Fresh and Exciting

Better Late Then Never

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Bela Lugosi appeared in two films in the Thirties where television was an important element of the plot. One was the fabulous International House produced by Paramount, one of the great fantasy films of all time let alone that decade. At the time television was in an experimental stage and you could fantasize about it. The second was Murder By Television made for a fly by night Poverty Row outfit called Cameo Pictures. It was a bit more serious and not quite as good. In fact the lion's share of its failure might well be the editing. Some seven minutes were left out of the version I saw which seems to be what's out there. Not that the story was all that intelligible to begin with. Bela is one of several suspects in the death of an inventor who was making an experimental broadcast. The only other name people will recognize out of this cast will be Hattie McDaniel, playing what else, a maid.Bela was on the road to Ed Woodom with this film.

I bought a DVD with this film on it a few days ago for a dollar.I am watching it as I am typing this.It is a fairly good film.I had no idea television was kind of well known when this film was made.When I looked at the cover I was under the impression that this film was made during Lugosi's years with Ed Wood,I was surprised to find out that it was made in 1935.To me those years were the best time of his life and career, but I now know that he did get stuck playing some pretty crummy roles in films that were somewhat below his gifts and talents.The acting in this film is a bit stiff and the dialog is corny.But it is an enjoyable film for a "B" film.

Although the crime feature "Murder By Television" has a couple of good points, it is really only fair (at best) overall. Bela Lugosi makes the best of a somewhat atypical role for him, and at times the thoughts and speculations about early television are of some interest. Otherwise, the production, the characters, and most of the cast are all nondescript. The story just never fits together very well, and it also never really hits full gear.Lugosi plays the assistant to an inventor who is supposed to have pioneered a form of early television that is full of valuable possibilities. The invention is coveted by a number of outside interests, and the murder mystery that results is caught up with the intrigue surrounding the invention. It sounds like an intriguing setup, and it could have been, but the script doesn't make very good use of it. Both the dialogue and the story could easily have been much better.Lugosi adds presence to any role, and his is easily the most interesting of the characters for that reason, but he is still limited by the material. Besides Lugosi, the most talented performer in the cast is Hattie McDaniel, and she also is severely limited by her character, who is there only to provide some slight comic relief, which comes at the unfortunate character's expense.This won't have any appeal at all for anyone who is not a fan of its genre, and even for those of us who usually enjoy these old B-features regardless of their quality, it is, unfortunately, only barely worth watching.

This movie is just bad beyond belief. The acting is horrid, while the cast is simply reciting lines with little feeling. I do wonder where they got these people. The actors just chop up the dialog like a salad. The television idea is just that, with no real sense of development in a hopeless, lifeless plot. The lack of a music track in 1935 is not uncommon, but some sort of musical score was really needed in a suspense movie of this type. I had wanted to see his movie for years. Now I can honestly say I am sorry did. As many a horror movie philosopher has said, somewhere in the middle of an endlessly dark night, "There are some things that are best left alone." This movie, sadly, is one of them. May it rest in peace.