I have now seen all 4 of the Paramount "Big Broadcast" films made between 1932 and 1938: they are all uneven by nature (since they are crazy, genre-meshing variety shows with many guest stars), but all 4 contain stuff worth looking at and listening to. "The Big Broadcast" (1932) has moments of pure early surrealism, a few great photographic tricks, a lively song from the mega-cute Boswell Sisters (most of the other songs are too "operatic" for my tastes), and George Burns and Gracie Allen who are, however, quite underused (Gracie has only two scenes!). But the main love-quadrangle story seriously drags the film down, and has some unshakably distasteful sides (especially at the very end). One potentially risqué sequence - with Leila Hyams in the shower - is not so risqué after all. **1/2 out of 4.
Review of The Big Broadcast
