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Enjoy the great acting of Broderick Crawford, (Mark Chapman) who is the editor of a popular newspaper and his star reporter is John Derek, (Steve McCleary) and a very attractive Julie Allison, (Donna Reed) who gives a great supporting role. Mark Chapman is a go getter for this popular newspaper and always manages to capture crimes of murder with the great assistance of Steve McCleary. However, Steve McCleary investigates a recent murder of a woman who has died rather mysteriously and delves deeply into its background and is able to determine the killer and the complete reason for the murdering of this woman. There are many twists and turns in this film and Broderick Crawford and Donna Reed give outstanding performances which make this a very interesting and enjoyable film to view from 1952.

I mean that just about everything he does he steals every scene he's in.

Broderick Crawford was just a huge personality on and off screen that I imagine other actors, being around him, kinda had a feelin' they didn't have a chance of stealin' a scene away from him. He was just that good an actor.

This little film is no different. He plays a newspaper editor with somethin' to hide.Throughout the film he has to make sure no-one finds out his little secret from his past. Enter his favorite little cub reporter who thinks of like a son and a woman's columnist who thinks he has just sunk the paper's integrity by printing scandalous news and not the real news people wanna read. She basically see's right through him but not all the way...well until the end.

Check this one out. It's a winner for sure. I was pleasantly surprised.

I sought out this film for two reasons. First, it was written by Sam Fuller and I have been trying to watch as many of his films as I can--they are, with only a few exceptions, great films. Second, I have always liked Broderick Crawford, as he had a way about him--portraying unrelentingly tough guys. With my love of film noir, it's a natural that I'd love seeing his ugly mug! Well, after finishing this film, I found that I wasn't disappointed. The writing, direction and acting were all very good.

Crawford stars as a man who has been brought in to save a dying newspaper. To make it successful, he gives the public what it wants--scandal, sleaze and violent content. While many of the paper's stockholders can't stand what he's done to make the paper solvent, he has made them rich--and it's hard to argue with success--even at this price.

One of Crawford's reporters is John Derek. Usually I don't like him in films, as he's just too pretty. Here, however, he was just fine--pretty, sure...but fine. Derek specializes in sniffing out cases and one new case really intrigues him. An unidentified woman is found dead. It clearly looks like an accidental death but Derek's instincts tell him it was staged to look that way, so he pushes and pushes investigators to dig deeper. Yes, it turns out she was murdered...but WHO did it and WHY is what makes this film very, very intriguing.

In addition to Crawford and Derek, the film also stars Donna Reed and Henry O'Neill. Reed plays a woman who is like the voice of conscience in the movie--always appalled at Crawford's methods and making it clear that she wants no part of this degradation of the paper. O'Neill, however, is the more interesting guy. In the 1930s and 40s, O'Neill had very steady work and was a familiar face at MGM in supporting roles (having appeared in 177 films and TV shows during his career). By 1952, his career was on the decline and his output reduced significantly. Here, he makes a bit of a last hurrah AND gets to play a role that stretched his abilities--playing a down-and-out drunk whose character evolves and shows great depth during the course of the movie.

Overall, the film is taut and exciting. Whether or not you'd call it film noir is a tough one, as definitions vary tremendously. Considering that the cops are purely secondary characters and there isn't the same criminal atmosphere in the film as noir, I'm not sure I'd call it noir. But, it is at least noir-like and is sure to please anyone who likes the grittier sort of film Hollywood did so well during this era.

Gripping storyline fueled by some heavy duty irony. Crawford plays a ruthless tabloid newspaper editor who has the tables turned on him when he commits a crime, then finds himself having to encourage his top reporter to get to the bottom of the story, in order to deflect suspicion. Top notch suspense as Crawford gambles that he can keep his cool and get away with it, even as the walls close in and the odds look worse and worse. The dialogue is typical Samuel Fuller, (he wrote the novel upon which the film was based) colorfully gritty but at times head-scratchingly obtuse. Crawford is at his no-nonsense, take no prisoners, mince-no-words best, and able support from a young John Derek and Donna Reed (smoking cigarettes and a little less squeaky clean than usual). Good stuff.

Remarkably solid little crime/actioner. Derek is a weasely but apparently attractive young reporter for a city paper. He's convinced that his boss and mentor, ballsy editor Crawford, is a swell guy who can teach him the business, but he doesn't know that he's also a murderer, hiding a previous marriage through his crime. When the reporter initiates a sensational search for the identity of the killer, he comes closer to the truth, but places others in danger as he unwittingly informs the murderer of his every step by telegram and phone.

Solid suspense, sparse action, good script make for a B++ film.