dbborroughs Review of S.O.S. Tidal Wave

S.O.S. Tidal Wave (1939)

One of the most illogical and stupid films I've ever seen- and that is saying a great deal

[1/10 · 16 June 2009]

Really bad program film from Republic starring Ralph Byrd as a TV reporter who tries to stay out of a dirty political race for mayor in New York but instead finds that he's drawn in. The conclusion of the film uses, yet again, sequence lifted from the film Deluge, which shows the destruction of New York by tidal wave. Illogical and dumb, this movie speculates a world where TV is in every home. It's a novel idea that's some 15 years too soon which makes the power of Byrd's character as a pundit all the more hard to swallow. The twists and turns he and his family are put through make so little sense that when in one scene Byrd is seen getting drunk in a bar one can only speculate that the real reason was that the actor had just read the script and realized what a piece of garbage he had agreed to front. The worst twist or turn is the fact that wide spread panic and rioting results from a "news" broadcast in New York showing the destruction of the city. The idea is to keep people home from the polls, but that would have required the mass of people to both have TVs and then not look outside their windows to see everything was alright. To say that the logic gap in the plot is huge is a beyond an understatement. One of the stupidest and most moronic films I've ever seen which is saying a great deal.