TRAPPED BY TELEVISION (1936)
Article #1067 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-15-2004
Posting Date: 7-14-2004
Directed by Del Lord
Featuring Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, Nat Pendleton

A young man who has just invented television finds himself the target of crooks who don’t want him to sell his product.

The movie has an intriguing enough title, but underneath it all it’s a pretty ordinary melodrama with a better-than-average cast and only slight science elements (the television of the title). There are some nice things about the movie; there’s a villain who plays darts with a blowgun, Nat Pendleton walks around constantly saying “Science is my hobby” but has trouble pronouncing “cathode-ray tube”, and there’s an appealing cast. The down side is that there’s simply not much depth to it; it’s entertaining enough for the ride but pretty forgettable once it’s all over. Still, it’s worlds better than MURDER BY TELEVISION, and it would be best not to mistake the two.