As I've mentioned, I'm a fairly big fan of old-time radio. There were a lot of radio shows offering condensed versions of contemporary movies. I would guess that this was mostly so that the studios could promote their movies at relatively low cost. Synergies, a later decade might say. I have several sets of several versions of the same movie.
One of the sets is of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Not the Brangelina vehicle, but another one. A couple learn that the town where they had been married was in Nevada rather than Idaho. Thus, they were never married. Carole Lombard starred in the movie, but I don't recall if anyone mentioned the male lead. (OK, IMDB says Robert Montgomery. And directed by Alfred Hitchcock!)
One of the radio shows features Carole Lombard but co-stars Bob Hope. The other one stars Lana Turner and Errol Flynn. The scripts are different, but there aren't any major story changes. The plot involves the husband's best friend and law partner trying to persuade the wife to marry him instead. In the Hope show, the law partner was also a former Alabama football player; for some reason he became a Michigan man in the Flynn one. The accent didn't change much.
The big change was just not having Bob Hope. He was a lot funnier back in the day than he would be later, but a romantic lead he wasn't. The Hope-Lombard pairing was just uncomfortable, though she soldiered through well. Errol Flynn and Lana Turner were a lot more smooth. Maybe a bit less funny, but a lot less jarring.
OK, so I didn't have anything particularly deep to say about the shows. I just liked the subject line!
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