The Big Broadcast of 1938*
91 min. / B&W / 1.37:1 / DTS Master Audio 2.0 Mono / SDH
Universal Blu-ray $21.98
Available from Movie Zyng
Fourth and last of the Paramount’s Big Broadcast films; these all-star revues had run out of steam sometime before this one was made, but it's of interest for the cast and some high-energy hi-jinx.
Two giant steamships are racing across the Atlantic, but don't let that interest you. W.C. Fields and his twin brother (Fields again) own one of the ships, and the brother has sent Bill to sabotage the race. Or something like that. Fields (who’d had nine films in general release from 1934-1936, but had been absent from the screen since Poppy two years earlier due to illness) was unhappy with the script (to put it mildly) and insisted on shoehorning in his tried-and-true golf routine and his pool shtick in what was to be his last starring Paramount feature.
On the other hand, in his first Paramount feature (and his feature debut, in fact) is Bob Hope, who got the part when Jack Benny turned it down. That gave Bob the chance to do the film's signature tune, Thanks for the Memory, soon to loom large in his legend. Bob is trying to make up with his ex-wife Shirley Ross, but for heaven's sake, he should be chasing beautiful Dorothy Lamour, it seems to me. He'll make up for that oversight in future films, of course.
The film closes with a long musical number about a waltz that features dancers doing the Charleston, but before that, you'll enjoy a cartoon musical sequence (thanks, Leon Schlesinger) with Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra as well as a novelty bit with Honey Chile, who wants to sing Way Down South in Dixie (Hope: "What time does your bus leave?"); both Shep and Honey were Hope radio regulars, so clearly Paramount was trying to make him feel comfy. Oh, to add to the merriment (that was SOME cruise) we also get a lady in a Viking get up singing opera, and Martha Raye doing her loud routine. We liked the Viking lady.
Incidentally, Mr. Fields was not interested in being directed by Mr. Leisen, nor in sticking to any script written by anybody. Leisen gave up, didn't direct the Fields sequences, and had a heart attack that he blamed on Bill shortly after filming. And that, my friends, is how comedies are made.
'Dead End' Kid alert: Bernard Punsly is one of the caddies; he's right behind Fields in the lobby card pictured below.
Mr. Hope would, of course, go on to make one or two more films with Miss Lamour and Miss Raye. By the way, I like Martha at this stage of her career, she's funny and pretty and brash. She plays Fields' daughter, and he mistakes a wide-mouth bass for her at one point in the proceedings, a mistake any of us could make. As for Fields, after leaving Paramount, he’d move over to Universal and make a quartet of comedy classics, notably The Bank Dick and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break as well as films with Mae West and Charlie McCarthy.
For you completists out there, the other films in Paramount’s series were The Big Broadcast (1932) with Bing Crosby, Stu Irwin, and Burns & Allen; The Big Broadcast of 1936 with Jack Oakie and the Nicholas Bros. joining Bing, George, and Gracie; and The Big Broadcast of 1937 with Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, and Benny Goodman and band.
Verdict from the Balcony
As per other Universal Vault series releases, no bonus material is included and no restoration work has been done. It’s not a great movie but the song (an Oscar winner), Uncle Bill, Bob, and Dottie make it well worth watching and in particular, any opportunity to watch Fields play golf or shoot pool (or juggle) should be snapped up. Fields completists in particular (like us) will consider this a must-have.
