Tödlicher Skandal

Originaltitel: Slander

1956
1 Std. 21 Min.

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

6,4/10

560

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Ann Blyth and Van Johnson in Tödlicher Skandal (1956)

In an effort to improve the circulation of his notorious scandal magazine, unscrupulous owner, editor and publisher H. R. Manley spares nobody.

trailer wiedergeben3:01

1 Video

30 Fotos

Film Noir Drama Kriminalität

Füge eine Handlung in deiner Sprache hinzuIn an effort to improve the circulation of his notorious scandal magazine, unscrupulous owner, editor and publisher H. R. Manley spares nobody.In an effort to improve the circulation of his notorious scandal magazine, unscrupulous owner, editor and publisher H. R. Manley spares nobody.In an effort to improve the circulation of his notorious scandal magazine, unscrupulous owner, editor and publisher H. R. Manley spares nobody.

Regie
- Roy Rowland
Drehbuch
- Jerome Weidman
- Harry W. Junkin
Hauptbesetzung

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

6,4/10

560

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Regie
- Roy Rowland
Drehbuch
- Jerome Weidman
- Harry W. Junkin
Hauptbesetzung

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

Byron
(Nicht genannt)

Theona Bryant

Receptionist
(Nicht genannt)

Robert Burton

Harry Walsh
(Nicht genannt)

Alexander Campbell

Cereal Company Executive
(Nicht genannt)

Claire Carleton

Elsie
(Nicht genannt)

Robert Carson

Allen J. 'Frank' Frederick
(Nicht genannt)

Richard Collier

Bill King--Magazine Staffer
(Nicht genannt)

Paul Engle

Boy
(Nicht genannt)

Jonathan Hole

Cereal Company Executive
(Nicht genannt)

Benutzerrezensionen21

6,4560

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A not-bad MGM "programmer"

A family friend obtained an invitation for my mother and me to visit Ann Blyth on the set during the making of this film. She was very gracious and I can recall being amazed at the mask-like makeup required for the lights and black-and-white cameras of the day. I couldn't see how she could move one of her facial muscles! The scene being shot involved Marjorie Rambeau coming to the door of the Martin family residence to, if I recall correctly, apologize for her son's depredations upon the career and reputation of Mr. Martin, played by Van Johnson. When I saw the completed film in a theater, I was surprised at how much emotional distress Ann was able to convey through that thick layer of William Tuttle's makeup. Miss Rambeau, by the way, was quite enjoying her return to the spotlight and, between takes, vastly amused the crew with her exclamations of appreciation for the little hand-held battery-operated fan that had been given her. Van Johnson was on the soundstage that day but was schmoozing in his dressing room/trailer with a production executive and didn't emerge once during that long afternoon. Both he and his co-star, Miss Blyth, were often underrated by critics and reviewers in their day, although TIME magazine gave this modestly budgeted production a good review, with praise for all the performers in the cast.

6LeonLouisRicci

Expose Ruined by Overt Sentimentality

Not without interest and surely applicable Today, this expose of Tabloid Journalism and what used to be called "Scandal Sheets/Rags" is cold and overly sentimental at the same time. It never seems to find its groove and what is left is a noble, cheap looking misfire.

Van Johnson's Character is sugary sweet, His Wife is barely memorable, and the Son is used for a most overwrought and ludicrous ending. There is some edge to the Movie but it wavers sometimes, with some stiff situations and the look of a TV Production.

Worth a view for its B-Movie effort done by a Major Studio that couldn't seem to go all the way with anything more than the weakest and predictable of conclusions. It is Melodramatic when it should have been darkly cynical. The TV appearance by the Star, unintentional or not, is eerily reminiscent of Nixon's Checkers Speech.

By the way, Slander is Spoken...Libel is Written.

6marcslope

Surprisingly tight little B

The excesses of '50s tabloid journalism, embodied by the Confidential-like magazine portrayed herein, get a solid shellacking in this minor MGM production. It's written by the often-interesting Jerome Weidman and directed by the often-boilerplate Roy Rowland, and it was made at just the right moment to capture the public's love-hate relationship with scandal sheets. A couple of details don't ring true: Would the puppeteer (Van Johnson, quite OK) really become a major TV personality from these tired kiddie sketches, and are we really to blame the reptilian editor (Steve Cochran, excellent) for what happens to Johnson's son? And the climax involving Cochran's mother (Marjorie Rambeau) I don't believe for an instant. But it's worth a look as a portrait of the glam life at the time, with posh two-bloody-Mary lunches and Park Avenue apartments and big, big cars.

7bkoganbing

Keep It Confidential

Though Van Johnson is the subject of the Slander, the driving force behind this film is Steve Cochran as the cynical publisher of a supermarket tabloid magazine. He's one scary dude who has no feelings and no one can reach him, not even his mother Marjorie Rambeau.

Back in 1957 Confidential Magazine which was the prototype of things like the National Enquirer of today was publishing all kinds of exposes on celebrities. Cochran's rag is also looking to do an expose on Van Johnson who is a newly popular host of a kid's show. Back during the Depression he committed a holdup and did his time and Cochran wants an to expose him. Cochran though will back off if he will give him some dirt on another girl who grew up on his block who became a big movie star.

Cochran is such a rat that he approaches Johnson through his wife Ann Blyth. This raises all kinds of issues in their marriage.

Slander also makes some subtle references to the tactics of the House Un American Activities Committee and how they would 'trade up' with immunity if someone would give them a bigger prize.

Johnson and Blyth turn in some good performances, but it's really Cochran you have to watch. He will thoroughly creep you out.

5bmacv

Curious period piece about heyday of "scandal sheets"

A curious period piece not without interest, Slander was made in the heyday of guttersnipe periodicals like "Confidential," that ruined show-biz careers and blackmailed victims into spilling dirt on bigger prey. Steve Cochran portrays the oily gossip publisher, a bachelor with a strangely solicitous relationship with his alcoholic mother (Marjorie Rambeau). In trying to dig up the goods on a beloved Broadway star, he zeros in on Van Johnson as a boyhood pal, a third-rate puppeteer who has finally got his big break in the new medium of television. Alas, the puppeteer once served four years in the hoosegow for armed robbery, despite the fact that he's now a devoted family man with wife (Ann Blyth) and son (Richard Eyer) in tow. Van Johnson refuses to knuckle under to the blackmail demands, and much melodrama ensues. Today, with a no-holds-barred press with almost non-existent restraints when it comes to public figures, Slander looks a bit quaint. But in the 50s, these tactics -- which probably wouldn't have been tolerated except for the parallel phenomenon of McCarthyism -- were seen as a deadly threat to the studios and their stars. Scandal, made at MGM under Dory Schary, is Hollywood's overwrought (and none too good) response. The following year, Alexander Mackendrick's chillingly dark Sweet Smell of Success (with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis)trod much the same ground in a far more memorable way.

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Wissenswertes
Puppets in the movie were designed and operated (except in long shots) by Jack Shafton, who is listed as the uncredited puppeteer. Additional manipulation was by Bob Hume. Two of the figures are in the collection of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, and one in the collection of the Dallas Puppet Theater.

Patzer
Although the movie is titled "Slander", there is no evidence that any of the characters were a victim of that crime, which refers to a malicious false statement. From the evidence, all of the stories, particularly that of the hero, presented in the scandal magazine were true.

Zitate
H.R. Manley: Mother, do you realize what I have done? Do you have any conception of the size of my accomplishment? In less than two short years, I have built up the biggest newsstand circulation of any magazine in America. And you ask me to walk away from it because of a few stupid remarks on a television program?
Mrs. Manley: You don't really think it's really one TV program? Why, this has been going on for nearly two years... ever since you started the magazine. You have been constantly rebuffed... constantly attacked. And it makes me feel ashamed. I don't want to be ashamed of my son.
H.R. Manley: Mother, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I am giving the people of this country something they... something they not only want but something they need. I'm giving them the truth. Every month more than 5 million of them walk up to their newsstands. They're not bribed... they're not threatened. They come because they want what I have to sell.
Mrs. Manley: That same argument could be advanced by the people who sell opium to the Chinese persons.
H.R. Manley: The truth is not an opiate. The truth never really hurt anyone.
Mrs. Manley: It didn't do Governor Chetnam's daughter much good.
H.R. Manley: Governor Chetnam's daughter did not attempt suicide because of anything I said about her. She did it because neurotic, sick, weak people are always attempting to find an excuse to... to dramatize themselves in the eyes of the world. If she hadn't used me, she would have found another. Some day she will find another excuse. Will I be at fault then?
Mrs. Manley: I'm no prophet. I can't predict what will happen. But I do know what has happened.

Crazy Credits
Opening credits are shown over gossip magazines coming towards the camera. When they are gone, the remaining credits are shown in a puddle of black ink.