Elizabeth, I'm glad to see you posting again. Those were some beautiful sunsets you put up the other day, and I especially liked the one that included the frog sounds. :) Were they frogs? Frogs or crickets, maybe. I also liked tonight's photo of the green trail, and the late night crafting pic that included the feather. Again, I've gotta make sure I'm right. That is a feather, correct? I wasn't 100% sure, because I thought for a minute it might be a quill you were using for the small drawing next to it. Well, I'm happy that you're back, and hope you are enjoying the start of Summer. :):)
The plot is standard 1930s low budget : stick a bunch of people in a house and figure out whodunit. "No one is allowed to leave this room"! You've seen a lot of movies like this, though in fairness, this film does venture outside, to the offices of rival broadcast executives, eager to get their hands on the new invention. "Professor James Houghland" (played by Charles Hill Mailes, born 1870!) might be a fictional stand-in for Farnsworth. He's come up with a new way to transmit tv signals, only he doesn't want to sell it. He foresees television as "the greatest force for good in the history of Mankind" (oy!), and wants to keep his invention from being corrupted.
The rival executives scheme amongst themselves : "If he refuses to sell the technology, we'll use other means to obtain it". On the night he demonstrates a worldwide broadcast, Houghland is killed on live TV. To viewers it appears he's suffered a heart attack, but those at the studio suspect foul play.
What ensues is a paint-by-the-numbers investigation with dry dialogue. Several suspects are questioned, including Bela Lugosi, who plays "Arthur Perry", Houghland's assistant. In addition to the "put everyone in a room" motif that was used in countless low budget movies of the early sound era, there was also the "aha"! moment, where a detective would make a Sudden Discovery. This device served as exposition to explain things for confused viewers. In murder mysteries the "aha"! moment was often used several times to maintain interest in an otherwise wooden film, and unfortunately that's what we have here. The acting is stiff, save for Hattie McDaniel and Allen Jung, who provide decidedly non-PC comic relief as Mr. Houghland's maid and houseboy. They and Lugosi seem like the only actors having any fun. The rest of the cast recite their lines as if from cue cards, and then you get an "aha"! moment when an investigative "stone" is overturned. Think of it this way : "Blah blah blah blah" - the characters. "Aha"! - the detective. The "aha"! wakes us up before we nod off.
I'm not trying to be mean, but it's the same old story of a screenwriter either not trying very hard or not having the talent, because there are also a lot of low budget pics from the same era that were very good. Think Poverty Row. Lugosi made quite a few of these hour long mysteries, some good ("Bowery at Midnight", "Phantom Ship" ) some bad (this movie, "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"). In the early '30s, if you didn't have a budget, you'd better have a good story, because the photography was likely to be static and there usually was no music. These movies very often resemble a stage play, where the editor decides which character you'll be looking at. In those days, a movie without a budget didn't "move". So you needed a good story, and actors with enthusiasm. Here you have neither, except for Bela, Hattie (who's always great), and Allen Jung.
There isn't much to say about this movie except that the murder involves the broadcast technology itself, which is interesting from a scientific point of view. There is one thing to recommend it, and it may actually make the film worth watching for some fans. That is the use of actual experimental television equipment circa 1935, including a massive black and white tv set. I don't know how any of it worked, though I plan to do some reading. It fascinates me because my Dad was a part of the early commercial TV era, beginning in 1951, when the Big Three Networks first began to come into American homes on a nightly basis.
But I'm afraid I can't recommend "Murder By Television" other than as a historical curiosity. Watch it if you wanna see the tv equipment (which is pretty cool), or if you're a Bela Lugosi completist, otherwise Two Thumbs Down. ////
How're we doing with the movie reviews? Are you enjoying them, and should I keep going? I enjoy writing them, although when I'm at Pearl's it's not always easy to keep up. I love watching movies, of course, and they give me something to blog about. I love to write. But maybe I'll begin adding in some occasional Weird Stuff like I used to do back in the old days. Man, I've been writing a blog for twenty years! I began on a long defunct site called Delphi back in 2000. Then around 2003, I moved over to X-Page (also long gone), and finally, I wound up at Myspace in 2005, where I settled in and really started to blog in earnest. I was at Myspace for eight years until they shut down in 2013. My blog there was dedicated mostly to What Happened In Northridge, and I would return to writing about that subject if I had any new information, but unfortunately I do not. Gotta start writing those FOIA letters again. But anyhow, yeah : maybe I'll throw in the odd Weird Blog every now and then, in addition to the movie reviews. Don't hold me to it; I can only do what time permits, but I will try to toss you some curveballs.
That's all for now. I had a nice hike at Santa Susana this afternoon, went to the top of the Slide. The Summer is off to a pretty wimpy start, though. 75 degrees and overcast ain't cuttin' it. Bring on the Heat already! :)
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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