Radioland Murders

Plot synopsis:
In 1939, a new radio network based at station WBN in Chicago, Illinois, begins its inaugural night. The station's owner, General Walt Whalen, depends on his employees to impress main sponsor Bernie King. This includes writer Roger Henderson, assistant director Penny Henderson (Roger's wife, seeking divorce), page boy Billy Budget, engineer Max Applewhite, conductor Rick Rochester, announcer Dexter Morris, director Walt Whalen, Jr. and stage manager Herman Katzenback. After King commissions rewrites on the radio scripts, the WBN writers get angry, adding to the fact that they have not been paid in weeks.
When Ruffles Reedy, a trumpet player, falls dead from rat poisoning, a series of events ensue. Director Walt Jr. is hanged (the mysterious killer makes it look like a suicide), and his father, the General, has the Chicago Police Department (CPD) get involved to solve the murder mysteries as the nightly radio performance continues. Herman Katzenback is then killed after attempting to fix the main stage when the machinery malfunctions. Penny is appointed both stage manager and director due to Walt Jr. and Katzenback's deaths. Writer Roger Henderson tries to solve the killings, much to the annoyance of the police, led by Lieutenant Cross.
Because Roger unfortunately appears at every scene of crime just as the murders take place, he is ruled as the prime suspect. Roger and Billy Budget then theorize that announcer Dexter Morris is the next to die. Dexter ignores their warning and is killed by electrocution. By going through private documents in WBN's file room, Roger finds that the victims all previously worked together at a radio station in Peoria, Illinois, which he then correlates into a secretive FCC scandal. King (laughing gas) and General Whalen (falls down an elevator shaft) are the next to die after Roger's warning, causing even more suspicion from the police.
After escaping from custody, Roger uses Billy to communicate and send scripts to Penny. When rewriting one of the programs, Gork: Son of Fire, Roger attempts to write the script with self-referential events, proving to everyone that the mysterious killer is actually sound engineer Max Applewhite. Max explains that his killings were a revenge scheme that dealt with stock holders and patents, specifically detailing his invention of television, which other scientists have copied. Roger and Penny are taken by Max atop the radio tower at gunpoint. Max is eventually killed when a biplane shows up and guns him down. Impressed by the nightly performance, the sponsors decide to fund WBN. Roger and Penny reconcile their complex relationship and decide not to divorce.

Tags: cult, mystery, murder

Review:
The sponsors are a tough sell, nothing is going as planned, and everything is pure chaos, compounded by a mounting tally of murder victims."Radioland Murders" is one of the noisiest and busiest live-action movies I've seen, literally wall-to-wall in every frame with rapid-fire slapstick and pratfalls, and it does not quite work as a comedy, but even as a comedy, it's breezy and pleasant in the face of its frenzied pace -- not unlike an old Warner Bros.
The movie amounts to what could likely be a 9-year old listener's visual projection of what he's hearing on the radio.It's technically dazzling, too, with the lens darting into rooms, out of windows and around the action becoming its own frenetic participant, and there's some breathtaking shots of the exterior of the station, often accentuating its height and distance from the city street far below.
And Scott Michael Campbell is very funny as Billy the pageboy, a kind of wide-eyed Quentin Tarantino of the radio age; fast-talking (everyone in the film is fast-talking, actually) and easily distracted (the look on his face as he accidentally barges into the ladies' dressing room and becomes mesmerized by the sight of the topless actresses is priceless), his entire grammar and understanding of life is derived from the radio shows of which he has encyclopedic knowledge.Finally, "Radioland Murders" closes with some wistfully ironic thoughts (the movie is mostly free of contemporary irony, with the exception of this and an unsuccessful line about warning labels on cigarette packs) about television (best summed up by three uniformed cops hypnotized by a cathode ray tube) and the immortality of radio.
A movie more about myth than story, "Radioland Murders" is written in the scattershot style of the radio programs depicted.
It might merely be a sanitized and moderate entertainment (particularly when viewed against something like "The Hudsucker Proxy"), but it's affectionate, features lively music, looks great, and is completely innocent..
After more murders are committed, writer Roger Henderson, the innocent prime suspect, has to simultaneously evade the police, rewrite scripts for shows about to air, and solve the crime to prove his innocence.There are some discrepancies and parts I'm sure critical people split hairs over.
For example (I'm going to end up recommending this film, so if you don't want its best sight gag ruined, for God's sake skip the next paragraph)...One of the radio serials is about an aristocratic English explorer and his native jungle sidekick.
If we'd seen more of this radio play - and got to watch the bemused/assured/disgusted/bored expressions on the faces of the two voice actors - it would have continued to be funny; it would have got even funnier.
Sure, the film wants to be more than a highly entertaining comedy variety show (it's also trying for murder mystery, love story, nostalgic reverie, and social commentary), so it fails on its own terms, but it IS a highly entertaining comedy variety show, which is good enough..
This, in part, accounts for some of the lack of popularity this film experienced.However...This film is intriguing in that it features some great performances, manic and frantic dialog indicative of the behind-the-scenes and on-the-air intonations of the age, and a slick style which elevates this work far above the rating it currently enjoys here at IMDb.The filming style is mesmerizing.
Filled to the brim with intricate timing, sight gags, 40's-style dialogue, radio in-jokes, ensemble acting, and great music, this movie had everything to love and nothing to hate!
If you CAN laugh, if you like movies, if you liked the radio, if you breathe, you should like "Radioland Murders!".
Just watch this movie and ENJOY :) Radioland Murders have unbelievable "rhythmic" vision, editing and plot line.
Whatever, Radioland Murders is one of my 'all time favourites' and I recommend it to everyone who love great comedy movies.
The potential is obviously present with a cast of extremely talented actors and even some of the folks who were a big part of radio history (George Burns and Rosemary Clooney), but someone (the Director?
Michael McKean's homage to Spike Jones was a joy, but too short, and there were too many missed opportunities to show what actually went on in radio broadcasts performed in front of a live audience.
I would bet there is probably another whole movie sitting on the cutting room floor.On the plus side, however, at least SOMEONE made the effort to capture the feel of major broadcast radio from it's heyday, and the look as well as the overall mood is fairly authentic.
Radioland Murders is a movie that should be seen more than once because it is so fast-paced and contains lots of inside jokes....it helps to have worked in radio (i've been a control board operator for 6 yrs) to catch some of the adsurdity.
In my opinion, it's mostly about "timing" because in radio "dead air" is a no-no....one program must flow into another (with commercials in between, of course)....the audience has no idea of the confusion going on behind the scenes!
It's amazing the number of directors who try to make fun of "the golden age of radio." Woody Allen's done it, and David Lynch tried the same thing for the early days of TV in his "On the Air." The big problem with this film is the attempt to copy the rapid-fire dialog of the Marx Brothers's movies.
Even the Marxes had to learn to slow it down; their films only became popular when they learned to slow down so that people could finish laughing.There are good comic performances here (look for Bobcat Goldthwait and Christopher Lloyd) but they're swamped as everyone else tries to slam out lines like Walter Winchell on crack.
Perhaps it was Lucas's influence that insisted on cramming more and more on the screen, as if set dressing would substitute for real wit and humanity.The one good thing I can recommend is the soundtrack to this movie; the score is evocative, and the theme song "Love Is On The Air" should have been the theme song to a better movie..
A ton of familiar faces dot the landscape, including good old George Burns, and if you know your character actors well enough, you'll quickly figure out the killer's identity.
The film moves at a relatively frantic pace and veers toward the satirical, and you can figures out what popular radio performers of the time are being lovingly mocked, including Frank Sinatra, Cab Calloway and the Andrews or McGuire Sisters (I wasn't sure which).
At the time, WBN, a small, fictional station set in Chicago, Illinois was to become the fourth national radio network in the United States.
Murder really was not the only one.This farcical comedy has all the elements to make you laugh, shock you, and leave you satisfied if you're looking at it from a non-traditional view.Multiple plots weave throughout Radioland Murders that all revolve around the WBN national broadcast.
The story begins with a soon-to-be divorced husband (Roger) and wife (Penny), played by Mary Stuart Masterson (of Fried Green Tomatoes fame) and Brian Benben (from Dream On).It seems that Roger Henderson had a roving eye, which landed him flat on his back.
If you are a fan of farcical comedies, it will feel like the movie is just the right length.
Whether you are trying to guess who did it during this whodunit or not, the character development will amuse you.Celebrities fill the lineup in this movie from well known names like Masterson, George Burns (this was his last movie) and Rosemary Clooney to many names you won't recognize that are attached to people with faces that will look all too familiar.If you're a fan of vintage ideas and radio shows you will find this movie to be a treat.
If you are a fan of the movie Noises Off, then Radioland Murders should be right up your alley.The critics were not fond of this movie when it came out and many wondered what George Lucas was thinking when he came up with the idea.
This is especially true if you get the meaning, the context, and the slapstick enjoyment from the melodrama of the radio celebrities in Radioland Murders.I give it four stars..
It's kinda like "The Old Dark House" or "The Cat And The Canary", mystery comedies with a lot of things happening to a lot of characters in one night.
This would make a good triple feature with RADIO DAYS and MY FAVORITE YEAR if you want to be nostalgic about old-time entertainment.
(I did radio drama in the 70s and it was still much like it appears in the film.) MINUS: The mystery plot, while it keeps the action going, is rather a let-down when it finally unravels.
RADIO DAYS is more successful because it focuses on funny situations and characters and doesn't burden the film with another layer of plot.PLUS: Wow...about five minutes of vintage Spike Jones material re-created on screen with McKean in a Spike suit and playing the Sabre Dance on bottles, guns, etc.!?!
Radioland Murders is one I checked out on Pay Per View because of its connection to old-time radio.
Little did I know Radioland Murders would become one of my favorite movies of all time!If you have an interest in the days of live radio theatre, you will enjoy this movie.
We see behind the scenes how sound effects were made and a handful of talent were turned into numerous acts.If you enjoy slapstick comedy, you will HOWL at this movie.
the list goes on and on!If you enjoy a good murder mystery and especially one with an interesting historical plot twist, you'll really like this one.
If you love watching the set-up (familiar or otherwise) and anticipate but still laugh at the punchline, you'll love this movie just like I do..
Radioland Murders stars Mary Stuart Masterson and Brian Benben as a husband and wife who work at a radio station.
If you've never heard of those films, then you may find it hard to understand exactly what George Lucas was doing.Brian Benben and Mary Stuart Masterson head up an all-star cast in pure 1930s fashion, as people one by one begin to die off during the opening night of a new radio station.
You don't roar with laughter when you watch The Thin Man, but you chuckle at the clever dialogue and amusing antics of the characters, in a more refined way which characterized the manners of the era.As with all his movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, George Lucas pays great homage to the Golden Age of cinema, and Radioland Murders is no exception.
This is not a sophisticated comedy by any means, just a lot of good, clean fun (well, except for the murders).
The people who don't like or understand this movie are the ones who don't keep up with all of the hilarious jokes and things mentioned in fast dialog or under-the-breath.
Especially Abbott and Costello's "Who Done It" (Which also took place at a radio station) It is a great family film and mine has watched a numerous times.
One of the stations writers Roger Henderson (Brian Benben) is a suspect and tries to clear his name and find the real killer with the help of his wife Penny (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the stations pageboy, Billy (Scott Campbell)..
I don't know why but I just loved this movie from the first time I've seen it - everything is balanced between comedy and criminal motives, mystery and funny gags.
Many people may disagree, but for me without any doubt this is a masterpiece in comedy - when you watch this you don't stick to a murder plot, comedy parts aren't exaggerated - everything flows smoothly and is really entertaining, just how it should be.And I was astonished when I found out that George Lucas was author of the story - I'm not really a fan of Lucas, but this time he really did a great job.
Also the cast is great - full of well-known actors but without any stars that would try to steal too much attention.Radioland Murders is really great entertainment..
Radioland Murders is an complex, action packed film based on fictional radio station WBA Chicago.
If you liked this film, please search "Remember WENN": an original series by Rupert Holmes set in a 1940's radio station.
The critics couldn't keep up with it and that's why they couldn't find any laughs.But for me,  "Radioland Murders" is a classic cult comedy that pits good performances and slapstick against visual effects.
the opening shot and the sequence in which Brian Benben hangs from the call letters when he is on the lam for murder.The storyline takes place in 1939 at the radio station WBN, where they are attempting to create a fourth national network.
Roger Henderson (Benben) is trying to win back his wife, Penny (Mary Stuart Masterson) and both Roger and Penny are trying to solve some very real murders that started at the same time the show did.I liked just about every scene in the movie, with my favorites being the interrogation scene and the scene where Rick Rochester (Michael McKean) and his band are going round and round due to the turntable, resulting in one of the six murders that occur without the film.As I said, the perfomances are excellent.
He executive produced and conceived the story for the film and in the end, the movie is excellent and even if you don't like it, it grows on you.
Going in, Radioland Murders has some key elements that could of made for an entertaining story: all-star cast in a screwball comedy and an nostalgic storyline that could put to use a colorful set.But it all failed.
Watching Mary Stuart Masterson struggle through the lead female role made me long for Jennifer Jason Leigh's brilliant, high-spirited, cigarette-chomping, Hepburn-inspired career girl in the Coens' Hudsucker Proxy.Also Brian Benben, most notable from HBO's "Dream On" series, doesn't give viewers any of maligned everyman he popularized in the older series.This movie attempts many times to emulate that 40s-era world, with its Art Deco imagery, but the characters come off more cartoonish than swashbuckling.
Those films succeed where Radioland fails, pulling viewers into these bygone eras to feel an inkling of what those times felt and sounded like..
A few years before "The Phantom Menace", George Lucas was involved in the goofy "Radioland Murders", about a series of killings at a radio station in 1939 Chicago.
Brian Benben and Mary Stuart Masterson play the lead roles (and George Lucas said that they're the parents of Richard Dreyfuss's character in "American Graffiti").
George Burns, in his final film role, appears as a radio personality.
If you like the old radio shows, films set in the '30s and mysteries, this should be the film for you.
Apparently all the people who are murdered worked together at another radio station that was involved in a scandal.
He's the husband - possibly soon to be ex-husband of Penny Henderson (Mary Stuart Masterson) who manages to somehow keep the station going with no scripts and people dying all around her."Radioland Murders" has a crackerjack cast - besides the above, the cast includes Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Ned Beatty, Harvey Korman, George Burns, Scott Michael Campbell, Brion James, Anne DiSalvo - the list goes on.The radio shows (Lloyd's character is the sound effect man), the commercials and the music are absolutely wonderful.
As far as the murders, they happen so quickly and so soon into the film that it was hard to know whom exactly had bought it.The acting is mostly good except for Benben, who for reasons of his own decided to pretend he was a wisecracking guy from the '40s instead of just doing the role.
General secretary Penny Henderson (Mary Stuart Masterson) is managing the chaos and trying to break up with husband head-writer Roger Henderson (Brian Benben) after catching him with va-va-va-voom girl Claudette Katsenback (Anita Morris).
The comedy is not funny it is like a Three Stooges or Abbot and Costello movie with very bad and very tired slapstick.
This movie takes us back 70 years ago at the City of Chicago, where station WBN hosts the variety of many radio programs.
Brian Benben stars as hapless writer Roger Henderson, who tries to solve the murders of stool-pigeon trumpet player Ruffles Reedy(Jack Sheldon), Toupee wearing Director Walt Whalen Jr.(Jeffery Tambor), Bossy Stage Manager Herman Katzenback(Larry Miller), Sleazy Radio Announcer Dexter Morris(Corbin Bernsen), humorless sponsor Bernie King(Brion James), and WBN Head Man General Walt Whalen(Ned Beatty).
It features appearances by well-known comedian George Burns as the 100-year-experienced radio comedian Milt Lackey, Anita Morris' last appearance as the Va-Va-Va-Voom Girl with the Va-Va-Va-Voom voice Claudette Katzenback, Christopher Lloyd as the sound effects man Zoltan, and Peter MacNicol(who is known for his starring role in the Mr. Bean Movie) as the son of one of the writers.
The frenetically-paced, highly colorful movie would have been fun and exciting enough except that the writers (based on an idea by George Lucas) "threw in the kitchen sink" by adding murder after murder which started occurring from the moment the Radioland broadcast began.
("I always thought they should put some kind of warning on those cigarettes," mentions Mrs. Henderson, played by Mary Stuart Masterson, the boss's actual strength behind the Radioland show.) Probably the most frenetic and fantastic of the crew backstage was "Roger Henderson" played by Brian Benben, the head radio writer, who had become the Chicago police's prime suspect in the murders.
The scene is rushed so I didn't even see the bare breasts the first time I watched the movie.
It helps that I really like old timey radio shows, but that is not a prerequisite to enjoying the film.This movie moves fast, and I think that's one thing that throws a lot of people.
But overall if you like machine-gun dialogue, screwball comedy, and lots of pratfalls, this is a hilarious movie..