Anything for a Thrill

Taken from a short story by Peter B. Kyne, "To Him Who Dares" (misidentified as "Dared" upon IMDb's page for the film), this is one of at least 110 works written by Kyne that have been rendered into cinema. Kyne, an enormously fecund and popular writer whose output flourished primarily between 1915 and 1940, was so well-received by his reading audience that it was often stated all he needed to do in order to be published was to merely submit a piece for publication. It is, therefore, no surprise that his name is above the title of this somewhat fragmented comedy drama that yet is marked by thoroughly proficient contributions from all those involved in its making. The IMDb synopsis for the film is composed by ever competent Les Adams and neatly outlines the movie in its essentials. As action begins, youthful would-be newsreel photographer Don Mallory (Frankie Darro), along with his girl friend Jean (June Johnson), is watching dramatic examples of footage shot by his older brother Cliff (Kane Richmond), an established news cameraman, and after Jean remarks at how risky such an occupation must be that records dangerous events and history in the making, Don provides the picture's title as response to her: "Yeah....that's the newsreel business. Anything for a thrill." It is clear that Don will need only a slim excuse to follow in his brother's vocational footsteps instead of attending college, Cliff's choice for him. A camera shy socialite, Betty Kelley (Ann Evers), has not been filmed through the medium of news reporting, having evaded all efforts to do so, and the plot line depicts attempts by the Mallory pair to shoot her on film, with Cliff being assigned for that purpose by his employer,a newsreel company. Initially outwitted by Kelley and her protective entourage, Cliff and Don, abetted by doughty Jean, then steal onto the luxurious Kelley family estate with an aim to pictorially record Betty for posterity, in spite of a raft of guards that apparently should be too great an obstacle for the brothers to surmount. About this same time, always curious Don observes a bank robbery in progress, and films the incident, thereby not surprisingly serving to upset the ringleader of the bandits, who also, in true Hollywood melodrama fashion, just happens to be Kelley's fiancé, a hardened con man who has been posing as an English earl (Johnstone White), and the chase is soon on as the Forces of Evil endeavour to seize the incriminating film made during the robbery by the younger Mallory. The role of Don Mallory is prototypical of Darro's characterizations, and it is gratifying to watch him perform in his customary part as gutsy underdog, while a viewer additionally ought not overlook his acrobatic skills as he nimbly performs all of his part's stunts for this film that was very popular upon its original release to theatres. Johnson's playing helps to create giddy comedic episodes for a cleverly crafted screenplay that is efficiently directed by Les Goodwins, a veteran at helming such low-budget productions.

The Alpha Video print is pretty bad and is missing 4 minutes. However, I have no idea how else to see this film, so I guess you're stuck with the film and all its shortcomings.

Frankie Darro was an odd sort of movie star. While he never became a top star, he managed to star in a long series of B-movies as well as a few big films for Warner Brothers (such as "Wild Boys of the Road")--yet he was a very, very small guy at only 5'3". This wasn't the traditional sort of hero, yet, like Mickey Rooney he had a very successful career in films.

Cliff Mallory (Kane Richmond) is a newsreel cinematographer. His younger brother, Dan (Darro) has plans to become one also but Cliff wants his brother to go to college. However, throughout the film, Dan proves he has what it takes and manages to get some amazing footage. First, he gets film of an heiress who has never been filmed. Second, he gets great footage of an armed robbery in which a policeman was killed. In fact, the footage clearly shows the heiress' fiancé as the gunman! What's next? See for yourself.

The photographers and newsreel folks really were annoying in this film. Sneaking onto the heiress' estate was not beyond many of them and it just goes to show you that times haven't really changed much after all these years! What has changed is that in this film, these annoying jerks are the heroes--something you'd never see today! So is the film any good? Well, yes and no. While it's a fast-moving and generally enjoyable B-movie, it also features a couple terrible actresses. Part of this can be the blame of the director and writer but June Johnson and Ann Evers deserve a HUGE amount of blame for absolutely horrid performances. Johnson's voice could curdle milk and Evers' temper tantrum at 49 minutes is just embarrassing. Plus the ending really made no sense at all. It's a shame, as Darro and Richmond (particularly Darro) were very good. In fact, Darro did his own stunts and displayed some amazing athleticism. I see this as a time-passer if you aren't particularly picky and nothing more.

Kane Richmond is Cliff, young newsreel photographer looking for a big break. Frankie Darro is his little brother Don, determined to follow his brother into the newsreel business. The break comes when Cliff is assigned to capture pictures of heiress Betty Kelley (Ann Evers), who has never been photographed but—according to the boss's secret information—is coming into town!

Frankie's girlfriend Jean (June Johnson) goes along for the ride, alternately annoying Frankie with her affectionate pestering and assisting him with moral support and enthusiasm. They make a fun couple—lots of good-natured kidding back and forth that isn't especially witty but is at least bright and delivered with energy. His visit to the diner where she works is a highlight of the show, even though it does nothing for the plot—basically, their flirting over the counter builds into a scene where seated customers are shouting out "Pretty pretty please" and Frankie is tossing them cookies across the room. Kind of bizarre, yes.

The heiress is a spoiled rich kid. Why doesn't she want anyone to photograph her? What does she see in that stuffy English "earl" who is actually a crook in disguise? --No time for plot development here; suffice it to say that in very short order she buys the newsreel company, punishes Richmond by holding him to his contract, fires him for disobeying orders, is forced by him to watch some juicy robbery footage that Frankie has captured, and….well, somewhere in there she apparently changes her mind about strong-minded photographers who call her a spoiled brat….

Overall, it's a film that's pretty dumb but a lot of fun. How many times do you see a bunch of gangsters playing jacks for money and arguing nearly to the point of drawn guns about whether that last play was for threeseys or fourseys?

Silly disguise: Richmond in a fake beard pretending to be a portrait artist. (He doesn't fool the heiress.) Darro's frequently repeated line to his girlfriend, always pretending to be annoyed: "There you go again, always wantin' to do what somebody else does!"

Nothing special, I guess, but when it was over I found myself wishing it would go on.