A singing, piano playing hunchback discovers the downside to deceit, even well-meaning deceit, in The Phantom Broadcast (1933) and, for all that it has some technical issues in the cinematography and especially the audio, it works remarkably well. Norman Wilder is the manager and accompanist of the handsome crooner Grant Murdock, whose regular radio concerts, in front of a live studio audience, has made him a national heart throb, with love letters by the pound, a stable of women eager to date him, and even a mobster who’d like nothing more than to replace Wilder.
The hard way.
But the mob boss is unlucky, because the hunchback Wilder is too wily to let himself get taken down in a hit. Drawn car curtains and a quick slip out the door, that’s understated and effective.
But the real trick is that Murdock is just standing around looking good. It’s Wilder, hidden behind a partial partition, who’s doing the real singing. The mob boss would have been wildly unlucky if he’d been lucky.
Meanwhile, Murdock, who is more than complicit in the shared deceit, is also more than willing to take advantage of the money, adoration, and cute singers. As the ego grows, so does the romantic ambitions, and it looks like he’ll be doing exceedingly well for himself.
Or at least he would have, if he hadn’t turned up dead.
Thing is, Wilder walks into Murdock’s apartment, pistol in pocket, ready to take the bullying, womanizing, out of control Murdock down, only to find him face down in a puddle of blood, and a tell-tale compact box in his hand – a compact with the initials of the woman Wilder loves, Laura Hamilton, who already has a husband. What to do? Of course, we know what’s coming, and he confesses to the police over the phone.
And then Laura walks in and says, Whaaaaaa – not me! I just got here!
And now the pickle juice is up to Wilder’s neck. Will he get out of it? Or will he share the fate of gent from Notre Dame? Join us next week for … a not so bad story. I was surprised and pleased, although not bowled over. I just wish someone could clean up that audio.
