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With: Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek, Rosemary DeCamp, Henry O'Neill, Harry Morgan, James Millican, Griff Barnett, Jonathan Hale
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Written by: Ted Sherdeman, Eugene Ling, James Poe, based on a novel by Samuel Fuller
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Directed by: Phil Karlson
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MPAA Rating: Not Rated
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Running Time: 82
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Date: 01/16/1952
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Deadlines
By Jeffrey M. Anderson Fuller had very little good to say about Scandal Sheet (1952), which was based on his 1944 novel The Dark Page. Fuller had nothing to do with the film itself, and it would be the final straw that inspired him to become a full-time director, never again wanting to trust others to interpret his written work. However, as directed by "B" level film noir expert Phil Karlson, Scandal Sheet is really quite good. Broderick Crawford stars as Mark Chapman, a crusty newspaper editor who has turned a New York newspaper into a vulgar, popular tabloid rag. His star reporter, Steve McCleary (John Derek) worships him; together they hope to buy out the paper and get rid of the namby-pamby board members who complain about the paper's new direction. Steve's gal pal Julie Allison (Donna Reed) more or less agrees with the board and doesn't like writing exploitation stories just to sell papers. Things take a turn when an unwanted piece of Chapman's past turns up and he becomes a murderer; then McCleary starts investigating the case! Karlson's work isn't as hard or as explosive as Fuller's, but it's still pretty tense and entertaining. Fuller actually directed his own newspaper movie the same year, the superior Park Row, which is still not available on video in the U.S.A. [See also The Samuel Fuller Collection.]
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