Murder by Television ** (1935, Bela Lugosi, June Collyer, Huntley Gordon, George Meeker, Henry Mowbray) – Classic Movie Review 11,628

Professor James Houghland: ‘I thought that television should be something more than just another form of amusement.’

Director Clifford Sanforth’s 1935 low-budget old B-feature thriller Murder by Television [The Houghland Murder Case] stars Bela Lugosi, June Collyer, Huntley Gordon, George Meeker and Henry Mowbray.

Bela Lugosi brings his usual engagingly energetic acting to the roles of the twin brothers in this interesting but dully handled, weakly scripted fantasy murder mystery, although some may agree with its intriguing premise about the evils of TV, then just a twinkle in scientists’ eyes.

Professor James Houghland (Charles Hill Mailes), the scientist who invents the TV set is mysteriously murdered at a public show by someone who wants to put it to an evil use of the haunted fishtank – that someone is an ancestor, no doubt, of the devisers of Saturday night TV in Britain.

Chief of Police Nelson (Henry Mowbray) then investigates. It looks as though Houghland could have had a heart attack but it seems he was murdered by a death ray. Lugosi plays the scientist assistant to the inventor Dr Arthur Perry and the scientist’s twin Edwin Perry. Dr Perry is a chief suspect, Houghland’s daughter June (June Collyer) and her boy friend are also under suspicion, as well as Dr Scofield (Huntley Gordon), inventor of a rival TV system. Then Dr Perry turns up murdered, chief suspect no more…

Murder by Television is a creaky, minor, slackly done and very dated whodunit murder mystery, but it is still some fun and worth a look for Lugosi and for the experimental TV, as well as for the speculations about early TV.

Also George Meeker, Henry Mowbray, Charles Hill Mailes, Charles H French, Hattie McDaniel, Henry Hall, Claire McDowell and Larry Francis.

Murder by Television [The Houghland Murder Case] is directed by Clifford Sanforth, runs 55 minutes, is made by Cameo Pictures Corp, is released by Imperial, is written by Joseph O’Donnell, is shot in black and white by James S Brown and Arthur Reed, is produced by Harry Joe Brown, William M Pizor and Edward M Spitz, and scored by Oliver Wallace.

The cast are Bela Lugosi as Dr Arthur Perry / Edwin Perry, June Collyer as June Houghland, Huntley Gordon as Dr Henry M Scofield, George Meeker as Richard Grayson, Henry Mowbray as Chief of Police Nelson, Charles Hill Mailes as Professor James Houghland, Claire McDowell as Mrs Houghland, Hattie McDaniel as Isabella the Cook, Allen Jung as Ah Ling the Houseboy, Charles K French as Donald M Jordan and Larry Francis.

The filmmakers borrowed the television equipment from Los Angeles-area researchers working on experimental TV. The equipment was worth $75,000, more than twice the film’s $35,000 budget.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,628

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