A Shriek in the Night (1933)

Y'know, kiddies, one can't help but get the impression from watching the movies of the time that being a "big city reporter" during the 1930's was a much more exciting job than it is today. We've already seen examples of reporters being held at gunpoint by supposed mass murderers trying to prove their innocence in The Front Page and His Girl Friday. The Payoff even gave us a crusading reporter who had to turn the tables on his own publisher before the boss had him killed to keep him from printing his story. And, of course, each of these intrepid reporters were able to not only expose the bad guys but do it with an aplomb and sparkling wit that showed why they were considered top wordsmiths. Well, today you can add two more reporters to that list as we meet Pat Morgan (Ginger Rogers) and Ted Kord (Lyle Talbot) who find themselves in deadly danger as the seek out the truth behind a series of murders in A Shriek in the Night.

Friday Funnies - The Front Page (1931)

Hiya Kiddies! I actually covered a lot of the history of this film back in my discussion of His Girl Friday. That was actually a remake of this film, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, which was originally based on a broadway play. So how do the two compare?

Honestly, this one certainly has a lot going for it. Cinematographer Glen MacWilliams brings some interesting shots to the procedings, and Director Lewis Milestone does keep things moving along at a brisk pace, but there is simply no way that Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien as Walter Burns and Hildy Johson can match the onscreen preence and charm of Grant and Russell. Even in scenes which remain pretty much the same from film to film, there is still the sense of something lacking. Nonetheless, it is still defintiely entertaining and Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer's script defintiely shines.

Haven't been able to find an embeddable clip online, so we'll just go straight to the skinny:

Title: The Front Page
Release Date: 1931
Running Time: 101 min
Black and White
Starring: Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Produced by: Lewis Milestone, Howard Hughes
Distributed by: United Artists

The Front Page is available to watch or download free here.
Amazon has it available for purchase on DVD: The Front Page (1931) [Remastered Edition].

Netflix appears to be out of stock at the moment: The Front Page.

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian

Whodunnit Wednesday - The PayOff (1942) - starring Lee Tracy

Perhaps it's a result of having grown up in the era of Woodward and Bernstein and seeing the impact that their digging and reporting had on the country, but the image of the investigative reporter has always been something of a romanticized one for me. The idea of an intrepid man on the inside, fighting the powers that be for justice, bringing the things that people need to know out into the light, exposing those who would undermine our country, our cities, our way of life. Risking life and limb and reputation to get that headline that will ultimately result in the fall of those who are corrupt.

Yeah, I realize I'm exercising a little hyperbole here, but bear with me, because though it may not be an accurate description of the life of the investigative reporter, it is definitely accurate when it comes to the protagonist of today's feature.

Of course in today's society the "news" tends to be merely spin and there is little actual investigating done. After all, why investigate what the truth really is when the various parties and interest groups will certainly feed you enough spin to keep your twenty-four hour talking heads in a job for years? And besides, some actual looking at the facts might get in the way of the narrative that you're trying to spin and that could be problematic. But The Payoff's Brad McKay (superbly played by Lee Tracy) is incredibly far removed from today's rhetoric-spouting talking heads. For him what is important is digging out the truth, no matter where it might lead. (Though it should be noted that in the end even the intrepid McKay does a bit of bending the truth in the end, the final published version of the story not exactly matching the facts, a concession that even he acknowledges.)

When a special prosecutor who was about to lower the boom on a mysterious criminal mastermind is suddenly and mysteriously murdered, hard-drinking two-fisted reporter Brad McKay is assigned the story by his boss. McKay, who has contacts on both sides of the law (and the ingratiating/irritating habit of calling everyone, male and female either "sweetheart" or "baby" - except for Ian Keith's Inspector Thomas, who he constantly refers to as "Blue Eyes"), is soon up to his neck in bribes, gangsters, questionable women, damsels, and gunfire. Along the way his investigation turns up some surprising (for him, anyway, though the viewer is likely to be just a bit ahead on the big reveal) twists. What really keeps this movie going, though, is Tracy's degenerate charm and the liberal amount of humor scattered through the film. Unlike something like today's Public Enemies, this film never forgets that its number one priority is to engage and entertain its audience and that it definitely does.

Just a quick side not before we get to the preview - Lee Tracy was certainly no stranger to this type of role, as he originated the role of Hildy Johnson in the Broadway production of The Front Page, which you might remember from our discussion a couple of weeks ago of His Girl Friday. Unfortunately, however, when the time came to actually film The Front Page, Tracy was passed over for Pat O'Brien. Certainly, O'Brien was not a bad choice, but this film does give a taste of what the earlier movie could have been with Tracy in the role.

Ok, once again, an online trailer doesn't appear to be available, but here's the first seven or so minutes of the flick which will definitely give you an idea of the flavor of this mystery:


Ok, Skinny Time:
Title: The Payoff
Release Date: 1942
Running Time: 74 min
Black and White
Starring: Lee Tracy, Evelyn Brent
Directed by: Arthur Dreifuss
Produced by: Harry D. Edwards, Jack Schwarz
Released by: Producers Releasing Corporation

The Payoff is available to watch or download for free here. (BTW, the page actually says that it's the 1935 film of the same name, but it actually is this one.)
It's available on DVD from Amazon: The Payoff.
And you can always rent the DVD from Netflix: The Payoff

As always, if you've seen today's flick, please let me know what you think about it in the comments section. Your feedback is definitely encouraged.

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian

Friday Funnies - His Girl Friday (1940) - starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell

Hiya Kiddies! It's Friday, and that means it's time for a comedy. And has Professor Damian got a corker for you today! In 1940, director Howard Hawks set out, with screenwriter Charles Lederer to adapt for the big screen a play called The Front Page which had been written by  Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. The play involved Newspaper editor Walter Burns's efforts to keep his star reporter Hildy Johnson from leaving the paper in order to get married and get a "repectable" job. During casting for the movie, however, Hawks reportedly had his secretary read Hildy's lines and decided he liked the sound of the words coming from a woman. The script was quickly re-written so that "Huldy" became short for Hildegard, (and became Burns's ex-wife) and the previously female fiancee became Bruce Baldwin.

As one watches the movie, it quickly becomes apparent that there are still sparks between Burns (played by Cary Grant) and Johnson (the lovely Rosalind Russell). It also becomes apparent that despite her continued protestations, Johnson is still drawn to the reporting life. Once escaped convict Earl Williams almost drops into her lap and then convinces her of his innocence, she is almost literally helpless to do anything but follow up on the story, even as her fiancee Bruce comes to realise that he has lost her.

The film maintains an incredibly quick pace throughout its 92 minute running time, containing plenty of verbal jabs between the two main characters along with Hawks' trademark fast-cut dialog which often sees characters stepping on each others' lines and repartee that shoots briskly along. Hawks himself said about the dialogue "I had noticed that when people talk, they talk over one another, especially people who talk fast or who are arguing or describing something. So we wrote the dialogue in a way that made the beginnings and ends of sentences unnecessary; they were there for overlapping." Quite a bit of the dialog was ad-libbed, and there are also plenty of inside jokes, such as Burns's remark that "the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat" (Archie Leach is, of course, Grant's birth name.)

Grant is in top comedic form in this flick, perhaps his funniest outing until 1944's Arsenic and Old Lace, and Russell proves well able to hold her own against his manic whirlwind, despite her disappointment with not having been Hawks' first choice for the role and her feeling that Grant had most of the truly good lines. They are ably supported by a fine cast that includes Ralph Bellamy as Hildy's fiancee Bruce and Alma Kruger as his mother. There can really be no argument, though, that Grant and Russell are driving this particular train and the rest are just there as passengers.

Ok, feels like it's about trailer time, and thanks to archive.org, we have a nice almost three minute preview of the movie. Enjoy!



And now, as usual, here's the skinny:
Title: His Girl Friday
Release Date: 1940
Running Time: 92 min.
Black and White
Stars: Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
Director: Howard Hawks
Producer: Howard Hawks
Production Company: Columbia Pictures

The film is available to watch or download for free here
It can also be purchased on DVD from amazon. Just click here: His Girl Friday
It's also available both as a DVD rental or to "Watch now" from Netflix: His Girl Friday

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting! 

-Professor Damian