verbusen I came here after watching Bowery At Midnight and being thoroughly entertained, I wanted to know what else I missed from Lugosi after all these years of the standard 30 or so of his films that are wildly known of. I also didn't want to watch something too good in case I wanted to watch something with my wife later, so Murder By Television was chosen as my next film to watch. It's readily available online along with 90% of Lugosi's films since those are public domain material. I'm surprised at all the positive reviews as this is one of his worst films I've ever watched. I guess those are from die hard Lugosi fans? It's not that Lugosi is all that bad, although his accent is horribly thick in this one and he's supposed to be playing a federal agent, yeah OK, but the rest of the cast is horrendous. What really struck me was that for a film made in 1935 it really plays like a film from 1929 or 30. I know it's only a difference of 5 or 6 years but the quality of the film products greatly improved in that time frame even for poverty row productions, just not here. I was thinking it was made earlier and not released until 1935 but Hattie McDaniel dates it to around 1935 I guess. BTW, her role is terrible as a stereotype black maid, oh my god, this film is bad all around, with one exception; it shows actual television equipment from the 30's! So if you are a tech geek into that it's worth viewing for that. I don't think the actual television pictures are real but I'm pretty sure the camera with the rotating sphere is as I read that was one of the methods used to achieve a frame rate. The trivia on this film says it is real equipment from the University of Los Angeles and worth twice the price of the film's cost! Watch it to see Lugosi I guess and for the very early Television equipment and expect to be underwhelmed by the rest. BTW, what was the running gag about the guy who kept getting thrown out? I never caught the punchline to that and the guy was in at least 3 scenes! I was thinking he was a reporter but there had to be some kind of punch line there that is gone from the prints available, although as bad as this film is even with it's jokes maybe that was the only joke. 2 stars (out of 10) for the TV history alone. Ranks as one of my least favorite Lugosi films along with Vampire Over London (1952) which is also unwatchable after 1 time. The Ed Wood Lugosi stuff is much better then this, that's how bad we are talking.

kidboots Bela usually gave so much more of himself than the script required. That's what made him so good. I laughed at one of the reviewers comments "Bela would appear in anything - as long as the cheque cleared". That's why I like Bela - he gave his all - from the most prestigious A film to the worst poverty row production. It also gave him the chance to play a diversity of roles - it was only later in his career that bad health and the need for money made him accept parts that were lampoons of his horror roles. Early in his career he alternated between chillers and quite normal people (the head of a film studio in "The Death Kiss" (1932), a really excellent programmer).Houghland (Charles Hill Mailes) has been offered $5 million for the rights to his invention - a television station that can pick up transmissions from all over the world - but he refuses!! Richard Grayson (George Meeker) fiancée of June Houghland (June Collyer) is asked to keep a lookout for trouble. Arthur Perry ???(Bela Lugosi) has been bribed with a fee of $100,000, to be the man on the inside and to try to find out Houghland's secret television blueprint. Houghland is preparing to give a short wave presentation. Just before it begins he is threatened by a shifty looking foreigner - Mendoza (Larry Francis), who threatens that if Houghland is not going to sell his invention the demonstration should not go ahead. It does go ahead - with a pretty boring song "I Had the Right Idea" - then Houghland gives a speech and shows that the demonstration is being shown similtaneously in Paris, London and China - then tragedy strikes as Houghland is killed via the television!!! The suspects are rounded up, suddenly everyone has a motive for killing the guy - the investigation is hampered by a Chinese houseboy, Charlie Chan's number one fan, and Isabella the maid (Hattie McDaniell). Perry is then found murdered, but June is convinced, along with Isabella that she had just seen Perry. She has - it seems the man who was murdered was Perry's twin but was using his name falsely. The real Arthur Perry is an F.B.I. agent and has an explanation for everything that has gone on. There are flashbacks used as Perry explains everything. It was hard to figure out which was the twin (you realized they were twins very early on, at the news-stand) as they both had to act suspiciously.Claire MacDowall look very good as Mrs. Houghland. She had been in films from the earliest days and was a Griffith actress. This was one of June Collyer's last films. She was one of the most beautiful ingenues and had a career that began in 1927 with such prestigious films as "Four Sons" and "Me, Gangster".

JoeB131 Bela Lugosi saw himself as a leading man, and was pretty horrified to be typecast as a horror actor after Dracula.Yet on the rare occasion he got a non-horror role, he really didn't acquit himself very well. This Poverty Row movie was a good example. You can barely understand what he is saying because his accent was so thick. His delivery tended to be monotone.Now, true enough, a lot about this movie didn't help. You had some very bad stereotypes with the black maid and the Chinese houseboy. Most of the other actors were wooden as well.The plot, such as it is, a scientist announces a breakthrough in this new invention called "Television", which was in its infancy in the 1930's. He is killed during a live broadcast, and a police chief investigates through bad editing, disjointed narrative and characters who didn't seem to have a purpose. By the time it was over, you don't care who did it or why, or the odd plot twist of Bela playing a pair of twins.

bsmith5552 "Murder By Television" is neat little murder mystery done on a low budget with some interesting ideas.The plot centers around two competing television systems from James Houghland (Charles Hill Markes) and Dr. Henry Scofield (Huntley Gordon). Arthur Perry (Bela Lugosi) at first refuses to be Scofield's "man on the inside" with Houghland. But then he returns and is ready to accept the bribe.Houghland has arranged a demonstration of his system which is able to transmit images from the four corners of the world. During the demonstration, Houghton suddenly collapses and dies and key documents relating to the system turn up missing.Several suspects turn up and its up to Police Chief Nelson (Henry Mowbray) to sort things out. Perry is a chief suspect especially since he is observed hiding some mysterious documents. Houghland's daughter, June (June Collyer) and her boy friend are under suspicion as well, as Dr. Scofiield. When Perry turns up murdered, everything is thrown into confusion and then...................................................Although the star of this film is Lugosi, and he does OK in a demanding role, the best parts of the film are when the marvelous Hattie McDaniel as the cook and Alleng Jung as the servant are on screen. They add an welcome element of humor to the story.The sequences involving the demonstration of the television system, I found intriguing and strangely prophetic. The pictures are shown on a "big screen" TV not unlike those of today, and the transmissions from all over the world predict satellite TV transmissions of today. Very imaginative for a low budget 1935 mystery.The Charlie Chan series was very popular at this time and this little film follows many of the kind of plot elements of those films...the gathering of all suspects in one room, for example.Interesting and memorable for its depiction, whether accidental or not, of television systems almost 70 years in the future.