User Reviews

Successful journeyman director with taste, Mitchell Leisin was responsible for many films of distinction like DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, KITTY, HOLD BACK THE DAWN, and TO EACH HIS OWN. But he had to do many films that annoyed him for one reason or another. Occasionally a film he put a lot of time and effort into (LADY IN THE DARK, for example) was taken out of his hand and re-cut to it's detriment. Sometimes he was given inferior material to work with. He hated the material that became THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938.

He was highly capable as a musical director. Besides LADY IN THE DARK, he did MURDER AT THE VANITIES (which introduced COCKTALES FOR TWO). But this project was dropped on him because of other projects he wanted to do. The key to understanding this was that it was the last film for Paramount that W.C.Fields was to do. To his fans, Fields was a great comic artist - one of the greatest film personalities of his time if not of all time. But he was, in the words of Leisin, "the most ornery S.O.B. I ever met!"

Fields kept on making demands in the production, such as a share of the writing credits (so that he could make more money from the studio). He also interfered in scenes where he was not wanted. Leisin, a man of culture and taste, put Kirsten Flagstad into the film in a segment. But Fields muscled into a sequence around the pre-filmed segment of Flagstad singing "The Ride of the Valkyrie" from SIEGFRIED, and made a crack that he thought it was a squawking animal. Leisin hated this, and subsequently announced in Fields' hearing that Miss Flagstad's agent was planning to sue the studio if the line was kept in. Fields raised no objection to the line being taken out.

It's an odd musical. Like all the BIG BROADCAST movies it centers on radio and the personalities on it. But here we have the Gigantic - Colossal ocean liner race across the Atlantic, with Leif Ericson's revolutionary turbine engine that works on radio waves. It's doubtful that something like this would work, but the audience was there to be entertained. T. Frothingham Bellows (Fields in his first role) is sending his brother (S.B.Bellows) to board the Colossal (the reason is that S.B. is a jinx - he has been in every major ship disaster since the sinking of the Merrimac*). But S.B. ends up on the Gigantic, and does a great deal of damage before he realizes his error. To add to his bad effect, his daughter Martha (Martha Raye) is rescued with her boyfriend Scoop (Lynn Overmann). Martha is a jinx too (she crashed a plane into a mirror factory seven years before).

(*This is not, as I thought, a reference to the scuttling of the Confederate ironclad Virginia (i.e. the Merrimac) in May 1862. Bellows would be too young for that. It is a reference to the scuttling of the collier U.S.S. Merrimac by Lt. Richmond Hobson and his crew in June 1898 in Santiago Harbor, in a doomed attempt to bottle up Admiral Cevera's Spanish fleet in the Spanish American War. Hobson won the congressional medal of honor for the action. As that was forty years before the movie, S.B. could have been on the scene.)

The entertainment on the ship is handled by the much married Buzz Fielding (Bob Hope) and his assistant (Ben Blue). Hope was married to three women, all of whom are on board to make sure he continues paying alimony. His recent fiancé is Dorothy (Dorothy Lamour), but she gradually becomes closer to Leif Erickson. However, Hope slowly becomes closer to his first wife, Cleo (Shirley Ross). The film's one classic moment was their singing "Thanks For The Memories". Hope, in later years, criticized his singing of the song - it's done very wistfully and sadly, as it should be. He should not have been so harsh, as it became his theme song (not to mention the Oscar winning song of the year).

As a pleasant time killer THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938 is okay. It is not a film for the ages - and Mitchell Leisin would have agreed to that judgment. After it was completed he suffered his first heart attack, due to the strain of working with Fields. He never worked with Fields again. Fortunately he went on to better films. For Leisin's sake (and in honor of his health hazard) I'll give it a "7".

Essentially, a variety show, with the uniting plot theme of a race between 2 ocean liners: the Colossal, and the newer and bigger Gigantic. The race is from NYC to Cherbourg ,France, in about 2 1/2 days. The first third of the film is dominated by the hijinks of Bob Hope(as Buzz Fielding) and especially W.C. Fields, as both T.F. and S.B. Bellows, who own the Gigantic. S.B. is the younger, goofier, brother. T.F. arranges for him to be on the Colossal, so that he can hopefully pull some stunt that will cause it to lose the race. We see T.F only briefly, at the beginning.

Hope begins in jail on a delinquent alimony charge. He's supposed to be the emcee for the variety show to be held on the Gigantic. His 3 ex-wives, as a group, come to see him in jail, but don't offer to bail him out. However, current girlfriend Dorothy(Lamour) does get him released in time to board the liner and take his position. His wives(Shirley Ross, as Cleo, Grace Bradley, as Grace, and Virginia Vale, as Joan) evidently find out about his release and board the ship to try to discourage him from marrying a fourth, who will cut in on their alimony payments(assuming he can make them). Hope has a $50,000. bet on the Gigantic to win, so the ex-wives want to make sure they get a slice of that, if the Gigantic wins.

Meanwhile, S.B. takes his car to a filling station. A misunderstanding leads to one of his tires overinflating, causing a massive blowout. With just 3 tires, he drives off after tossing his partially used cigar out the window. He knocks over one of the gas pumps on his exit, causing gasoline to spray out on his still lit cigar, resulting in an explosion engulfing the filling station. Ignoring the destruction and probable deaths he has caused, he takes in a round of golf. He has a whole bevy of caddies and irons, and gets around in his specially modified golf bike, with folded wings that stick up from the sides, and a propeller behind. After a series of irregularities in his golf game, he calls it a day, pushes down his folded wings, turns on his propeller and takes off, flying over the ocean toward the 2 liners. He makes a perfect landing on the Gigantic, whether by accident or design. Aboard, S.B. soon causes important mischief when he touches the end of his umbrella to one of the giant coils that powers the radio transmitter, causing a cloud of smoke and sparks.(Why he wasn't killed nor even harmed isn't explained!). This puts the transmitter out of service for a while, which means it can't be used to power the ship(?) past the Colossal, which is well ahead. Later, it's discovered that a piece of the umbrella was touching a coil, shorting out the transmitter. With this removed, the transmitter is again working and begins to greatly accelerate the Gigantic. Later, he would play a game of 'dirty pool', with many irregularities.

At about the half way mark, Martha Raye finally makes an appearance. She is one of several survivors of a sunken yacht, and is S.B.'s daughter, with a similar penchant for accidentally causing problems. She used her legendary big mouth to blow the lifeboat sail toward the Gigantic. Aboard, she immediately starts to shatter windows and mirrors with her supposed ugliness. Her biggest contribution to the ongoings was to sing the spritely romantic ditty "Mama, that Moon is Here Again", initially mainly to her new beloved: Scoop(Lynn Overmann). While still singing it, she was then tossed and swung around by a bevy of sailors. Later, as part of the big production in which the history of dance is sampled, she would lead a group sing and dance of the exuberant 'Truckin'(They're going Hollywood in Harlem). I could have used more songs and skits featuring Martha. She was such a unique talent.

Among the other talents, Shep Fields and his band played a number that included a cartoon segment. Tito Guizar sang a couple of songs, followed by Dorothy Lamour, who serenaded her new found love: Leif Erikson, with the Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin romantic ballad "You Took the Words Right Out of my Heart". Later, she would do an encore. Kirsten Flagstad did an excellent rendition of Wagner's "Brunnhilde's Battle Cry" Patricia Wilder was supposed to do a little comedy and song act, but it was a nothing. Incidentally, Ben Blue's attempts at comedy stank, as usual.

Rainger and Robin composed the most remembered new song "Thanks for the Memories", with Hope and Shirley Ross going back and forth, singing the lyrics, which involve remembering the good times they used to have together....Lastly, a series of old and new songs were sung and danced to in a celebration of various dance forms through history. Pleasant, but unmemorable.

I'm so interested in the life and art of W.C. Fields that I try to see as many of his movies as are available to me... WHATEVER the reputation of that movie or Fields contribution to it.

I wasn't expecting too much from 'Big Broadcast of 1938' I knew that Fields had prepared a lot of material for his scenes in the movie... but I ALSO knew that whole scenes of his did not survive as far as the final cut, and his scenes that did remain had been well-trimmed. Fields was a BIG movie star by this time, and certainly the BIGGEST in this movie... so WHY was he treated this way? Well... He should never have been in this movie at all. He was a replacement when other lead players withdrew from the project, and he was too big for the gap he was to fill. There were too many other celebrated performers still to be given their own portion of this movie.

Radio and Broadway star Bob Hope was making his film debut. Popular supporting novelty act Martha Raye was to be in her 11th movie in less than three years. Also in the mix were Dorothy Lamour and another novelty act, the comedian and dancer Ben Blue. AND THAT'S NOT ALL! As the movie progressed, I was to find it also showcased formation dancing, opera singers, and even an animated cartoon.

What sort of plot can accommodate all that, you might wonder. Well... All the players are on board a giant liner, the SS Gigantic, which is taking part in a cross-Atlantic race with another giant liner, the SS Collossus. The presence and actions of Fields causes problems and the SS Gigantic falls well behind in the race. But what do you know??? Everything comes good in the end, and the SS Gigantic wins by a nose. "THE END" comes on the screen, and we're done.

And is this movie as disappointing as I'd been led to expect? In a word - YES! There's probably about 30 minutes of good stuff in it, comprising of the Fields scenes - including his regular golf business, and a return to the pool table - and one surreal confrontation between Bob Hope and Martha Raye. The other hour or so of the movie I could do without.

I like Bob Hope, but he is not yet the great comedy character on film that he quickly came to be. All he has to do here is visually replicate what he did on the radio, and sing "Thanks for the memory" for the first time. He never gets to share a scene with Fields. Martha Raye shows off her big mouth and her flair for horsing around. Dorothy Lamour does a little singing and too much talking. AND Ben Blue... He just keeps popping up, but it would have been better if he hadn't!

The race of two ocean liners from America to Europe is the sole plot line for this unfunny combination of lavish production numbers and extremely dated comedy. For a film filled with so much talent, it is lacking in continued interest. W.C. Fields basically repeats many of his old characterizations in a dual role, while Bob Hope seems to be missing a real character to explore, just a man with three ex-wives in search of his next gag. All you get about him is that he owes alimony to each of these wives and still has feelings for one of them (Shirley Ross). Dorothy Lamour is wasted in a boring romance with Leif Erickson, while Martha Raye is the only remotely funny cast member among so many comics. She is especially funny in a musical number where she's twisted round and round with various acrobatics by the crew members of her father's (one of Fields's roles) ship. It is funny enough to have the man with the big nose be the pop of the woman with the big mouth.

In one of his dual roles, Fields gets to peddle a bike that somehow flies and even steers the ship with his legs, making it go between two icebergs in a scene filmed only 25 years after the Titanic disaster. This is of course best known for the Oscar Winning "Thanks For the Memory", a moving duet between Hope and Ross that is actually a serious and rather bittersweet look back at their marriage.

The radio sequences range from historical (Tito Guizar) to extremely stupid (Patricia Wilder as an untalented Southern girl who doesn't come anywhere close to the screen's regular hick comic, Judy Canova) to an outlandishly lavish production number ("The Waltz Lives On") that is very well choreographed but rather pretentious. Rufe Davis's attempt for deadpan comedy is only nose-crinkling, while Lionel Pape as Raye's older love interest doesn't really seem interested in women. As for Fields, there seems to be no reason to play two characters as they are totally indistinguishable. Hope would shine better in a few films with Paulette Goddard before going his way on the road with some crooner named Bing.

Enjoyable blend of surreal comedy, sappy romance, and variable music, with a crazy plot that matters about as much as it does in the Marx Brothers movies (to some of which this is actually superior). Highlights include the innovative cartoon / live-action interaction, Bob Hope and Shirley Ross' bittersweet "Thanks For The Memory" duet, Martha Raye's amazingly acrobatic dance number, and the lavish grand finale / ode to the waltz. W.C. Fields' comedy material is hit-and-miss; personally I would like to have seen more of his second character, the "serious" businessman. The special effects and miniatures are very well done for their time. **1/2 out of 4.

Costumes: Edith Head. Cartoon sequence by Leon Schlesinger. Special effects: Gordon Jennings. Assistant director: Edward Anderson. Sound recording: Gene Merritt, Don Johnson, and Charles Althouse.

Producer: Harlan Thompson. Executive producer: Adolph Zukor. Musical direction by Boris Morros. Musical adviser: Arthur Franklin. Musical numbers and dances staged by LeRoy Prinz. Songs by Ralph Rainger (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics): "Thanks for the Memory" (Bob Hope, Shirley Ross), "You Took the Words Right out of My Heart" (Dorothy Lamour, Leif Erickson), "This Little Ripple Had Rhythm" (Shep Fields and his Orchestra). "Don't Tell a Secret to a Rose", "Mama, That Moon Is Here Again" (Martha Raye), "The Waltz Lives On". Brunnhilde's Battle Cry from "Die Walkure" by Wagner (Kirsten Flagstad). "Zumi Zumi" music and lyrics by Tito Guizar, sung in Spanish by Tito Guizar. Additional music composed by John Leipold and George Parrish.

Copyright 18 February 1938 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount, 9 March 1938. U.S. release: 13 February 1938. Australian release: 12 May 1938. 10 reels. 90 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A race between two ocean liners provides an excuse for a number of variety acts.

NOTES: Academy Award for Best Song: "Thanks for the Memory". The last of The Big Broadcast films. The others: The Big Broadcast (1932), The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), and The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936).

COMMENT: This is the film with W. C. Fields' famous pool-room scene. It also has a breathtaking production number climax, "The Waltz Lives On", and the Academy Award-winning song, "Thanks for the Memory".

The rest of the show, unfortunately, doesn't quite come up to this high standard, aside from a delightful animated sequence with Shep Fields.

Still, the sets are superb and as far as spending money goes, Paramount put paid to their Big Broadcast series with style.

OTHER VIEWS: Hope's material is a bit feeble, but he delivers his verbose lines at a crackerjack pace and joins Shirley Ross for the delightfully wistful little ballad, "Thanks for the Memory". Director Mitchell Leisen seems somewhat out of his element with this sort of mish-mash, though sets and costumes display his usual feeling for style.