#colleague (im sure there were many costars later in his career who envied that possibility‚ Wolfit being infamously difficult and demanding
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
#death at broadcasting house#1934#british cinema#crime film#reginald denham#val gielgud#eric maschwitz#basil mason#ian hunter#austin trevor#lilian oldland#henry kendall#peter haddon#betty ann davies#jack hawkins#donald wolfit#robert rendel#gordon mcleod#elisabeth welch#hannen swaffer#highly entertaining (if creeky and over egged) inter war crime melodrama‚ but this is also a fascinating record of the earliest days#of the bbc (a little over a decade old at this point‚ and radio broadcasts of the kind featured here had been regularly transmitted for#just 2 years!). one of the most startling revelations? early radio variety shows apparently included dance acts. on the radio. i...#novelty aside this is still a solid little potboiler. Denham really embraces the visual possibilities of his medium (the same can't always#be said for early brit cinema‚ which i always tend to think of as being a bit behind America‚ and certainly behind the europeans).#performances are very of their time but still quite charming‚ and even the comic relief fop character is really quite likeable#fun to spot a Very Baby jack Hawkins as one of the suspects and Donald Wolfit in his screen debut as the detested victim killed off by a#colleague (im sure there were many costars later in his career who envied that possibility‚ Wolfit being infamously difficult and demanding#in later life). a lot of old hokum really‚ but very charming and silly with it.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/cd3d15ca2f45f1f1f44c973707a39a98/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-7e/s540x810/694e36c3951597a495e9c1a171bbf35058dc94c8.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1b5fe26ab5e65ea9f747e904c20d5e73/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-f7/s540x810/b202bd01d090749b967a4f4a243f9485d99350e9.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/61d921a4007cb621472628b8ee7774c8/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-d2/s540x810/b41dba4c33b03223f2d5b599947c3ee26197fe36.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/44cd6f65f80ad4c463de8b55aa85dfe4/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-34/s500x750/3fcb1f25847578b2766f8ad8e85e963e75b716f1.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/9b85d10bb6a13df1677f4f7db65677ef/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-57/s540x810/4c0abd20f1c004d2740dc9ab0560cf375389fb20.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4ad54eff2d8c584ca7e106285a81e81f/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-7a/s540x810/e95314c310521a23abe73e7150fe80d1f8e79c42.jpg)
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/07151894744aba55587e5a8b0c65ac69/f6b85d1b5a07aa67-af/s540x810/a9800ef9692ace7c26012c9c4eea91cad2b7885f.jpg)
Death at Broadcasting House (1934)
"You can't go in there, there's a play being broadcast."
"I'm looking for Variety?"
"That's eight floors down."
"Yes, but I've just come eight floors up!"
"Then it'll be sixteen floors from where you started."
#death at broadcasting house#british cinema#reviews#mariocki#1930s#detectives#i watched this!#i also mainly appreciated the look at the early bbc!#it was fun enough otherwise#and i also i think read the book it was based on but i think the film was probably better?#(idk i remember even less of that but i think there was a deeply annoying father and son detective)
29 notes
·
View notes