There are some movies that you have to say are just bad. there is nothing remotely sensible or enjoyable about them, and if there are a few surprising moments, that is just a coincidence. This Republic programmer from 1939 is at the bottom rung of films released in Hollywood's greatest year. the problem is that it does not know what it wants to be. Is it a political drama intermix with mob action? Is it a study of the future of television? Or as we see in the final real, is it a disaster film in the line of 1933 lost RKO film "Deluge"? the answer to that question is unfortunately a bit of all three and that leaves this programmer with a complete identity crisis.
Ralph "Dick Tracy" Byrd has perfected the invention of the roving eye, a camera with the ability to film incidents as they happened live for those rich enough to afford the machines to watch them on. Like the early days of real television, citizens passing by the display of the not yet easily available device would gather outside the store selling it and be amazed in what it was showing.the film pretty much focuses on local fires, some pretty hideous and obviously taken from newsreels of the time oh, and by the time It gets to the climatic sequence, it's amazing that it hasn't shown the Hindenburg disaster.
One moment In this film will stand out. A deliberate crash into a car by a speeding truck that kills Byrd's beloved uncle, George Barbier, and only injuring the other passengers inside. witnessing this Speedy Cash, it is obvious to me that everybody should have been killed instantly. If that is it isn't bad enough, people run up to the car as if the camera has been sped up to make them look like characters in a silent movie. Obviously this is part of the plot line dealing with the upcoming political election, and that is barely dealt with when all of a sudden New York is struck by a huge earthquake followed by a giant tidal wave.
It is not shocking to see from this Republic programmer that the footage of New York being destroyed did indeed come from "Deluge". Having seen the Italian dubbed surviving print of that film, I didn't recall the footage looking so ridiculous. But the way the building's collapse is as if someone blew on a beautifully decorated house of cards painted to look like Manhattan, followed by a bucket of water forcibly thrown on it. The footage is out of place yet would mean a different title, but even that would be an improvement over what remains.
Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks and Dorothy Lee from the Wheeler and Woolsey films co-star in this flatly made mess of themes that will leave you frustrated by its split personality. The film should have focused only on the crime issues of the political plot line and forgotten the disaster footage completely. It makes no sense and pretty much only distracts from the weakness of the script, but in retrospect is the reason why this film fails. It only points out the script's weakness and Desperation of the writers to end with something thrilling that ultimately is a massive let-down.
Ralph "Dick Tracy" Byrd has perfected the invention of the roving eye, a camera with the ability to film incidents as they happened live for those rich enough to afford the machines to watch them on. Like the early days of real television, citizens passing by the display of the not yet easily available device would gather outside the store selling it and be amazed in what it was showing.the film pretty much focuses on local fires, some pretty hideous and obviously taken from newsreels of the time oh, and by the time It gets to the climatic sequence, it's amazing that it hasn't shown the Hindenburg disaster.
One moment In this film will stand out. A deliberate crash into a car by a speeding truck that kills Byrd's beloved uncle, George Barbier, and only injuring the other passengers inside. witnessing this Speedy Cash, it is obvious to me that everybody should have been killed instantly. If that is it isn't bad enough, people run up to the car as if the camera has been sped up to make them look like characters in a silent movie. Obviously this is part of the plot line dealing with the upcoming political election, and that is barely dealt with when all of a sudden New York is struck by a huge earthquake followed by a giant tidal wave.
It is not shocking to see from this Republic programmer that the footage of New York being destroyed did indeed come from "Deluge". Having seen the Italian dubbed surviving print of that film, I didn't recall the footage looking so ridiculous. But the way the building's collapse is as if someone blew on a beautifully decorated house of cards painted to look like Manhattan, followed by a bucket of water forcibly thrown on it. The footage is out of place yet would mean a different title, but even that would be an improvement over what remains.
Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks and Dorothy Lee from the Wheeler and Woolsey films co-star in this flatly made mess of themes that will leave you frustrated by its split personality. The film should have focused only on the crime issues of the political plot line and forgotten the disaster footage completely. It makes no sense and pretty much only distracts from the weakness of the script, but in retrospect is the reason why this film fails. It only points out the script's weakness and Desperation of the writers to end with something thrilling that ultimately is a massive let-down.