Murder by Television

I purchased this movie in 1984, when I was a teenager. It is a low-medium budget whodunnit and it's great.Bela shines playing the FBI agent hero and his greedy, manipulative twin brother.An early version of television proves to also be a conduit for the "Interstellar frequency, otherwise known as the death ray!".This film is fantastic fun and Bela oozes charisma throughout.You may also recognize a young Hattie McDaniel (Gone With The Wind).If you can find it, this a great little flick.

An inventor is killed and a boring investigation ensues. A B murder mystery starring Bela Lugosi with wooden performances from most of the cast, save for two cringeworthy turns from Hattie McDaniel and Allen Jung as stereotypical servants. It moves along at a snail's pace and struggles to maintain even a little suspense. The biggest selling point of this today is not Bela; he's very subdued in this and therefore not that interesting. The main reason to see this is for the fascinating historical elements. We get to see some early television technology and get an idea of how people viewed the concept of television back then. It's fun to watch a group of stuffy old people in tuxedos and gowns sitting around in stiff Victorian chairs to see a demonstration of this newfangled invention called television. Worth a look for Lugosi completists or anyone interested in television history.

There are only two reasons for people to rate this film higher than a five. They are either Bela Lugosi fanatics who are blinded by his star power, or they're pulling your leg.

In it's favor, this film has the following curiosities:

Bela Lugosi in a rare non-horror leading role.

Hattie McDaniel in an early screen appearance (although running around yelling "Lordy, Lordy" doesn't showcase her future greatness very well).

A curious 1935 vision of television that doesn't seem to need cameras at the point of origin and can act as a "death ray" carrier wave. I guess that makes this a science fiction story, of sorts.

And occasionally interesting story-telling by reshowing the same scene using different vantage points to add information withheld earlier in the film.

Working against this film is:

The poor print quality (both picture and sound)of existing copies. Insulting racial stereotyping. (As implied above.)

Ridiculously inaccurate scientific predictions about television. (As implied above.)

Undeveloped characters, giving the audience a "who cares" feeling when someone gets murdered.

And a general weakness of the writing, acting, and directing.

Being a Lugosi fan myself, it pains me to write negative reviews of some of his films. But the truth is, it pains me to watch some of his performances as well.

I'm giving this film three stars, based on the curiosities mentioned above. If I were to rate it any higher, I'd be pulling your leg.

I will have to echo other reviewers on this film. Bela as always is great... he maintained his dignity and was wonderful in this rather so-so film. The movie has the potential to be a really good, cute mystery-thriller with a few good laughs thrown in for good measure - but it failed to reach that point. It's not a downright awful movie but it's not as good as one would hope it to be. It's somewhere in the middle ground. It is a slow film, I like some films that are slow but this one could have used a bit quicker pace with some interesting scenes added - like seeing the twins Dr. Arthur Perry / Edwin Perry together (both played by Lugosi).

Watch this film for Bela Lugosi. You will get to see him playing twins (duel roles) which in itself is fun - something a little bit different for Lugosi fans.

5/10

I am always amazed when I find yet another ultra-low budget film starring Bela Lugosi. While I do generally enjoy his films, they certainly were not 'high art' or very deep--and so many of them had downright crappy production values. Often it looked as if Bela would appear in ANY film provided the check cleared! You don't believe me, then think back to such horrid films as PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, ZOMBIES ON Broadway, GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE (with the East Side Kids) and MURDER BY TELEVISION!!! However, often despite the terrible budgets and overall cheesiness of the films, they were still often fun to watch--or at least to laugh at due to their ineptness. Unfortunately, MURDER BY TELEVISION is that rare low-budget Lugosi film that actually is kind of boring and static. Despite being a murder mystery, the film is amazingly static and uninvolving. Plus, the roles played by Bela just seemed terribly written and bizarre--and not in a great way. The only major plus this film has that raises it to almost-mediocrity is the idea of television being a topic of a film as early as 1930. From a purely historical standpoint, it is an interesting film.