What happens
Joanna, a young bride from New Orleans, travels deep into South America to meet her husband, Christopher Lyngen, for the first time. They married by proxy, and on arrival she finds his vast cocoa plantation carved out of the jungle, worked by hundreds of Indian laborers. Their meeting is cold and strained, as Christopher is proud and guarded, and Joanna has learned of a painful past marriage. The commissioner, an older official who knows the region, warns that wildlife is fleeing the Rio Negro, and Christopher prepares to travel upriver to investigate. This Lux Radio Theatre production is adapted from the 1954 Paramount film The Naked Jungle, with Donna Reed and Charlton Heston in the leads, broadcast on June 7, 1954.
A cocoa plantation deep in the South American jungle, and the rivers and villages beyond it
Characters: Joanna, Christopher Lyngen, Commissioner, Catina, Christopher's brother
Listen for: The growing tension between Joanna and Christopher, and the omens of an approaching threat from the jungle
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.