True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak (Audio Drama Review)
- Review Date: Dec 19, 2024
- Format: Lossless Audio
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Director
Robert Meyer Burnett, written by Max Allan CollinsRelease Date(s)
2024 (December 20th, 2024)Studio(s)
Imagination Connoisseurs Unlimited- Film/Program Grade: A
- Audio Grade: B+
Review
Directed by our old friend Robert Meyer Burnett (Free Enterprise, Femme Fatales) and written by Max Allan Collins—adapted from his own 1982 novel True Detective (the first entry in his popular Nathan Heller mystery series)—True Noir: The Assassination of Anton Cermak is a new 10-part immersive audio drama set in the hard-boiled environs of Prohibition-era Chicago in 1932. The story follows a sharp-witted young Chicago P.D. officer named Nathan Heller (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 fame), who’s used his family connections to land a secure spot on the department’s pickpocket detail. But the job has proven dangerous enough that—even with the Great Depression in full swing—Heller plans to strike out on his own as a private detective instead.
Before Heller can quit though, he’s drawn into a scheme by Mayor Anton Cermak (Jeffrey Combs, Re-Animator, Star Trek: Enterprise) to clean up Chicago’s seedy criminal reputation in time for the upcoming World’s Fair. Specifically, the mayor’s “Hoodlum Squad” coerces Heller into participating in a hit on Al Capone’s mob successor, Frank Nitti (David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck, Lincoln). To keep him quiet afterwards, Cermak ensures that the license and permits for Heller’s new P.I. business are quickly delivered in good order. However, the change of career isn’t going to sit well with Heller’s girlfriend Janey (Katie Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica, Longmire). And when it turns out that Nitti survived the hit, Heller finds himself caught in a winner-take-all power struggle between the mayor… and the Chicago mob.
Writer Max Allan Collins has had a prolific career that includes everything from novels to screenplays and comic books. He wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip for many years, for example, and his 2002 graphic novel Road to Perdition was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, and Daniel Craig. Both Collins’ novel, True Detective, and his adaptation of that story into True Noir, exist in a real world setting that mixes both fictional and historical characters (like Eliot Ness, played here by Jesse Spencer). The story weaves its way through a backdrop of actual events, including the imprisonment of Al Capone for tax evasion, planning for the impending Chicago World’s Fair, the ongoing Great Depression, and the political winds of FDR’s New Deal coalition, which began in 1932 (its first actual reforms were only passed a year later).
The series’ ensemble voice cast captures the mix of cynicism, idealism, and nihilism that defines this era perfectly. Rosenbaum is great in the lead role—he just gets the whole vibe of this series—and Sackhoff’s velvety intonation works beautifully alongside him. But the supporting players bring their A-game as well, including Combs and Strathairn along with Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), Bill Smitrovich (The Practice), C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher), William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption), Paton Oswalt (Ratatouille), Louis Lombardi (The Sopranos), Richard Portnow (The Sopranos), Adam Arkin (Chicago Hope), Bill Mumy (Lost in Space), Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace), Barry Bostwick (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), and many more. This is a heavyweight ensemble of faces you know well, but whose voices add the perfect sonic texture to the drama. And they’ve been recorded in such a way that the actors are always working together, playing off one another rather than simply reading their dialogue in isolation.
And it’s exactly that sonic texture that makes True Noir such an enjoyable listening experience. The series’ 10 episodes have been mixed in both 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround by Mike McDonald and his team at Private Island Audio. Both mixes are excellent, but it’s the surround experience that really enhances the drama. While the 5.1 mix is very good in a home theater listening environment, the staging truly comes alive via headphones. When Heller and Cermak’s Hoodlum Squad walk across a lobby, you can hear sounds echoing off the marble flooring and high ceilings. As they burst into Nitti’s office, the door opens front and center, then office sounds expand around you as if you’re entering the room with them. Gunshots ring out in front and ricochet behind you. Cars on busy streets pass left to right. In speakeasy scenes, glassware and clientele chatter can be heard from all around. Winter winds, a thunderstorm, room ambience, police sirens, the score by composer Alexander Borenstein (The Boys, Lost in Space, First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8)—all of these elements are effectively staged to help propel the narrative and create unique sonic environments. This is fun stuff.
The first three episodes of True Noir—essentially the first act of its story—will be available in 2.0 stereo this coming Friday, December 20th, on all major podcasting platforms for $8.99. They include:
- Chapter One: The Nitti Raid (35:17)
- Chapter Two: Visiting Hours (29:15)
- Chapter Three: Merry Christmas, Mr. Heller (31:00)
Not only do these episodes introduce Heller and set up the drama and conflict, they take place just before Christmas in 1932, making them a perfect hard-boiled holiday listening experience. Seven additional episodes will be released one per week starting on Friday, January 10th.
But if you visit the official True Noir website (linked here) and subscribe to the entire series in advance for $29.95, you’ll get exclusive access to additional content, including a 10-part video documentary series called The History Behind the Mystery (over two hours in length), as well as a lengthy video discussion about the series and featuring Burnett and Collins. You’ll also get a link to download the episodes in 5.1 surround.
What’s more, there are plans to make True Noir available on physical Blu-ray Disc later in 2025, a package that will feature the complete audio drama in both 2.0 and 5.1 surround, along with the documentary series, the interviews, and additional special features.
If you’re a fan of classic audio dramas, True Noir is shaping up to be a great one. It’s well written and directed, features an exceptional voice cast, and promises to deliver plenty of gritty action, moody soundscapes, and unexpected twists. Listening to these episodes recalls the joys of audio dramas past—the original BBC Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series from 1978, the Star Wars radio plays of the early 1980s, Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion (1974-2016), and of course our own Adam Jahnke’s Tribulation (2019) more recently. Bottom line: True Noir is entertaining as hell. And as the series’ official tagline states, “The Only Crime is Not to Listen.”
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)
