IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins total
Leif Erickson
- Bob Hayes
- (as Leif Erikson)
Virginia Vale
- Joan Fielding
- (as Dorothy Howe)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsNear the end of the movie the helmsman said that the S.S. Gigantic was diesel powered. That would mean that the liner's proper name would be MV (Motor Vessel) Gigantic as opposed to SS (Stream Ship) Gigantic.
- Quotes
First reporter: Say, do you know anything about electricity?
S.B. Bellows: My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at State Prison.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood and the Stars: The Fabulous Musicals (1963)
- SoundtracksThis Little Ripple Had Rhythm
(uncredited)
Music by Ralph Rainger
Performed by Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra
Featured review
chaotic musical starring the best of Paramount musical comedy talent
The "plot" of this slapdash musical concerns a transatlantic ship race between two new "super-ships", the Gigantic and the Colossal. On board the former, S.B. Bellows (W.C. Fields), the brother of shipping line boss T. Frothingill Bellows (also Fields), tries to ensure that his ship wins, although he spends most of his times in drunken calamities. Also on board is entertainment host Buzz Fielding (Bob Hope), who takes time in between introducing musical acts to rekindle romance with one of his ex-wives (Shirley Ross), while his current girlfriend (Dorothy Lamour) falls for handsome ship radioman Bob (Leif Erickson). Things get even more chaotic when Bellows' daughter Martha (Martha Raye) comes aboard. Also featuring Ben Blue, Grace Bradley, Lynne Overman, Patricia Wilder, Rufe Davis, Lionel Pape, Virginia Hale, James Craig, Richard Denning, Monte Blue, Mae Busch, Leonid Kinskey, Bernard Punsly, and Russell Hicks.
Seemingly assembled from bits of different movies awkwardly stitched together, there's some funny stuff here, but no kind of pacing or interesting narrative. Fields, who was making his final Paramount film here, is funny, and his golf game and billiards game scenes are top notch. Bob Hope, making his feature debut, sings his signature song. I was pleasantly surprised to see future Road co-star Lamour already working with him. Martha Raye gets a rather impressive song and dance number that gets acrobatic and she obviously didn't use a double. The music numbers are an odd lot, too, with a couple of songs by Mexican star Tito Guizar, a performance from Norwegian opera diva Kirsten Flagstad (doing Wagner's "Brunnhilde's Battle Cry"), and Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra doing "This Little Ripple Had Rhythm" which combines live action with animation to show the "origin" of the "rippling rhythm", which apparently was an ambulatory blob of swamp water that separates from a bog and walks to Fields' band and teaches them. It makes as much sense as it sounds. The movie won the Oscar for Best Song ("Thanks for the Memory").
Seemingly assembled from bits of different movies awkwardly stitched together, there's some funny stuff here, but no kind of pacing or interesting narrative. Fields, who was making his final Paramount film here, is funny, and his golf game and billiards game scenes are top notch. Bob Hope, making his feature debut, sings his signature song. I was pleasantly surprised to see future Road co-star Lamour already working with him. Martha Raye gets a rather impressive song and dance number that gets acrobatic and she obviously didn't use a double. The music numbers are an odd lot, too, with a couple of songs by Mexican star Tito Guizar, a performance from Norwegian opera diva Kirsten Flagstad (doing Wagner's "Brunnhilde's Battle Cry"), and Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra doing "This Little Ripple Had Rhythm" which combines live action with animation to show the "origin" of the "rippling rhythm", which apparently was an ambulatory blob of swamp water that separates from a bog and walks to Fields' band and teaches them. It makes as much sense as it sounds. The movie won the Oscar for Best Song ("Thanks for the Memory").
helpful•41
- AlsExGal
- Aug 1, 2020
- How long is The Big Broadcast of 1938?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Radioparaden 1938
- Filming locations
- Eastern Service Studios, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA(sequence: Kirsten Flagstad aria)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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![W.C. Fields, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTAyMGU3ODAtMzg2NC00Y2RkLTlhODQtYzM4YzcxZDUzMzRlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4MjA5MzA@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)
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By what name was The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) officially released in India in English?
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