Back in the thirties, every studio had its own distinctive style...there were star-studded epics like "Gone With the Wind" at MGM, breezy comedies like the Hope-Crosby "Road" movies at Paramount and gangster films with the likes of Bogart and Cagney at Warner Bros. Then there were the Poverty Row studios, principally Monogram and PRC, where "quickies" were churned out on five day schedules. So it's no wonder that while Monogram's "The Phantom Broadcast" is entertaining, it's also confusing. The premise is that piano player Norman Wilder, a hunchback, is the behind-the-scenes voice for a murdered radio crooner. There are a few obvious questions like why no one notices that while the crooner is performing, his pianist is simultaneously singing up a storm. Or how a few characters enter someone's apartment then apparently forget that it's not their own home. Someone at the studio may have noticed that lapse but was told Monogram's policy...no retakes. Still, "The Phantom Broadcast" is fun. And you can't say that about quite a few movies from the major studios.
Review of The Phantom Broadcast
