderfully petulant as Wolfe, and Hutton shows a surprising comedic charm that reveals an as-yet-undiscovered range. Even better, the performances are more than the sum of their parts: The testy chemistry between the two leads multiplies the amusement.
Danny Heitman,
(March 2, 2000) — Because so much of the story unfolds through Socratic exchanges between Wolfe and Archie, The Golden Spiders is long on talk and short on action. It's even wordier than it needs to be, thanks to some self-conscious narration by Hutton which tells us things that the camera should show us instead. ... The production values match A&E's typically high standards, with period detail that persuasively evokes Eisenhower-era New York.
Robert P. Laurence,
(March 2, 2000) — Timothy Hutton is Archie, wearing the gumshoe's smart-aleck smirk and swagger as comfortably as an old shirt. ... Canada's Maury Chaykin, generously portly as he is, nevertheless is physically a bit light for the role of the massive Wolfe. But he captures the detective's idiosyncrasies, his arrogance, his smug pomposity, even his utter self-absorption. Most important, he invests Wolfe with a depth of passion and an intensity of emotion that are not always obvious in Stout's novels. He is possibly the most convincing Wolfe ever.
Robert Bianco,
(March 3, 2000) — Though the books are enormously popular, they've resisted successful dramatization — for reasons made clear by A&E's The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery ... Whatever problems Spiders may have inherited from Stout's book are compounded by the script and direction, which give the movie all the forward propulsion of a glacier.
Martin Renzhofer,
(March 3, 2000) — Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin star in this charming tale of suspense ... The heart of the movie comes from the chemistry between Chaykin and Hutton.
Jonathan Storm,
(March 3, 2000) — The case itself has a hole or two, the resolution is somewhat abrupt, but the characters, the charm, the very aura, are as sumptuous as the artistic cuisine prepared by Wolfe's chef, Fritz, that has helped balloon the detective to one-seventh of a ton. ... A&E has no firm plans, but a spokesman says the network hopes to make more Nero Wolfe mysteries. It had better.
Howard Lachtman,
(March 4, 2000) — As portrayed by Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton, Nero and Archie come to life so vividly they overshadow the rather slender mystery about a refugee scam. Hutton, whose late dad, Jim, starred as sleuth Ellery Queen in a 1975-76 TV series, is bright and breezy as the foil to Chaykin, whose imperious big guy is a hugely more credible figure than William Conrad's 1981 TV version.
Rob Lowman,
(March 4, 2000) — A&E has finally found a detective to compete with Hercule Poirot of the BBC. ... While Spiders is a well-plotted tale with an Agatha Christie-style ending, the joy is in the eccentricities of the characters. Chaykin and Hutton make a wonderful team. Chaykin blusters over silly things, but only betrays the slightest emotion when he is obviously touched. Hutton shows a light comedic flair that he hasn't been able to use much in his career.
James D. Watts,
(March 4, 2000) — It's the best thing the network has done in the mystery field in years, one of those rare movies that does superb justice to its source. ... The film captures the feel of the book — Archie's breezy narration, the lushness of Wolfe's surroundings, the overly romanticized view of New York City. And the cast, under Bill Duke's direction, is impeccable.
Jim Bawden,
(March 5, 2000) — The setting for The Golden Spiders is New York, 1953, and the period details, from the women's bright lipstick to the vintage automobiles, are just right but never obtrusive.
David L. Beck, , (March 5, 2000) — The differences between Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe go deeper than thin vs. fat, cocaine vs. beer, London vs. New York, beekeeping vs. orchids. Much deeper. Wolfe is the one who has never had a decent movie made about him. Until now. A&E's The Golden Spiders gets it right: tone texture, visuals and all. And it does it in the same way Jeremy Brett's Holmes series did: by respecting the originals.
Alan Kellogg,
(March 5, 2000) — The first Nero Wolfe film worthy of the moniker. It's a historic moment of sorts, a treat for fans as well as a suitable entree for the uninitiated. If there's any justice, this will mark the beginning of a long series of Wolfe mysteries. The right hands have finally been found.
Bruce McCabe,
(March 5, 2000) — Spiders is a golden opportunity to meet Wolfe, played impeccably by Maury Chaykin, Goodwin, played drolly by Timothy Hutton, and a marvelous ensemble of suspects and police operatives criss-crossing back in 1950s Manhattan. The tersely witty, briskly-paced telefilm surprises and delights right up to the obligatory climax in which the whole gang gathers in Wolfe's living room for some dramatic finger-pointing.
Jean Prescott,
(March 5, 2000) — The narration conveys to viewer as well as reader a larger-than-life quality. And with respect and apparent affection, screenwriter Paul Monash has animated the population of this particular Stout story and done it with realism, not caricature.
(March 5, 2000) — For all the thought and research that Chaykin has put into his portrayal of the brilliant and maddening Nero Wolfe, the actor feels that he has "just scratched the surface" of his enigmatic character. ... If A&E decides to expand this original movie into a series, maybe he'll even get a chance to wear yellow silk pajamas, a sight we're all longing to see.
Gene Amole,
(March 7, 2000) — Sunday night's Golden Spiders TV drama refreshed all my Nero Wolfe memories. It was outstanding. Maury Chaykin was the perfect Wolfe. Timothy Hutton was an excellent, wise-cracking Archie Goodwin. Director Bill Duke had each detail of the set precisely accurate. Now that A&E has produced a perfect Wolfe mystery with 1930s ambience, it would be a rotten, lowdown, dirty shame if the network didn't produce other Wolfe mysteries with the same cast and director.
(March 12, 2000) — The Golden Spiders, lovingly adapted by Paul Monash and lovingly directed by Bill Duke, is perfect pitch, from the casting to the period detail of New York in the late '30s.
, screenwriter for
— I'd seen Tim Hutton playing mostly sensitive parts, and he was very good at it. But even though you tell yourself you're too smart to typecast people, that's exactly what I did with him. Then I saw Golden Spiders, and here he was doing something very different. As Archie, he had this
quality, a '40s leading man quality — sassy and fresh, kind of obnoxious but always in a likable way.
Brian Courtis,
(November 1, 2002) — Paul Monash's pleasing adaptation of Rex Stout's New York classic detective stories of the 1930s and 1940s wins us with its detail and a couple of terrific performances. ... It's gourmet fare. Don't miss it.
The Golden Spiders, the feature-length pilot for the series , is included on two of A&E's DVD box sets —"Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series" and "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season." The film was also released independently on VHS and DVD.
Media Type
Release Date
Approximate Length
Nero Wolfe:
The Complete Classic
Whodunit Series
Region 1 DVD
Eight-disc box set
April 25, 2006
56 minutes
The Golden Spiders:
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Region 1 DVD+R
(A&E Store exclusive)
October 2004
94 minutes
Nero Wolfe:
The Complete Second Season
Region 1 DVD
Five-disc box set
June 28, 2005
20 minutes
The Golden Spiders:
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
VHS videotape
May 30, 2000
100 minutes
The Golden Spiders was distributed by . The film saw its first international DVD release in August 2008, when it was included in "Nero Wolfe – Collection One", offered for sale in Australia by
Enterprises.
Media Type
Release Date
Approximate Length
Numeric Identifier
Nero Wolfe — Collection One
Region 4 DVD
Three-disc set
August 13, 2008
276 minutes
A Nero Wolfe Mystery — Serie 1
Region 2 DVD
Three-disc set
December 11, 2009
270 minutes
Greppi, Michele, "Sleuths super for A&E record"; , March 10, 2000
Vitaris, Paula, "Miracle on 35th Street: Nero Wolfe on Television"; , issue #45, 2002, p. 34
, retrieved June 23, 2007
Cuthbert, David, ; Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), March 1, 2000
Dempsey, John, ; Daily Variety, January 15, 1999
Dempsey, John, "Wolfe series at the door for A&E"; Variety, June 26, 2000; ; Variety, June 22, 2000
Zoller Seitz, Matt, "Hutton finds his inner hero"; , April 21, 2001
Actually released in June 2004 for exclusive sale by A&E Store and select outlets
Features include "The Golden Spiders," "The Doorbell Rang" and "Champagne for One." Each 90-minute film is presented with a single set of titles and credits. Screen format is 4 x 3 full frame. Rated M (mild crime themes and mild violence) by the
Features include "The Golden Spiders," "The Doorbell Rang" and "Champagne for One." Screen format is 4:3 full frame. Dutch subtitles. Recommended for age 12 and over.
; Business Wire, July 6, 1999
, consultant Winnifred Louis' reflections on a visit to the set of The Golden Spiders (September 1999)
Dale, Don, ; , February 28, 2000
Cuthbert, David, ; Times-Picayune (New Orleans), March 1, 2000
Oxman, Steven, ; Variety, March 1, 2000
Watts, James D., ; Tulsa World, March 4, 2000
Watts, James D., ; Tulsa World, March 5, 2000
Stasio, Marilyn, ; The New York Times, March 5, 2000
Amole, Gene, ; Rocky Mountain News, March 7, 2000
Leonard, John, ; CBS Sunday Morning, March 12, 2000
at The Wolfe Pack, official site of the Nero Wolfe Society