Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE (Paramount, 1937), directed by Alexander Hall, hence its title, is a newspaper story taken from the play credited by John C. Moffitt. Following the pattern of journalism on film with such titles as "The Front Page" (1931), "The Final Edition" (1932), "Exclusive Story" (1936) or "Back in Circulation" (1937), among many others, EXCLUSIVE is one of those long unseen forgotten ones that's as good as it appears. Starring Fred MacMurray and Frances Farmer for the first and only time, it also features Charlie Ruggles, better known for comedy, being more serious here as an aging reporter sporting wire glasses and mustache. With the story belonging to MacMurray, co-stars Frances Farmer and Lloyd Nolan hold their own with their attention-grabbing performances.

Set in the town of Mountain City, reporters at The World newspaper await for the jury verdict of racketeer Charles Gillette (Lloyd Nolan). With the upset going for "not guilty," Ralph Houston (Fred MacMurray), the assistant city editor, knows the jury must have been bribed. Entering the newsroom along with his henchmen, the ever confident Gillette comes up with the news for Colonel Bogardus (Edward H. Robins), the newspaper owner; Frank Mitchell (Ralph Morgan, billed as Horace Mitchell in closing cast credits) a candidate for mayor and Mr. Franklin (Willard Robertson), owner of the Franklin Department Store, of his forming a rival newspaper nearby called The Sentinel. Now the head man there, Gillette offers to hire The World employees, doubling their current salaries. Ralph turns down his offer of $200 a week because dirty or "yellow" journalism isn't in his league. Tod Swain (Charles Ruggles), his partner and close friend, however, is tempted with his $100 a week, but refuses as well. Ralph is engaged to Tod's daughter, Vina (Frances Farmer), who has just quit her present job. When she learns of Ralph's refusal for the additional money so they can get married, she becomes upset. Learning from her father of Ralph secretly put his own money for her college education, Vina decides to pay him back by working for Gillette at top salary. However, Ralph disapproves of Vina's association with Gillette as her boss. An argument ensues forcing Vina to call off their engagement. Vina becomes an exceptional reporter doing undercover work, exposing stories on Gillette's enemies. On in particular being Frank Mitchell, whose past has been exposed that ruins his chances campaigning for mayor. Following Mitchell's confrontation with Vina, she finds herself unable to go through with her tabloid reporting, but Gillette talks her out of it. Eventually Vina gets too deep with her story material on defective elevators from the Franklin Department Store that she gets sued for libel. To prove her story true, Beak McArdel (Horace MacMahon), one of Gillette's henchmen, fixes an elevator to fall, injuring numerous passengers, including Ralph. Afraid of being exposed, Gillette sends Vina on an out of town assignment with Beak as her "bodyguard." Realizing what truly happening, Tod finds Vina's life could be in danger.

Featured in the supporting cast are: Fay Holden (Mrs. Effie Swain); Harlan Briggs (Springer); Chester Clute (Garner, a bill collector for the Strand Credit Company); and Irving Bacon (Doctor Boomgarten). Look fast for Billy Lee (Billy McArdel) and Libby Taylor (The Maid) in smaller roles. Charlie Ruggles stands out among the others as a drunken, middle-aged reporter. Aside from getting a black eye from one of the thugs early in the story, he gets his moment of glory demonstrating to the equally drunken Ralph (MacMurray) whether or not the light bulb inside the refrigerator remains on after closing the door by having Ralph sit inside the refrigerator to find out. This plays better than it reads, yet humorous scenes such as this lighten the tension, but often unbalances the dramatic texture of the story. Fay Holden, better known as Emily Hardy in the "Andy Hardy" family series for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, performs familiar duties as both wife and mother to Ruggles and Farmer's characters. Lloyd Nolan, who can play good guys or comedic detectives in believable manner, demonstrates his ability here as the villain who would stop at nothing to ruin his enemies, even by using the girlfriend of a rival reporter who refuses to be intimidated by him. Though Farmer's character is both tempermental and naive, her Vina, eager to better herself, does so for the wrong reasons working for a racketeer to earn some easy money. By not doing this, however, there would be no story with added suspense.

Not regularly broadcast on commercial television in decades, and unseen on New York City television since it's final broadcast in 1972 on WPIX, Channel 11, EXCLUSIVE, happens to be one of the finer newspaper dramas to come out in the 1930s, and one that should still be entertaining for its fine acting, good story, and fast-pace direction during its 78 minutes. -30- (***).

Stars Fred MacMurray as assistant editor of a newspaper, Charles Ruggles as an older reporter on the same paper, and Frances Farmer as the former's fiancee and the latter's daughter. Lloyd Nolan stars as his typical gangster persona. The paper MacMurray works for is printing articles to expose Nolan and his rackets and help elect a reform candidate, played by Ralph Morgan. But Nolan has a novel angle. He buys a competing paper and hires reporters at top dollar to try and put the crusading paper out of business. Any likability or sympathy Farmer's character has - she is fired from her job in the middle of the Great Depression because she won't put out for the boss - is lost when she calls her dear old dad an "old licked failure" professionally. Plus she decides to go to work for Nolan's paper, partly because she wants to repay a debt somebody else took on for her, partly because MacMurray forbids her to do so and she does not want to be pushed around. The two break up over it. In spite of Nolan warning his hoods to "cool it around the broad, she's not stupid, she'll put two and two together", Farmer plays a girl that really is not that world-wise and does not put two and two together until much later.

It's really a fast moving film about yellow journalism versus decent reporting, and about how every little dirty secret about somebody does not need to be revealed in print. MacMurray is good in these fast talking roles in his younger days. If it's Paramount and Charles Ruggles is around, you are going to have to put up with some of his drunk act, but I don't think they overdo it here. I'd recommend it if you ever find a copy. The last time I saw it on TV was on the old AMC.

As a huge fan of Fred MacMurray, I was delighted to discover this rare early film. Alas, delight quickly turned to disappointment. "Exclusive" is a peculiar little potboiler, with little to recommend it other than its two stars, MacMurray and Frances Farmer.

Things start out innocently enough, with MacMurray as the crusading editor of a local newspaper, aiming to expose a gangster - Lloyd Nolan doing what he does best. The gangster cleverly ups the ante by buying a rival newspaper to promote his own version of reality. And to top it off, he even hires MacMurray's girl, played by Frances Farmer, to be his star reporter.

As if that's not galling enough, under Nolan's tutelage Farmer inexplicably - and very implausibly - turns full-on evil, churning out muck-raking stories with wild abandon. MacMurray and the girl's father - the always lovable Charlie Ruggles - fight back in a massively heinous - and equally implausible - way.

But first... they take a long time-out for a preposterous little comedy routine involving the light inside a refrigerator. Surely this joke was already old in 1937?

While ping-ponging back and forth between tragic melodrama and vaudevillian silliness, "Exclusive" coughs up some of the most unbelievable plot twists one can possibly imagine. It's like the script was cobbled together from leftover bits of several very different movies, none of them very good in the first place.

Ultimately, the only reason to watch this crazy goulash of a movie is to savor MacMurray and Farmer, both giving their all in the face of a relentlessly schizoid script. Farmer is particularly endearing, whenever the tangled storyline allows.

I'm giving "Exclusive" a fairly generous 4 out of 10. It's just barely worth seeing as a curiosity - but I can't imagine wanting to sit through it more than once.

An interesting Paramount film from 1937 teaming a petulant Frances Farmer and low-key Fred MacMurray as quarreling lovers working for competing newspapers. Charlie Ruggles, as Farmer's father, adds equal doses of slapstick humor and poignancy. The film veers fairly wildly in tone, including jabs at yellow journalism, racketeering and the self-righteous attitudes of some press-people, while working in bits about that oft-quoted conundrum--how do you know for sure that a refrigerator's light goes out when you close the door? Farmer's character is pretty unlikeable, putting down her father, working for a gangster to spite her boyfriend, etc., but she pulls off the role with the panache typical of her early work. In the weird-but-real synchronicity department, a bit actor by the name of William (Billy) Arnold plays a reporter in the film. Farmer fans will know that another "real" reporter named William Arnold made headlines decades later with his sensationalized (and some claim fictionalized) account of Farmer's life.