Scandal Sheet (1952 film)
Scandal Sheet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Phil Karlson |
Screenplay by | Eugene Ling James Poe Ted Sherdeman |
Based on | The Dark Page 1944 novel by Samuel Fuller |
Produced by | Edward Small |
Starring | Broderick Crawford Donna Reed John Derek |
Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
Edited by | Jerome Thoms |
Music by | George Duning |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Motion Picture Investors |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Scandal Sheet is a 1952 American film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film. The drama features Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed and John Derek.[1]
Plot
A newspaper man, Mark Chapman (Broderick Crawford), takes over an ailing New York daily newspaper, the New York Express and, by staging a number of publicity stunts, revives it as a scandal sheet. Chapman's wife, whom he years before deserted and left penniless, resurfaces and threatens to tell everyone who he is and what he has done to her, including driving her to attempt suicide. The two physically fight and he accidentally kills her, then tries to cover it up. From her purse, he retrieves money and a pawn shop receipt. When her body is discovered, the paper's star reporter, Steve McClearly (John Derek), begins investigating what has been determined to be a murder. As McClearly is joined by feature writer Julie Allison (Donna Reed), and they begin to dig deeper, the noose begins to tighten around Chapman's neck.
Chapman goes to the Bowery to redeem the pawn shop receipt. Before he can do so, Charlie Barnes, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Express who has become alcoholic, stumbles upon him. Chapman gives Barnes a cash handout; accidentally included with the money is the receipt. Barnes claims the item, which turns out to be the dead woman's suitcase, in which he finds proof that Chapman is the murderer. He telephones Allison and McCleary, but McCleary thinks that Barnes is too drunk and is calling in a phony story. This angers Barnes and he says he is going to take the story to a competitor, the Daily Leader. Chapman hears about Barnes going to the Daily Leader, waits for him near the newspaper's headquarters, then accosts and kills him. McCleary and Allison take a trip to Connecticut to find the judge who married the murdered woman and the man seen in profile in a photograph from the suitcase. They bring this judge back to the Express, who identifies Chapman as the groom, but under a different name.[2]
Cast
- Broderick Crawford as Mark Chapman
- Donna Reed as Julie Allison
- John Derek as Steve McCleary
- Rosemary DeCamp as Charlotte Grant
- Henry O'Neill as Charlie Barnes
- Harry Morgan as Biddle (billed as Henry Morgan)
- James Millican as Lt. Davis
- Griff Barnett as Judge Elroy Hacker
- Jonathan Hale as Frank Madison
- Strother Martin as Man on crutches (uncredited)
- Garry Owen as Drunk in bar (uncredited and his final role)
Production
Film rights to Sam Fuller's novel were sold for $15,000 to Howard Hawks during the war. After the war Fuller did a treatment and Sidney Buchman wrote a script, which Hawks then sold to Edward Small for $100,000.[3][4] John Payne was originally offered the lead,[5] then Dennis O'Keefe and Orson Welles were announced as stars.
Reception
Film critic Bosley Crowther was lukewarm about the film, writing, "The ruthlessness of tabloid journalism, as seen through the coolly searching eyes of Hollywood scriptwriters (who naturally shudder with shock at such a thing), is given another demonstration in Columbia's Scandal Sheet, a run-of-the-press melodrama which came to the Paramount yesterday. But apart from a bit of tough discussion of the public's avid taste for thrills and chills and a few dubious hints at tabloid techniques, there is nothing very shocking in this film ... The moral of all this dismal nonsense, we would gather, is meant to be that corruption breeds corruption. The moral is okay. Enough said."[6]
Critic Dennis Schwartz called the drama a "hard-hitting film noir thriller" and liked the camera work. He wrote, "Burnett Guffey's splashy black-and-white photography is filled with New York City atmosphere and the whirlwind energy buzzing around a press room."[7]
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved Scandal Sheet in 1997.[8]
References
- ^ Scandal Sheet at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.
- ^ Orval Hopkins (June 27, 1952). "As a Newspaper Tale, This One's a Good Suspense Film". The Washington Post. p. 34.
- ^ Hedda Hopper (September 21, 1948). "Anne Baxter Named 'Bitter Victory' Star". Los Angeles Times. p. 19.
- ^ Hedda Hopper (June 26, 1948). "Looking at Hollywood". Los Angeles Times. p. 8.
- ^ Hedda Hopper (May 21, 1948). "Looking at Hollywood,". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. A6.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (January 17, 1952). "film review". The New York Times. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis (February 14, 2005). "film review". Ozus' World Movie Reviews. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
External links
- 1952 films
- 1952 crime drama films
- American films
- American black-and-white films
- American crime drama films
- Columbia Pictures films
- English-language films
- Film noir
- Films scored by George Duning
- Films about journalists
- Films based on American novels
- Films directed by Phil Karlson
- Films produced by Edward Small
- Films set in New York City