Radio Parade of 1935 (1934) - film review

William Garland is the Director General of the National Broadcasting Group.  From his office (which he seldom leaves), he runs a smooth operation and cannot understand why his programmes, which consist mainly of uninspired classical recitals and incomprehensible lectures, are so unpopular.  Jimmy Clare, one of the men from the busy complaints department, knows what kind of shows the nation wants to hear and so persuades Garland to appoint him the new Programme Director.  With Garland’s daughter Joan working as his secretary, Jimmy prepares a gala evening featuring some of the best variety acts in the country.  Unfortunately, his plans are scuppered when theatrical magnate Carl Graham steps in and steals Jimmy’s acts.  Jimmy’s career looks ruined, until an eccentric scientist turns up with an invention that will save his reputation: colour television!

Radio Parade of 1935 is a little known gem of British cinema which has proven to be remarkably prescient.  It is both a brilliantly conceived satire of the BBC (which, at the time, had a reputation for insularity and not being particularly concerned about mass entertainment) and a spirited riposte to the glitzy musicals that were being washed up from Hollywood.   The film shows the impact that television will have on society, foreseeing the rapid demise of the music hall and a mass migration of talent from the music hall to the radio and TV studios.

This is one of the first films to feature Will Hay, himself a popular music hall perfomer.  Over the next decade, Hay would appear in over twenty films and become one of the most popular comedians in Britain.  As the Director General of a quasi-BBC operation, Hay began as he meant to go on, playing pompous authoritarian figures who are clearly useless at their job and cause mayhem wherever they go.  The film features many other well-known variety artistes of the period, although most of these are all but forgotten today.

Radio Parade of 1935 has one other claim to fame: it is the first of just two films to use the Dufaycolor process, albeit in two brief musical colour inserts (the other film was Sons of the Sea, released five years later).  In the mid-thirties, colour was still a rarity in cinema, and so this would have added greatly to the film’s appeal.  Surprisingly, one of the colour inserts features an African American singer making an emotional appeal for racial tolerance.  Yes, no doubt about it, this film was ahead of its time.  Sadly, the Hitler jokes also make it a film of its time.

A variant on the musical revue concept that was very much in vogue at the time, the film was directed with great aplomb by 30-year-old Arthur B. Woods, the third feature from the youngest director at British International Pictures.  Over the next few years, Woods made several respectable films and would come to be regarded as one of the most promising British filmmakers of his generation.  Tragically, his career was cut short when he was killed during WWII whilst serving in the RAF, aged 39.  

Radio Parade of 1935 is not the most perfectly constructed piece of cinema but it is great fun.  It bears witness to an important period in the history of broadcasting, whilst immortalising several music hall acts which might otherwise have been lost forever.  The lavish song and dance sequences set in the grand Art Deco broadcasting palace are choreographed with immense flair, offering a fair imitation of Busby Berkeley’s artistic creations in Hollywood.  The humour is a little strained in places but it is all good-natured fun, and, needless-to-say, Will Hay hits the right note every time.

© James Travers 2010

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