Murder by Television: Bela Lugosi and the World's Most Boring Broadcast

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for 1930s poverty row cinema. If you need tight pacing or a mystery that actually makes sense, stay away. But if you want to watch Bela Lugosi lean against walls and look vaguely menacing while people talk about television signals, you might find a weird sort of charm here.

The plot is basically just a stage play that forgot it wasn't on a stage. It’s 1935, and everyone is losing their minds over the invention of global television. James Houghland is the guy holding the remote, and naturally, he gets murdered right when things get interesting.

Watching this feels like being trapped in a room with people who really, really want to talk about engineering. There’s a lot of standing around. Like, a lot. The police chief spends so much time questioning the same three people that you start to wonder if he just enjoys the company.

Bela Lugosi is here, of course. He’s the main reason anyone remembers this movie exists. He plays the inventor, and he brings this weird, heavy energy to every scene. It’s like he’s in a completely different movie than the rest of the cast. While everyone else is acting like they’re in a low-budget serial, Lugosi is out there trying to act like he's in a Greek tragedy.

The pacing is… well, it’s not great. There’s a scene where they discuss the television transmission process that lasts for an eternity. I think I checked my phone three times during that one monologue. It’s not exactly Black Friday when it comes to intensity.

Speaking of intensity, the dialogue feels like it was written on the back of a napkin during lunch. Characters say things like, "The television signal is the key!" with such gravity that it becomes accidentally hilarious. The whole thing has that slightly dusty, black-and-white vibe where you can almost smell the old set glue.

It’s not as energetic as The Passionate Plumber, that’s for sure. It just kind of plods along until it decides to stop.

• Hattie McDaniel is in this! She deserves better than this script.
• The "high-tech" equipment looks like a toaster taped to a radio.
• One of the reaction shots goes on so long I started to wonder if the projectionist fell asleep.
• The ending is basically a shrug. Don't expect a big emotional payoff.

It’s not good, really. But it’s not offensively bad, either. It’s just... there. Like a piece of furniture you keep around because you’re too lazy to move it to the curb. Watch it for the camp factor, or skip it entirely to catch up on something with more life in it. 📺