The Big Broadcast

Bing Crosby heads an all-star musical lineup in this freewheeling comedy from radio’s golden age. Fired from his radio show and dumped by his girl, Bing bonds with lovelorn oilman Stuart Erwin during a dark night of the soul (“You sing into a little hole year after year and then you die,” the despondent crooner laments). Soon Erwin resolves to rescue the radio station and Bing’s career with a broadcast revue featuring Cab Calloway, the Mills Brothers, Kate Smith, and more. The movie pops with jazzy visuals, slapstick surrealism, and a pinch of pre-Code spice, plus George Burns and Gracie Allen’s ineffable nonsense.