Trapped by Television

Trapped by Television equates to a bit more than most 30's cinematic potboilers. It may include a number of the tropes that genre films from that decade usually have but it is distinct in that it is quite historically interesting. The reason for this is that it depicts a 30's view of television – a technology that hadn't actually happened at that point in time yet. Interestingly, the film speculates that these devices would not only be able to receive signals but to transmit them as well. To this end we have an inventor devise an elaborate art deco TV that can do just this. The plot-line surrounding this has him needing financial backing and going to a shady businessman, while a gang of criminals gets involved seeing this new invention as a potentially massive money-maker.

It's actually quite a decent premise for one of these flicks, given that, as we all know perfectly well, television would soon go on to be perhaps the most successful and influential technological development of the 20th century and the depiction of how it could work in this movie is charming and entertainingly quaint. Aside from all this, the plot-line still has the usual requisite elements seen in umpteen films from the period such as a male/female duo, a comedy-relief character – in this case a science-loving debt collector and dastardly villains. And to top it all off, it rounds off with a satisfying extended fight sequence and there's really nothing wrong with that either.

This film has more hackneyed characters and cliches than most thirties films, but has one redeeming value; it has an original product: television. TV was virtually unknown in 1936, the year this film was made. It was still in experimental stages, and people's imaginations ran wild with the possibilities of the new phenomenon. The acting, if you could call it that, is way over the top, but the most fascinating part of the film is the technology. It is relatively accurate, and I found it extremely interesting on how the medium was handled at the corporate level. The nefarious bad guy complication was obviously a Hollywood studio insertion to try and make the film more precarious, but the struggle of the engineer who invented a prototype is far more interesting that any phony Hollywood subplot. Watchable for the tech aspect.

This film tries to blend comedy with drama, and the result is an uneasy tossed salad rather than a smooth pudding. Lyle Talbot is so stalwart and large it is difficult to feature him as a TV inventor -- but he more than makes up for this in the fight scene, where, with his usual technique, he just beats the dickens out of the other actors for five or ten minutes. Nat Pendelton is wonderful as the dim-witted bill collector turned science hobbyist. Mary Astor, playing closer to her "Thin Man" arch smile than to her "Maltese Falcon" dramatic style, is a scheming but lovable promoter of potato peelers who decides to back this newfangled thing called television. All in all, this makes a better comedy than a drama, but the direction pulls it both ways, and thus it fails to satisfy either audience altogether.

Kudos to the prop department for building the most amazingly art deco television camera and receiver in the history of film -- complete with a flat screen monitor! Great stuff, that!

Anyway, it's a fun film, won't put you to sleep, and might give you a few laughs until Lyle Talbot swings into action and starts the fight scene that you knew was headed your way the minute you saw his name in the credits and his broad shoulders in that unconvincing scientist's get-up.

The inventor of an improved form of TV battles crooks and crooked broadcasters to remain alive and remain in control of his invention.

That sounds much more exciting than it is. This is a well made, well acted story that has a weird mix of humor and thrills. You have the crooks trying to steal the invention which is very good, and then you have things like the character of the dopey bill collector who seems to come from a very good broad comedy. The problem is that the two styles don't really blend and you end up with a movie thats neither, as well as being just sort of okay. Its a bland affair that never really held my attention.

Worth trying if you run across it, but probably not worth running out to get.

'Trapped by Television': an intriguing title that sounds as though the film might feature people being accidentally sucked into the fictional realm of TV.

It doesn't.

In 1936, television was very much in its infancy and the mere idea of broadcasting images was still fantastical enough to be the subject of a whole movie. This fun romantic drama/thriller sees Lyle Talbot as inventor Fred Dennis, who finally perfects his television camera and receiver set with support from opportunistic promoter Barbara 'Bobby' Blake (Mary Astor), her secretary Mae Collins (Joyce Compton) and well-meaning bill collector Rocky O'Neil (Nat Pendleton). Paragon Broadcasting CEO John Curtis (Thurston Hall) shows interest in the invention, and success for Dennis and pals looks assured, but a corrupt Paragon employee has other plans and sets out to sabotage their demonstration.

A light-hearted romp that proves all the more interesting from a historical angle, 'Trapped by Television' is a surprisingly entertaining piece of fluff, with decent performances from its likable leads, some reasonable scenes of tension, and the coolest looking television camera you're ever likely to see—an incredible hunk of art-deco metal and glass that is equal parts machine and objet d'art.

No-one has to battle their way out of a cathode-ray-tube world of make believe, but the film is worth seeing nonetheless.