Broadcasting (1932): A Weird, Static Time Capsule

Is it worth your time?

If you get a kick out of old-school technical hiccups and the specific way people talked in 1932, sure. Otherwise, stay away. This is strictly for the folks who spend their weekends digging through flea markets for scratchy records. If you prefer your movies to have, you know, actual momentum, you are going to hate this.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a broom closet. There is this persistent, low-level static in the audio that makes you feel like you are listening to a ghost tell a bad joke. 📻

Sigmund Neufeld shows up and does his thing, but honestly, nobody here seems entirely sure where the camera is. It is almost charming, in a clumsy way. Like watching a group of people try to act naturally while a giant, hulking microphone boom hangs over their heads like a sword of Damocles.

Odd Little Moments

• There is a scene where a character spends way too long adjusting a radio dial. It is probably twenty seconds of pure, agonizing silence.
• The lighting flickers in a way that suggests the power grid was held together by paperclips and prayer.
• I kept thinking about Woman to Woman, which at least had the decency to feel like it had a pulse.

The dialogue is painfully stiff. It sounds like everyone is reading their lines off a chalkboard just out of frame. Nobody actually talks like this, even in 1932, but the movie really commits to the bit. It is almost impressive.

There is a weird vibe here that reminds me of The Devil's Needle, just in terms of that specific 1930s dread where you aren't sure if the movie is supposed to be funny or if it's just falling apart. Sometimes I think the movie is better when it fails. When it tries to be serious, it just feels like a chore.

Why is there a random cut to a wall? I don't know. Maybe the editor just fell asleep. The whole thing feels unfinished, like a rough draft that someone decided to print anyway. 🎞️

I wouldn't call it a total wash. If you squint, you can see the bones of a decent idea, but it never gets enough meat on it. It just stays... broadcasting. Into the void. Mostly, it just makes me want to go back and watch Ashes of Embers just to see how they handled the transition to talkies without losing their minds.

Anyway. It is what it is. A weird, dusty, slightly broken thing. Don't expect to be changed by it. Just expect to be confused by the lighting.