Caught by Television (1936)
"Trapped by Television" (original title)

An inventor looking for backing for his television invention gets involved with a crooked businessman and gangsters who try to steal his invention.

Director:

Del Lord

Writers:

Lee Loeb (screenplay), Harold Buchman (screenplay),

Stars:

Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, Nat Pendleton

Cast

Cast overview:
Mary Astor	...	Barbara 'Bobby' Blake
Lyle Talbot	...	Fred Dennis
Nat Pendleton	...	Rocky O'Neil
Joyce Compton	...	Mae Collins
Thurston Hall	...	John Curtis
Henry Mollison	...	Thornton
Wyrley Birch	...	Paul Turner
Robert Strange	...	Standish

Storyline

An inventor looking for backing for his television invention gets involved with a crooked businessman and gangsters who try to steal his invention.

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Plot Keywords:

inventor | gangster | television | check | apartment | 

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Taglines:

AS STARTLING AS ITS TITLE (original poster)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Caught by Television

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Great Art Deco TV Props, Okay Film

This film tries to blend comedy with drama, and the result is an uneasy tossed salad rather than a smooth pudding. Lyle Talbot is so stalwart and large it is difficult to feature him as a TV inventor -- but he more than makes up for this in the fight scene, where, with his usual technique, he just beats the dickens out of the other actors for five or ten minutes. Nat Pendelton is wonderful as the dim-witted bill collector turned science hobbyist. Mary Astor, playing closer to her "Thin Man" arch smile than to her "Maltese Falcon" dramatic style, is a scheming but lovable promoter of potato peelers who decides to back this newfangled thing called television. All in all, this makes a better comedy than a drama, but the direction pulls it both ways, and thus it fails to satisfy either audience altogether.

Kudos to the prop department for building the most amazingly art deco television camera and receiver in the history of film -- complete with a flat screen monitor! Great stuff, that!

Anyway, it's a fun film, won't put you to sleep, and might give you a few laughs until Lyle Talbot swings into action and starts the fight scene that you knew was headed your way the minute you saw his name in the credits and his broad shoulders in that unconvincing scientist's get-up.