This film was made in 1931, but deals with issues that we still face today. How far should journalists probe into the private lives of others, simply for the sake of higher circulation? Should there be standards of integrity and honesty in reporting?
The plot concerns a trashy newspaper with dwindling circulation. The editor and owner decide to rake up an old murder case, because that's the kind of trash their low-life readers enjoy. The problem is that the murder in question was committed by a woman who is now leading a respectable life. (We're never given all the details on how she got out of prison, etc., or the real parentage of her child.) Is the paper willing to sacrifice the happiness of a family for the sake of more sales? There are a lot of interesting characters here, such as the conflicted editor (Robinson), a sneaky reporter (Karloff), and the grief-stricken father (Warner). Warner has the best scene, as he tries to maintain his composure while talking to his daughter and her fiancé on their wedding day, while his wife is lying dead in the next room. (Speaking of that, watch his hand as he opens the bedroom door and discovers his wife's lifeless body.) There are plenty of comic relief characters, with names like Ziggie and Kitty, and even a droning switchboard operator with a recurring part.
The Hays code obviously hadn't completely kicked in yet, because there is dialog here that is racier than films of the later 30s (such as fairly open discussions about illegitimacy). Take for instance Robinson's final line, accompanied by a telephone thrown through his boss's glass door.
It's all played for melodrama, but it works, helped along by clever camera work and lighting, and a no-frills script.
The plot concerns a trashy newspaper with dwindling circulation. The editor and owner decide to rake up an old murder case, because that's the kind of trash their low-life readers enjoy. The problem is that the murder in question was committed by a woman who is now leading a respectable life. (We're never given all the details on how she got out of prison, etc., or the real parentage of her child.) Is the paper willing to sacrifice the happiness of a family for the sake of more sales? There are a lot of interesting characters here, such as the conflicted editor (Robinson), a sneaky reporter (Karloff), and the grief-stricken father (Warner). Warner has the best scene, as he tries to maintain his composure while talking to his daughter and her fiancé on their wedding day, while his wife is lying dead in the next room. (Speaking of that, watch his hand as he opens the bedroom door and discovers his wife's lifeless body.) There are plenty of comic relief characters, with names like Ziggie and Kitty, and even a droning switchboard operator with a recurring part.
The Hays code obviously hadn't completely kicked in yet, because there is dialog here that is racier than films of the later 30s (such as fairly open discussions about illegitimacy). Take for instance Robinson's final line, accompanied by a telephone thrown through his boss's glass door.
It's all played for melodrama, but it works, helped along by clever camera work and lighting, and a no-frills script.