Is My Face Red?

Ricardo Cortez publishes a gossip/Broadway column in the newspaper, maintains a professional feud with fellow columnist Robert Armstrong, and does his own legwork. He has a reliable girl Friday in Arline Judge, a girlfriend in chorine Helen Twelvetrees, and gets engaged to society deb Jill Esmond. It's when he's in a speakeasy and sees bar man Sidney Toler kill gangster Fletcher Norton, that he gets into trouble. He prints the story. Toler drops from sight, except for sending Cortez threatening messages.

William Seiter directs at a snappy pace. While it never veers far into comedy, the movie has a light touch, even as Cortez extricates himself from the bar after seeing a murder. Miss Twelvetrees looks like she's enjoying herself away from the weepers, and Zasu Pitts and Clarence Muse are on view for small and amusing bits.

Mostly, though, it's good to see that a silent film star could re-establish himself with a different screen persona. Cortez did so, switching from the Latin lover to the modern urban on the make, and kept going.

William Poster (Ricardo Cortez) is a tabloid news reporter. He's willing to go to practically any length to dig up the dirt on people and that would include dressing up in costumes or using his girlfriend, Peggy (Helen Twelvetrees). She's a chorus dancer and hears a lot of gossip on her job...and he uses this to help make a name for himself. While he's a real egotistical cad, just how much of one is evident when he meets a rich heiress, Mildred (Jill Esmond). He impulsively gives her the ring he intended to give Peggy and when both find out about this, he's sure in trouble with them. And what about the ring...was he seriously thinking of marrying Mildred or was this just a ruse in order to get her to open up and talk about her society friends...something Poster takes full advantage when he hears about them.

While treating these two women like dirt is reprehensible, Poster also is an idiot. When he witnesses the evil bootlegger, Tony (Sidney Toler), murder someone he decides to publish this story AND take no apparent precautions to protect himself. So, by the end of the film, practically EVERYONE wants to see the guy dead!!

The main problem with this film is that they took the unlikability of the main character too far. He's such an egotistical jerk that you want him to get killed...and that greatly harms the picture. Watchable but not much more.

What happened in around 1930 or '31 that had Hollywood studios clambering to pillory newspapers and reporters? There was "Scandal Sheet" (1931), "Five Star Final" (1931), "The Famous Ferguson Case" (1932), and "Is My Face Red?," all about unscrupulous journalists or newspapers.

"Is My Face Red?" is about William Poster (Ricardo Cortez), a gossip columnist for the New York Globe. He doesn't care how he gets his gossip nor does he care who the gossip is about; he's going to print it. One of his main sources is his girlfriend Peggy Bannon (Helen Twelvetrees). She's a dancing girl and always has her ears to the streets. She puts in a call to her beau whenever there's something that can be counted as news.

William goes out over his skis when he reports about a murder he witnessed. He further shot himself in the foot when he started two-timing on Peggy with a society woman named Mildred Huntington (Jill Esmond). William was a hot conceited mess.

So, that brings me back to my original question: what happened in the early '30's to spark the production of these movies? It was as if society at that time had an unflattering opinion of news media altogether so Hollywood put it on celluloid. Some things never change.

William Poster writes The Keyhole to the City, a gossip column for the Morning Gazette. He gets most of his information from showgirl gal pal Peggy Bannon. He has a fling with heiress Mildred Huntington and joins her on the boat to Europe. He witnesses a murder and writes about it.

I don't care for the William Mildred pairing. It's a waste of time. The better pairing is William Peggy and she has the additional positive of being involved in his underworld dealings. She could have made him better. Mildred is a waste of time. I'd rather have more time building up Peggy. This could be a fun screwball crime romance comedy but it goes down a wrong path somewhere. He never gains full rooting interest.

Not-so-interesting account of a gossip columnist who is more or less a rat - which probably explains why Ricardo Cortez was cast in the part. Cortez is surrounded by his girlfriend (Helen Twelvetrees), a rich society dame he is after (Jill Esmond), his secretary (Arline Judge), and phone operator (Zasu Pitts). Robert Armstrong plays a rival reporter.

There is some snappy dialogue. Cortez gets to slap a chorus girl on her posterior, which quickly disqualifies him from becoming President.

The story picks up a bit when Cortez witnesses Sidney Toler (playing a character named Tony Mugatti) stick a shiv in a mug. Don't bother calling the police, Ricardo. Let's see if we can get a column out of this. Cortez faces some trials and tribulations the rest of the way, and even takes a shot to the tabloids. The ending is phony.

Toler's attempt at an Italian accent immediately made me sympathetic to the Asians who didn't like him playing Charlie Chan. But hey, at least they didn't call this thing "Is My Face Yellow?"