Customer Reviews

Big Broadcast of 1938 [VHS]

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The Big Boadcast is with no doubt the best of the four broadcasts. It is splendidly acted with an all star cast. Buzz Fielding (Bob Hope) is a broadcaster on a ship trying to escape from his three ex-wives, with his finacee Dorothy Windham(Dorothy Lamour) Thanks for the Memory was first sung here, and it is Bob Hope's first movie. Shirley Ross is a splendid Cleo Fielding, and Martha Raye does a marvelous job as Martha Bellows the daughter of S.B. Bellows (W.C. Fields) Great dance numbers and songs, I fully recomend it.

It's easy to see why W.C. Fields hated "The Big Broadcast of 1938," since his unique talents were ill-suited for Paramount's musical-comedy revue. The few memorable moments in this 90-minute hodgepodge can be found during the first hour - highlighted by the Great Man's surreal golf routine and Bob Hope's "Thanks for the Memory." If director Mitchell Leisen was hoping to recapture the vaudevillian spirit of 1933's "International House," he completely missed the mark.

This movie has it's good points. It was made with some special effects that may seem primitive by todays standards, but they work reasonably well and are not overdone. There is an animated splash of water that refuses to go back into the ocean and instead dances to the music. If it were in color it would be considered a good video for MTV. W.C Fields is good as two brothers. Bob Hope is adequate. Both have much better films. The best part of watching this is to see how our styles and standards have changed. When Bob Hope was singing "Thanks for the Memory," I found myself looking at the silly hat the girl who sang with him was wearing. Another funny hat was worn by the lady opera singer. She even carried a spear while she warbled. Imagine 60 years from now when somebody reviews Garth Brooks latest video and finds themselves laughing at his crazy hat and that microphone growing out of the side of his head. Styles change, but this is an okay movie with Fields in a flying motor scooter and Ben Blue doing a mean Charleston. If you like dance numbers, Martha Raye does a fun and energetic workout with some gymnastic style tosses. Bob is better in "Paleface," "Son of Paleface," "Fancy Pants," "Seven Little Foys," "Beau James" and any of the "Road" pictures. W.C. Fields was better in "The Bank Dick" and "My Little Chickadee." Tom Willett

This comedy/musical extravaganza, set mostly aboard an ultra-modern luxury liner, does not hold up as well as most of W.C. Fields' films. It is overlong and rather dull in spots, but several funny scenes (with Fields, of course) almost compensate. Surpringly, the best scene is that in which Bob Hope sings, for the first time, the song that has become indelibly associated with him for the past 63 years, "Thanks For the Memory". It is a duet with Shirley Ross, and it is done not as a funny novelty song, but as a poignant one. Worth seeing.