Kino Quickies 02 - Death at Broadcasting House (1934) with Jo Botting

The second film in the Kino Quickies season, screened on March 27th 2022, was Death at Broadcasting House from 1934.

In the futuristic and glamorous surroundings of the BBC's brand new headquarters, an actor is murdered while performing in a radio drama, live on air, before the unsuspecting ears of millions of listeners.

Our specially invited expert guest for the post show Q&A was Dr Josephine Botting, curator at the BFI National Archive

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Your hosts are Dom Delargy and Dr Lawrence Napper

Death at Broadcasting House was based on a novel of the same name by Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell. The book is now out of print and very expensive to buy second hand - however, the story was serialised for the Sydney Morning Herald in 1934 and you can read this (unfortunately low quality) scan of that serialistion HERE.

The film is available to buy on DVD from our friends at Network Distribution.

In the film, one of the key plot points is the that the murder happens to be recorded on a new piece of technology called a Blattnerphone, although the device itself is never shown in the movie. The audience at the Kino was treated to a picture of one. You can see that and hear an example of an actual Blatterphone recording HERE

The Inventor of the Blattnerphone was Ludwig Blattner - an interesting man who was a major player in early UK film.

Book tickets for any of the films in the Kino Quickies season HERE

Jo Botting runs monthly screenings of interesting, obscure and rare vintage films on Tuesday evenings at the BFI. Details HERE

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Our in-house Quota Quickie expert, Dr Lawrence is giving an online talk on April 7th about.... yes you guessed it.... Quota Quickies! It’s called, Quota Quickies: the worst films ever made? and you can register for free HERE

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Here's a very good article explaining what Quota Quickies are from the Cinema History Blog

Well that was fascinating but now I want to find out more

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Kino Quickies podcast. It comes out a couple of days after each screening.

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