Important News

Chic Sales runs a weekly newspaper out in the middle of nowhere. It's a newspaper which carries the weather as front-page news because some of the subscribers are farmers without radios. When Sales is an eyewitness to gangster "Pretty Face" Wilson (intended to be "Pretty Boy" Floyd) being gunned down on Main Street, he keeps the weather on the front page and puts the slaying in the obituaries.

It's a homespun short about small-town values, a bit far away from MGM's usual values. However, they thought they had a new star in Sales, and for a while they did.

You may also be amused to find Jimmy Stewart as Sales' typesetter. You may find him a little hard to spot, given he's wearing glasses. His voice, however, is unmistakable.

An MGM MINIATURE Short Subject.

The editor of the Cole County Clarion must decide what is the real IMPORTANT NEWS for his readers: an impending frost which may spell disaster to their crops, or the sensational shooting-down of a notorious gangster on their small town main street.

This is an enjoyable little one-reeler, featuring a good performance by comic Charles `Chic' Sale. Today's viewers will perhaps be more interested in the appearance of uncredited James Stewart, as Sale's nephew/assistant. Slow talking & somewhat goofy, Stewart shows many of the attributes which would make him a huge star in a very short time.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something like writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

A great little short film about a small town newspaper and the decision by its editor on what stories to put on the front page. Should it be a story that is surely to get national attention or a local story for the townsfolk? This film is really short, about 10 minutes long!! Maybe that is why "Chic" Sales is tolerable in this film!! LOL This film is known mostly for an early James Stewart performance, but I was happy to see one of my favorite actors in it--Charles Trowbridge!! He plays "Ed", in an uncredited role. It is always nice to see one of his films. Try and catch it next time it is on television.

MGM and the other studios produced a lot of one reel features which were intended to showcase an upcoming actor or actress in a format that was pleasing and made the viewers aware of new faces. This seems to be the case with "Important News", directed by Edwin Lawrence and released in 1936.

We are taken to a small town in which the editor of The Cole County Clarion is preparing the front page of the paper. Elmer, the editor, is an older man who is wiser than what everyone gives him credit for. When he decides on an important local news item for the lead story, his nephew, Cornelius, disagrees with him. Elmer doesn't think that printing the sensational news about a gangster killed on Main Street will be as important as what his readers will be looking for. In the end, Chic is complimented by the visiting big city newsman, Ed Rollins, from the Chicago Daily Sentinel, which is the best praise anyone can get while serving the community.

Charles "Chic" Sale does a great job as Elmer. Young James Stewart plays Cornelius, showing what will become his screen persona in an uncredited performance. Charles Trowbridge is good as the visiting Chicago newspaper man.

To print or not to be print--that's the dilemma facing newspaper editor CHARLIE SALE when he has to choose between a headline that becomes a matter of priorities for him. Should he do the tabloid headline about Pretty Face Wilson gunned down in the street, or should he do the farmers a favor and print the one about a frost warning?

Depends on what someone thinks is "important news." What matters here is that this is a very stale, very inadequate short overacted by Charlie Sale and presenting JAMES STEWART in a very subordinate role as a hick assistant who wears a dumb expression and mumbles his way through a small role, looking rather detached until he sees a man being gunned down in the street. Not exactly a standout part for Stewart.

Very forgettable little short without any style at all.