The Great American Broadcast (1941) DVD

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The Great American Broadcast (1941) DVD

The Great American Broadcast (1941) DVD

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€8.97

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H592014136

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( 1 product review )

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Product Description

The Great American Broadcast (1941)

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

Don Ettlinger (original screenplay), Edwin Blum(original screenplay)

Stars:

Alice Faye, Jack Oakie, John Payne

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of commercial radio, 20th Century-Fox cooked up the pageantlike entertainment The Great American Broadcast. Opening with clips of such airwaves favorites as Dick Powell and Fred Allen (courtesy of earlier Fox films like Thanks a Million), the picture gets under way in 1918, as ambitious army buddies Bix Martin (John Payne) and Chuck Hadley (Jack Oakie) try and fail to establish themselves in the business world. At long last, our heroes enter the new field of radio broadcasting, where after several technical and tactical mishaps they achieve success. But Bix and Chuck are strictly small-timers, and soon they're left behind by the big-city stations. The partners break up, while Bix's songstress wife Vicki Adams (Alice Faye) seeks out a loan to get her husband back on his financial feet. When she approaches her wealthy ex-boyfriend Bruce Chadwick (Cesar Romero), Bix burns up and walks out on her. But old pal Chuck comes to the rescue, staging a reunion between Bix and Vicki during the first-ever coast to coast network broadcast. Rather shaky as history, The Great American Broadcast works best on a nostalgia level, offering guest appearances by such specialty performers as The Ink Spots, The Nicholas Brothers, and The Wiere Brothers (of Road to Rio fame).

Here is the link to the movie at the Internet Movie database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033674/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

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Product Reviews

a great, forgotten Fox musical

Posted by Philip on Dec 16th 2023

One of the three musicals made with the star trio, Faye, Oakie, and Payne, this is the one that has been least shown and therefore, forgotten. It is a (fictionalized) story about the start of radio. If only to see another routine by the Nicholas Brothers, this film is worth purchasing. A wonderful score with music by Harry Warren, the best song, is the haunting "Long Ago, Last Night". Alice Faye is photographed beautifully (in black and white.) A very good print, too. Of note, however, in the "Long Ago, Last Night" number - the chorus in back of Ms. Faye are all wearing the same outfits that were worn four years earlier in the film "Alexander's Ragtime Band"! (shows where the budget was with this film.)