News Is Made at Night

In one night, I saw a movie about a taxi driver and another about a newspaper publisher, two major characters in the 1930s.

"News is Made at Night" stars Preston Foster and Lynn Bari. Foster plays Steve Drum, who is fighting for a stay of execution for a convicted murderer. And he does just about anything to get that stay, including faking an affidavit from someone admitting to the murder, and getting an actor to stage a deathbed confession.

Lynn Bari is the aggressive young woman from a home town newspaper who is out to prove her value to the paper.

The film starts out with Preston Foster saying he doesn't hire women. When she one-ups him, he hires her.

This movie follows in the steps of The Front Page, Five Star Final, and how many other films. However, the cast is likeable, particularly Preston Foster, despite his male chauvanism.

Newspapers and newspapermen have always been fodder for stories and were prevalent in the '30s, as were runaway heiresses and taxi drivers. It's very hard, once you have the original - i.e, The Front Page and It Happened One Night, etc., to do anything fresh. It was really up to the casts and directors of these films to make them interesting.