The Phantom Broadcast

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Movie
Original title The Phantom Broadcast
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1933
length 72 minutes
Rod
Director Phil Rosen
script Tristram Tupper
production WT Lackey Productions
for Monogram Pictures Corporation
music Norman Spencer ,
Bernard B. Brown ,
George Waggner
camera Gilbert Warrenton
occupation

The Phantom Broadcast is a 1933 sound film based on the short story Phantom of the Air by Tristram Tupper . He also wrote the script for the film.

action

The Radio singer Grant Murdock has a large community mostly female fans and enjoy this as well. He appears live on the radio twice a day. Visitors to the radio station can admire him through a pane of glass in his studio. The curtain in front of this studio is always half drawn, so that his piano companion and manager, Norman Wilder, remains hidden from the audience. There is a good reason for this: Grant Murdock does not actually sing at all, just moves his mouth in sync with Wilders, who not only accompanies on the piano, but also sings at the same time. Apparently this deal came about because Wilder, who has a curvature of the spine and walking disability, isn't as marketable as Murdock.

Although this is the celebrity in the eyes of the audience, one day the young Laura Hamilton goes to Wilder's audition. He explains that her voice can be expanded and that a great career is possible for her, but that she has to choose between her love for Dr. Brooks and the vocal training decide that both are impossible at the same time. Hamilton is very unhappy about this and needs some time to think it over. Wilder, touched by the young woman, realizes that it was probably a mistake to let Murdock have his voice.

Murdock himself meets Miss Hamilton in the hallway of the house and makes the acquaintance of her by bumping into her and then apologizing. During the maneuver, her powder compact, which is adorned with Laura Hamilton's initials, falls to the ground and the mirror in it breaks. Murdock pocketed the jar and offered a replacement. In the presence of Wilder, who implores him to leave the young woman alone, he agrees to meet with Miss Hamilton by telephone and calls her to his apartment. The pianist, who wants to prevent this phone call, is roughly pushed aside. Wilder tries to call Miss Hamilton before this appointment, but fails to reach her. He goes to Murdock's apartment.

A drama has now taken place there: Murdock's girlfriend discovered Laura Hamilton's powder box in his pocket and became jealous. An argument broke out and Murdock told them to pack their things and leave. She has also announced that she will be leaving him, but at the same time she has taken up the gun. When Wilder arrives, he finds Murdock dead; under one of his hands is Miss Hamilton's powder box. Wilder deduces from this that Miss Hamilton shot the alleged singer. Shocked, he calls the police and claims that he himself killed Murdock. Shortly afterwards, Miss Hamilton, unsuspecting, arrives at the meeting place. Wilder, who is waiting for the police, opens the door for her. He learns from Miss Hamilton that she has never been to Murdock's apartment before and has not left the powder box there herself. He tries to hide Murdock's death from her, but she sees the corpse lying on the floor in a mirror and learns that Wilder has suspected her and tried to cover her up. He tells them to leave before the police arrive. She hesitates, but then actually leaves the house on time. Wilder escapes via the fire stairs to the roof and is shot in the process, but escapes the police. Everywhere he is now regarded as the singer's murderer; jealousy is assumed to be the motive. Only his driver Sandy contradicts these rumors, but is not taken seriously.

The bloody act and the status of the investigation are also announced over the radio. Suddenly you notice in the broadcasting house that Murdock's studio is occupied and someone from there is going on the air. It is Wilder who has apparently gone there unnoticed and is now sitting at the piano and singing a farewell song - for the first time with the curtain open. The radio listeners are shocked, believing they can hear the voice of the murdered man, and rush to the radio building; the police arrive there, as well as Laura Hamilton and Dr. Brooks. After he has finished the song, the seriously injured man falls from the piano stool and dies in Sandy's arms, not without telling Laura Hamilton that he was wrong and that music and love can be combined. The murderess gets away with it.

Dissemination and reception

The film was released on March 15, 1933 in the United States, on October 22, 1935 in Denmark and in Great Britain on February 5, 1940. In Denmark it ran under the title Radioens mystiske stemme , in Italy as Il mistero della radio . In the USA it had the working title False Fronts and was also distributed as the Phantom of the Air . It was first broadcast on television in 1950.

The reviews were mostly positive. In the Motion Picture Herald , for example, one could read that it was "an intensely interesting melodrama", and The Billboard said: "Monogram's film of a musical Cyrano who creates something of a Frankenstein is definitely above-average screen entertainment." The directors are excellent. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "the best independent picture from every point of view that he has seen in many a day". Ralph Forbes , who played the lead role, also got a role in the 1933 film The Avenger , which was also based on a work by Tristram Tuppers.

music

Bernard B. Brown , who worked with Norman Spencer on the soundtrack to texts by George Waggner , was a sound engineer at Universal Pictures and won an Oscar for When Tomorrow Comes in 1940 . Who the singer was who voiced Norman Wilder on The Phantom Broadcast is unknown.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Reid: HOLLYWOOD 'B' MOVIES: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills. Lulu.com, 2005, ISBN 978-1-411-65065-7 , p. 118 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  2. ^ A b Edwin M. Bradley: Unsung Hollywood Musicals of the Golden Era. McFarland, 2016, ISBN 978-1-476-62400-6 , p. 170 ( limited preview in Google book search)