RADIO DAYS

US, 1987, 85 minutes, Colour.
Dianne Wiest, Diane Keaton, Seth Green, Julie Kavner, Wallace Shawn, Michael Tucker, Josh Mostel, Mia Farrow, Danny Aiello,
Tony Roberts, Narrator: Woody Allen.
Directed by Woody Allen.

Radio Days is an excellent Woody Allen film. It is a slight, short piece compared to Manhattan or Hannah. It is closer in spirit to Bananas and Purple Rose of Cairo. But it is a most engaging film, a real delight.

The portrait of Allen's family from 1938 to 1944 is as funny as ever, a nice group of eccentrics. And they listen to the radio.

So, after a funny opening yarn about burglars getting the correct answers on a phone quiz, there are plenty of stories about radio personalities, shows and the way that people let their imagination go as they listened to the radio. The film is a celebration of the past, in praise of memory and a lovely acknowledgement - of the foibles of human nature. Mia Farrow excels again. Diane Keaton sings. Diane Weist is the perfect husband-seeking maiden aunt. Seth Green is superb as the young hero. Woody Allen himself recalls the radio days by appearing only as the narrator story-teller.

1. The appeal of Woody Allen's work? Humour, memories? Tribute to radio? Tribute to New York in the '30s and '40s?

2. The qualities of Allen's writing: humour, jokes, irony, characters, Jewish humour, entertainment and appreciation? Direct visual humour, visual compositions and music? the importance of his own personal voiceover and the comments, his tone, inviting the audience to share his memories and appreciation? His memory of his own growing up?

3. The use of New York, Brooklyn and its streets, the beach, winter? Manhattan, the city streets, Radio City Music Hall, the nightclubs, the studios?

4. The range of musical background, the popular melodies, the singers and their associations?

5. Allen's memories 1938-44, family life in New York, the Jewish family, a young boy, the streets, school, the coming of World War Two, reliance on the radio, dreams and fantasies?

6. The family perspective; the grandparents and grandmother being squeezed into the corset, quiet grandfather, their not marrying for love? The uncle and his fish, his orthodoxy and going to discuss with the neighbours next door and becoming a communist, his humour? His wisecracks with his wife, her listening to the radio, wanting to go to the Copacabana! The children in the house, the girl who listened in on the phone and knew her neighbours, business, the reaction of the neighbours? The Carmen Miranda imitation with her uncles? Bea and her dance lessons, romance, demands of perfection, her various dates, her glasses, the outing and Orson Welles' War of the Worlds and her date running off, frightened, with the homosexual and his sadness at the song and remembering his dead fiancee, the divorcee and the outings, the competition in knowing the fish, taking Joey to Radio City Music Hall, to the quiz show, to a restaurant, buying him the chemistry set, her hopes and still alone?

7. Joey's parents and their talk about marriage, rarely kissing in public, arguing about the Pacific Ocean, the father hiding his jobs and his son always asking, the final discovery of his driving a taxi? The discipline of his son and going to the rabbi after he stole the money for the appeal for the Jewish state? The mother pregnant, the experience of the birth of the child and the family's delight? The war? Joey and his stories about the Masked Avenger, wanting the ring, taking the money, reprimands by the rabbi? At home, friendship with the boys in the street, on the beach, the experience of the war, on the lookout for submarines, the binoculars and the nude, the irony of her being the teacher? Going to Radio City Music Hall and The Philadelphia Story, the aura of the theatre? His aunt buying the chemistry set, dyeing the coat and his father chasing him? The family listening with attention to the story of the girl down the well? His picking up the radio and getting the lift in the taxi and giving his father a tip? 1944 and new Year's Day and the memories?

8. Radio sets, everybody listening (and their lives ruined!): the family and its favourites: The Masked Avenger, Biff Baxter? Breakfast with Irene and Roger and listening to the stories of the stars and the nightspots? The sports story for the uncle and the tale visualised of the armless pitcher? Listening to the ventriloquist and the ridicule of its being a radio programme? Songs and Bea listening to 'The Firefly'? The (girls at the soda fountain listening to the crooners and the boys watching in puzzlement? The counselling programme and Joey imagining his parents arguing? The advertisements, the vocalisations, the quizzes? The Copacabana? New Year's Day celebrations?

9. The opening with the burglars and the quiz, getting the tone with jokes? The family making up slogans? The conduct of quiz shows and the maestros, the quiz about the fish?

10. The visualising of the programmes, the studios, the patrons, the songs, the sound effects, the corny serials, war propaganda?

11. Sal and her work at the nightclub, her appearance and voice, the liaison with Roger, Roger and Irene and their style, breakfasting together, going to the nightspots? Going on the roof, being locked out? Her being a witness to the killing? Being taken by the criminal to be shot, at home and his mother giving her a meal, deciding then to give her an audition? Her going onto radio and her poor voice, the announcement of Pearl Harbor interrupting the programme? Deciding to have voice training, getting a position as a social commentator, going to the New Year's party, on the roof and her change of voice? Singing for the troops?

12. Irene and Roger and their style, affairs, all the radio celebrities seen throughout the film at the New Year's party?
The strong sense of parody, the armless pitcher, the gangster story?

13. Radio and pathos and sentiment, the girl in the well and people all over America listening?

14. The '30s and the beginning of the war? Family life, innocence and hope? The perennial questions of family and relationships? Glamour and nostalgia? Allen's final philosophy on remembering?

15. The film as a souvenir of the radio heritage? (And the use of Allen's friends in central roles: Diane Keaton singing, Danny Aiello as the gangster, Wallace Shawn as the Masked Avenger, Tony Roberts as the compere, Jeff Daniels as Biff Banner, Robert Joy as the homosexual, Diane Weist as Bea, Josh Mostel as the uncle, Julie Kavner as the mother?