Death at Broadcasting House

Death at Broadcasting House, also known as Death at a Broadcast, is a 1934 British mystery film directed by Reginald Denham and starring Ian Hunter, Austin Trevor, Henry Kendall, and Jack Hawkins.[1]

Death at Broadcasting House
Jack Hawkins as Herbert Evans
Directed byReginald Denham
Produced byHugh Perceval
Screenplay byVal Gielgud, Holt Marvell & Basil Mason
Based onDeath at Broadcasting House
by Val Gielgud & Holt Marvell
StarringIan Hunter
Austin Trevor
Lilian Oldland
Music byOrd Hamilton
CinematographyGünther Krampf
Edited byReginald Beck
Production
companies
Phoenix Films
Distributed byAssociated British Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • November 1934 (1934-11) (UK)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish

Novel

The original plot comes from a novel of the same name,[2] set in what was then the mysterious world of radio in what was then the BBC's new broadcasting centre, Broadcasting House. It was written in 1934 by Val Gielgud – brother of John Gielgud and at that time the BBC's Head of Productions – and "Holt Marvell" - actually Eric Maschwitz, a lyricist and writer for films and the BBC.

Film

In the same year, it was made into the film, directed by Reginald Denham, with Ian Hunter (best known as King Richard I in the 1938 Adventures of Robin Hood) as the detective, Donald Wolfit as the murder victim, and Val Gielgud himself as the drama producer, Julian Caird. The film sticks closely to the plot of the book, but is lighter in tone, and capitalizes on the glamour of broadcasting by including a number of cameo appearances by radio stars, among them Hannen Swaffer, Gillie Potter, Elisabeth Welch and Percival Mackey. During the investigation, the detective uses a recording of the radio programme during which the murder occurred, and he refers to the "Blattnerphone", one of the first sound-recording machines, and one of which had actually been installed at Broadcasting House in March 1932.

Cast

References
  1. "Death at Broadcasting House (1934)". IMDb. 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  2. Gielgud, Val; Marvell, Holt (1934). Death at Broadcasting House. Rich & Cowan.


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