The Big Broadcast of 1938
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Written by Walter DeLeon, Frances Martin, et al
1938/USA
Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing /Netflix rental
[box] S.B. Bellows: Meet me down in the bar! We’ll drink breakfast together.[/box]
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to hear “Thanks for the Memory” again in its original version. The rest of this review-style movie … not so much.
S.B. Bellows (W.C. Fields) owns a cruise-liner, the Gigantic which is in a Trans-Atlantic race with the rival Colossal. Bellows intends to board the Colossal to sabotage its effort but he gets on the wrong ship. On the Gigantic, Buzz Fielding (Bob Hope) is emceeing a radio broadcast of the race. His fiancée (Dorothy Lamour) accompanies him but soon gets captivated by a young inventor. Near the end, Bellows’ daughter Martha (Martha Raye) is picked up from a ship-wreck. She is known for breaking mirrors with her face and otherwise causing havoc. With such specialty acts as Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra, Ben Blue, Kirsten Flagstand, and Tizo Guizar.
This movie has little to recommend it besides the song unless you are a fan of W.C. Fields. In that case, he does his classic golf and billiard sketches and participates in other funny business. I thought it was interesting that Fields and Raye got top billing. Bob Hope who has the most on-screen time, I think, is well down with Shep Fielding on the poster.
Ralph Ranger and Leo Robin won an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song
for “Thanks for the Memory”, which went on to become Bob Hope’s theme song.
Clip – Bob Hope and Shirley Ross singing “Thanks for the Memory”
