This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Admirable film.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Bela Lugosi appeared in two films in the Thirties where television was an important element of the plot. One was the fabulous International House produced by Paramount, one of the great fantasy films of all time let alone that decade. At the time television was in an experimental stage and you could fantasize about it. The second was Murder By Television made for a fly by night Poverty Row outfit called Cameo Pictures. It was a bit more serious and not quite as good. In fact the lion's share of its failure might well be the editing. Some seven minutes were left out of the version I saw which seems to be what's out there. Not that the story was all that intelligible to begin with. Bela is one of several suspects in the death of an inventor who was making an experimental broadcast. The only other name people will recognize out of this cast will be Hattie McDaniel, playing what else, a maid.Bela was on the road to Ed Woodom with this film.

Slow moving, confusing, unsatisfying, dull. And these are the good things. A murder is caused by some unknown. It involves the premier of a television process that takes us all over the world through video. We have two Bela Lugosi's for the price of one. The plot is convoluted and hard to decipher. In the end, Lugosi two makes a long meandering speech, solving the crime. Listening to his accent laden diatribe is the highlight. When you get right down to it, the only thing of any value here is the title. There are lots of close ups of guilty looking people. The suspects stand around in a line like they are posing for a family portrait. There are also two racial stereotypes: a young Chinese man and that frantic woman from "Gone With the Wind," Hattie MacDonald. One speaks Charlie Chan English and the other runs around saying "Lordie, Lordie!" What a stretch.

I seem to recall being warned about this one in advance to count it among Bela Lugosi's worst films! Anyhow, my viewing pleasure with this film (if there was any to be had in the first place) was seriously hampered by the atrocious video/audio quality of the print I watched (which seems to come off of a TV recording), replete with missing frames (shortening its running time by about 6 minutes!) and practically looking as if it was shot in the 1900s or something! Still, I suppose with the proper script and performers this could have made for a decent Thin Man/Charlie Chan outing; as it is, it's merely dull with a capital D and fatally cliché-ridden. Lugosi fared much better in the similarly-themed INTERNATIONAL HOUSE (1933) which was a most pleasant surprise for me when I caught up with it late last year via Universal's W.C. Fields DVD set.

This could have and should have been a hell of a lot more fun than it is, but instead we're stuck watching a bunch of people standing around talking for an hour about some sort of "death ray" emitted by a new contraption called a television set. Not much happens here, it's just a lot of talk and standing around, and more standing around and more talking. Even Bela Lugosi (playing two characters!) doesn't have anything to work with here, nothing can save this mess. It might hold slight appeal for those who are interested in an early look at both cinema and television, but horror fans and Lugosi fans will be bored to tears with this one. It's static and slow moving.