Behind the Headlines

Before his indiscretion in Mexico where he when inebriated urinated from above on a passing military procession which gave a whole new meaning to the term raining on your parade, Tracy was one of the top actors in Hollywood. When trying to find an image of Tracy on the net recently, I could barely find reference to his name much less a picture. This almost forgotten screen star was a versatile player who was eventually nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "The Best Man." He was also for me the definitive "Martin Kane" in the early TV series "Martin Kane, Private Eye." "Behind the Headlines" was made after his fall from grace when he was trying to jump start his fading Hollywood career.

There is much chemistry between Tracy and his leading lady Diana Gibson, who unfortunately had a fairly brief movie career. They play two rival reporters, Eddie Haines and Mary Bradley respectively, who were once apparently an item. Mary works for a New York newspaper, Eddie for a radio station where he tries to get the latest scoop before she can get it printed for the morning edition. She and her henchmen attempt time after time to sabotage his on-the-spot broadcasts by either stealing or scrambling the portable box with microphone that he carries with him or hides.

A novel aspect of "Behind the Headlines," many a year before James Bond's "Goldfinger," has the bad guys planning a heist of gold bars in transit from Washington, D.C., to a new depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Mary, up to her old tricks to outmaneuver Eddie, finds herself kidnapped by the gold thieves headed by Potter played by character actor Donald Meek who surprisingly makes an effective heavy. She is held hostage in a cave hideout. It's up to Eddie to rescue her. In the end it's still Mary who has the last word.

This programmer stays lighthearted and carefree to be a winner all the way. The inspired teaming of Lee Tracy and Diana Gibson somewhat foreshadows the later teaming of Spencer Tracy (no relation) and Katharine Hepburn.

The government announces that it is moving its gold reserves to Fort Knox. Eddie Haines (Lee Tracy) and his ex-girlfriend Mary Bradley (Diana Gibson) are rival reporters at the event. She tries to sabotage him, but he still gets the scoop. She vows to take him down. That's what she does and he gets fired. They overhear a gangster planning to steal the gold shipment. Mary tries to report on it, but federal agent Potter talks her out of it by promising an inside scoop. Potter already knows and is setting up a sting.

I like the banter and fighting between the ex-lovers. It is a good setup. I like a lot of this until the two gets separated. He should get kidnapped along with her. In that way, they can continue to bicker together until they find a way to escape. That would be more fun.

I agree with the reviewers who appreciated Diana Gibson : she's handsome and energic with some marvelous interrogative glances. She's a newspaper reporter riveting with her ex boyfriend (Lee Grant) reporter on radio. They are chasing scoops more and more important, the last one being a gold transfer to Fort Knox. There is a lot of ingenuisity in use of portable microphone. Diana Gibson and Lee Grant play a fast paced couple in that entertaining action comedy. Director Richard Rosson isn't too wellknown less than 20 movies, although we see his name as codirector Howard Hawks on Scarface and for a sequence of "Come and get it". Diana Gibson didn't have too a great career, also less than 20 movies. We mustn't forget Russell Metty's photography who matches well to action.

Lee Tracy is a radio reporter with a handheld set-up and electronic genius Tom Kennedy in a truck to broadcast instantly. This has all the print reporters annoyed, particularly ex-girlfriend Diana Gibson. She hires some thugs to beat up Tracy. He attributes it on the air to her employer. This gets Tracy fired.

Miss Gibson thinks she has a lead to a story about the newly opened Fort Knox. Criminal mastermind Donald Meek, who robs a gold shipment kidnaps her. While he and his gang work on breaking into Fort Knox, Tracy searches for Miss Gibson using radio directional finding and a dirigible.

In other words, it's a ripped-from-tomorrow's-headlines sort of story, even if the technology looks quaint in retrospect. Richard Rosson directs with a light hand, and cinematographer Russell Metty offers some nice touches: a campfire reflected in a highly-polished car door, Miss Gibson's face in the light of an oxy-acetylene torch.

Last month, TCM showed about a dozen Lee Tracy films, largely forgotten today (I managed to tape most of them), and I'm now working my way through them. Tracy's patented persona at the time--wisecracking newspaper man who gets by on his wits more than his brawn--is put to good use in this bottom-of-the-bill 1937 programmer from RK0. Tracy is an ex-newspaperman who has gotten into radio newscasting--not Winchell-style commentating, but on-the-spot live coverage of news from the scene. His assistant is the wonderful comic Tom Kennedy (see my review of FREE RENT, a Columbia short done with Monte Collins). His old newspaper colleagues do not appreciate being scooped by him and don't care for the exciting nature of his reporting, which makes their dry written articles seem irrelevant, so they are actively sabotaging his work. Add to that an ex-girlfriend who is a top reporter at one of the major papers (played by the little-known Diana Gibson, who seems to have been in films for four years and then vanished) and who spars with him throughout. Tracy and Gibson both stumble across a huge gold robbery about mid-way through the film, which propels everything to an exciting climax. Don't ask any questions about character motivation (Gibson's character starts off completely unsympathetic, but eventually softens up) or plot consistency--this is a b-movie that was undoubtedly just a day's work to its writers, who basically manipulated stock character types and movie conventions. Fortunately, with a colorful star like Lee Tracy, there's snappy dialogue and his ability to capture audience sympathy. In some ways, this reminded me of a slicker, more studio-bound version of the Frankie Darro-Kane Richmond action films being made across town at the Ambassador-Conn studio around the same time. BEHIND THE HEADLINES is no classic or hidden gem, but with as much reality present as in a Republic serial, and with Tracy's spirit of fun, it's an entertaining way to kill an hour.