Memorable, crazy movie

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

They don't make them like this anymore. "Scandal Sheet" is a big-city crime story that isn't afraid to get preachy or mushy even while beating you over the head with a nonstop bloody tale."Write it up big, kid, it'll sell a lot of newspapers." That instruction by Broderick Crawford's editor character might well be the defining motif not only of this film but of the man who wrote the novel it was adapted from, Sam Fuller. Fuller loved newspapers, and "Scandal Sheet" makes us love them, too, even with all their messiness.The stage is set right off, with a scene that screams Fuller. We pan over an alley to a tenement balcony where we zoom in on a woman talking to John Derek, but staring right at us: "He had this meat ax, her blood all over it!"We soon find out Derek is no policeman, but rather star New York Express reporter Steve McCleary, smirking at his deception. She tells him off, and he lets her so his photographer Biddle (Harry Morgan) can capture it for the layout."You know, that wasn't a bad-looking dame," Biddle muses after. "Too bad the guy used an ax on her. Spoiled some pretty pictures for me."It's such a distinctive opening that shows up in Fuller compilations. Funny thing, Fuller neither directed it nor wrote the script. Director Phil Karlson knew how to make a solid B-picture, as he showed the same year with "Kansas City Confidential," with his tight angles and clipped pacing. He was no Fuller, but if you wind up with less vision on this one, you do get a lot of polish.Great cast, too. This is one of Crawford's best performances, as he works both sides of the story as the menacing figure at the center of things. An introductory scene shows him getting raked over the coals by the Express shareholders for "pandering to the passions of the base morons." He sneers his way to an easy victory by pointing out how the circulation has risen by giving people what they want.Donna Reed is quietly effective as a more scrupulous reporter, dubbed "the Grand Duchess of Vassar" by the editor. Henry O'Neill lends pathos as a former top reporter, now "a washed-up drunken rummy." Finally, there's Derek's golden boy, heir to the throne as the editor sees him: "I always said you were born in a field of shamrocks." Derek always looked good; the magic of "Scandal Sheet" is watching him turn in a performance just as beautiful.The mystery that turns the story is somewhat convoluted, and pretty thin in some key respects, but Karlson and the cast sell it. As the film goes on, and the villain is revealed, Karlson and the scriptwriters do a fine job raising the tension in such a way I realized I was kind of pulling for the murderer. Not that he's ever likable; I just wanted to see how long he could keep it up.By my clock, that was just over 81 minutes. But you wouldn't guess it was even that long from the way it moves. Even the side business keeps you interested, like the drunks who sing off-key out at a nearby bar or the pawnshop owner who muses about higher-class shops he could run while the murderer rifles through his victim's effects.Wikipedia calls this a "film noir," which is wrong. This is high-class pulp fiction which plays to the cheap seats just like the Express and scores more often than seems possible or right. When it's over, you don't know whether that's ink on your hands, or something else, and you don't care.

Scandal Sheet (1952)A second rate crime drama with noir overtones. It's a formula picture, really, but it's a great formula, and the twist here is that the editor of the paper, not just the reporter, is part of the main story. He's played by the loud, gutsy, and very convincing Broderick Crawford (known for All the Kings Men), and Crawford really holds it all together. Donna Reed is her usual slightly stiff self, I've never quite gotten her appeal, but she's the other star (several years after It's a Wonderful Life) and she's not given much to do. As a reporter, she isn't really allowed to investigate or do anything, just complain a lot.And this is the writer's fault. The story is based on a Sam Fuller novel. Yes Sam Fuller the renegade director, drawn to unsophisticated potboilers told with bold directness. But he didn't direct here, and as a novelist he goes for big and not always convincing effects. It's maybe amazing that director Phil Karlson, a B-movie specialist at best, pulled this off so well. It's fun, it's got some small moments where people shine, and it has Crawford playing a more subtle role than usual, and doing it very well.

As great a Film Noir as there is! I LOVE Film Noir and often search them out by auditioning titles. And with one like "Scandal Sheet", what else could it be? Fronted by Broderick Crawford and co-starring Donna Reed and John Dereck with Rosemary DeCamp and Harry Morgan, the cast is as first rate as any Film Noir could hope for. It even has Columbia's master (future) Oscar Winning B&W cinematographer Burnett Guffey on board for lots of wonderful Noir shots. One more "Big Name" anywhere would have ruined it! And there's a GREAT turn by the much underrated Henry O'Neil as Charlie Barnes, a washed up drunk of a former great newspaper man. His role is small but by far the most important. Wow. Nothing more satisfying than a great Film Noir with all the clichés in tact and WORKING FOR the picture instead of against it. You absolutely know how it will end up, but there's still lots of high powered tension. And at about 80 minutes, it doesn't feature any unnecessary padding. Low budget pictures never do and it only makes them tighter. I caught it on TCM. Keep an eye out for it. A truly satisfying Film Noir in all respects! There's even a comical (I'm convinced it was definitely meant to be) bit in the opening scene with Derek pretending to be a cop and doing a "Joe Friday" in telling a distraught woman "I know it's rough lady, but I only want the facts!" Moments later in walks Harry "Bill Gannon" Morgan! A little icing before you even have at the cake. As the headlines in the picture itself might have said in a self review: Terrific! Fantstic! A MUST SEE!

Watch Crawford sweat this one out! Great fun with Broderick Crawford as managing editor of a "Scandal Sheet" newspaper, with John Derek and Donna Reed on staff as reporters. The film uses the technique of showing the murderer's identity as the crime is committed (it's editor Crawford); then we watch him squirm as the reporter hero (Derek) and heroine (Reed) try to identify the killer and cover the story. Mr. Crawford must give the "Lonely Heart Killer" big coverage in his tabloid newspaper, or risk suspicion. When a possible witness turns up, things get complicated. Henry O'Neill is great as a washed-up old drunk who used to work for Crawford's newspaper. The film has a great style… beautiful black and white photography directed by Phil Karlson. Recommended viewing! ******** Scandal Sheet (1952) Phil Karlson ~ Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Donna Reed