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{{Infobox short story<br />
| name = The Problem of Cell 13<br />
| author = [[Jacques Futrelle]]<br />
| country = [[United States]]<br />
| language = [[English language|English]]<br />
| series = <br />
| genre = [[Mystery fiction]]<br />
| published_in = Boston American<br />
| publication_type = [[newspaper]]<br />
| publisher = <br />
| media_type = <br />
| pub_date = October 30&nbsp;– November 5, 1905<br />
}}<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
"'''The Problem of Cell 13'''" is a [[short story]] by [[Jacques Futrelle]]. It was first published in [[1905 in literature|1905]] and later collected in ''The Thinking Machine'' (1907), which was featured in crime writer [[H. R. F. Keating]]'s list of the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/futrell.htm |title=Jacques Futrelle |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524054414/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/futrell.htm |archive-date=24 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Science fiction and mystery author [[Harlan Ellison]] recalled that this story was his selection for "[[Lawrence Block]]'s ''Best Mysteries of the Century''".<ref>{{cite mailing list <br />
|url=http://www.harlanellison.com/heboard/archive/unca20030523.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316093633/http://www.harlanellison.com/heboard/archive/unca20030523.htm |archive-date=2019-03-16 <br />
|title=Futrelle |date=2003-04-30 |access-date=2022-04-04<br />
|mailing-list=Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion <br />
|last=Ellison |first=Harlan |author-link= Harlan Ellison}}</ref><!-- Note this was the forum on Harlan Ellison's website. --><br />
<br />
==Plot summary==<br />
Like Futrelle's other short stories, "The Problem of Cell 13" features [[Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen]] as the main character,<ref>{{cite book|last=Ousby|first=Ian|title=Guilty Parties|page=70|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]]|year=1997|ISBN=0-500-27978-0}}</ref> although most of the story is seen through the perspective of a [[prison]] warden. While in a scientific debate with two men, Dr. Charles Ransome and Alfred Fielding, Augustus, "The Thinking Machine", insists that nothing is impossible when the human mind is properly applied. To prove this, he agrees that he will take part in an experiment in which he will be incarcerated in a prison for one week and given the challenge of escaping.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tucker|first=Neely|title=Crime Classics Returns: "The Thinking Machine"|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2023/07/crime-classics-returns-the-thinking-machine/|website=[[Library of Congress]]|date=July 13, 2023|access-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref><br />
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==Adaptations==<br />
The story was adapted for television by Arthur A. Ross in [[1962 in television|1962]] as part of the [[United States|U.S.]] series ''[[Kraft Television Theatre|Kraft Mystery Theater]]''. The episode starred [[Claude Dauphin (actor)|Claude Dauphin]] as Van Dusen, and was awarded the [[1963 in television|1963]] [[Edgar Allan Poe Award|Edgar Award]] for Best Episode in a TV Series.<ref>{{cite web| title = Edgar Search| work = Mystery Writers of America| url = http://mysterywriters.org/edgarsDB/edgarDB.php| access-date = 2008-02-11 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080115215306/http://mysterywriters.org/edgarsDB/edgarDB.php <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2008-01-15}}</ref><br />
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"Cell 13", a [[1973 in television|1973]] adaptation for the [[United Kingdom|British]] series ''[[The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (television series)|The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes]]'', featured [[Douglas Wilmer]], famous for his portrayal of [[Sherlock Holmes|Holmes]] in BBC productions of the sixties, as the Professor.<ref>{{cite web| title = Douglas Wilmer| work = The Journal of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London Website| url = http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/world/dwilmer.php| access-date = 2008-02-11}}</ref><br />
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In [[1978 in radio|1978]], [[West Berlin]] [[radio station]] [[Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor|RIAS]] produced and broadcast "Das sicherste Gefängnis der Welt" (''The Safest Prison in the World''), a [[radio play]] based on the story. This was the second of 79 Van Dusen stories so adapted.<ref>{{cite web| last = Koser| first = Michael|author2=Pircher, Gerd | title = Die Van-Dusen-Hörspiele| work = Die offizielle Professor van Dusen-Seite| date = 2004| url = http://www.profvandusen.com/kos2.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003212935/http://www.profvandusen.com/kos2.htm|archivedate=October 3, 2013 |language = de| access-date = 2008-02-11}}</ref><br />
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In 2011, the story was adapted for [[BBC Radio 4]]'s series ''The Rivals'' by [[Chris Harrald]]. The story was directed by [[Sasha Yevtushenko]] and starred [[Paul Rhys]] as Professor Van Dusen.<br />
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A stage version premiered at Broadway Onstage in Michigan in 2011. Adapted by John Arden McClure, it starred Donald Couture as the warden, and Sarah Oravetz as the Hutchinson Hatch character, changed to Anne Hatch in this version.<br />
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On the NBC series ''[[The Blacklist (TV series)|The Blacklist]]'', specifically the episode aired January 18, 2019 titled "The Pawn Brokers", main character Raymond Reddington established contact outside prison with an identical rat-and-thread technique.<br />
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==Selected bibliography==<br />
Collections in which this story appears include:<br />
* {{cite book |title=The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century|editor=[[Tony Hillerman]] and [[Otto Penzler]] |year=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co |isbn=0-618-01267-2 }}<br />
* {{cite book |title=The 50 Greatest Mysteries of All Time|editor=[[Otto Penzler]] |year=1998 }}<br />
* {{cite book |title=Crime Classics: The Mystery Story from Poe to the Present|editor=Rex Burns and Mary Rose Sullivan |year=1990|publisher=Viking Penguin |isbn=0-14-013128-0 }}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Death Locked In|editor=Douglas G. Greene|year=1987|publisher=International Polygonics|isbn=1-56619-454-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/deathlockedinant0000unse}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=The Detective Story|editor=Saul Schwartz|year=1975|isbn=0-8442-5613-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/detectivestoryfr0000schw}}<br />
* William H. Larson, ed. (1968). ''Seven Great Detective Stories''. Western Publishing Company, Inc.<br />
* {{cite book |title=[[101 Years Entertainment]]|editor=[[Ellery Queen]] |year=1941|publisher=Modern Library }}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Detective fiction: Crime and Compromise|editor=Dick Allen and David Chacko|year=1974|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|isbn=0-15-517408-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/detectivefiction00alle}}<br />
* {{cite book |title=Fourteen Great Detective Stories|editor=[[Vincent Starrett]] |year=1928|publisher=Modern Library }}<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{cite web |url=http://www.futrelle.com/stories/TheProblemOfCell13.html |title=The Problem of Cell 13 |website=Futrelle.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401064325/http://www.futrelle.com/stories/TheProblemOfCell13.html |archive-date=1 April 2016}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Problem of Cell 13, The}}<br />
[[Category:1905 short stories]]<br />
[[Category:American short stories]]<br />
[[Category:Mystery short stories]]<br />
[[Category:Locked-room mysteries]]</div>imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao