Hullabaloo

[Ollie]

While my cable-provider screwed up my recording, they weren't able to destroy my favorable comments about this unseen film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032614/

1940, with Frank Morgan in a comedic Orson-ish role as a radio 'star' whose War Of Worlds broadcast creates havoc for the broadcast network and the sponsor in the first third of the film. The last two thirds is a tale of all parties' attempts to recover.

Unless Morgan is an incredibly great "man of a thousand voices", then this film stands as one of the best examples of diverse lip-synching where Morgan is continually impersonating other people - women, other Hollywood stars, etc. In some cases, it's obvious that Morgan CAN do some voices, and in others, it APPEARS they have dubbed in voices. This was a delight to watch from that technical standpoint alone.

The witty and quick dialog is like a Ben Hecht script, and Frank Morgan's frequent and great one-liner under-his-breath mutterings had me laughing too loud at 6 a.m.

However, for a non-Musicals-Lover like me, the film deteriorates into a collection of musical skit performances. Oh well, at least that was a good breakfast moment until my cable provider destroyed the film with its monthly sirens and emergency test procedures. Grrr.