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Roar of the Press
USA 1941
produced by Scott R. Dunlap for Monogram
directed by Phil Rosen
starring Jean Parker, Wallace Ford, Jed Prouty, Suzanne Kaaren, Harland Tucker, Evalyn Knapp, Robert Frazer, Dorothy Lee, John Holland, Maxine Leslie, Paul Fix, Betty Compson, Matty Fain, Eddie Foster, Charles King, Frank O'connor, Dennis Moore, Robert Pittard, Mildred Shay, Byron Foulger, Donald Kerr
story by Alfred Block, screenplay by Albert Duffy, musical director: Edward J. Kay
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Reporter Wally Williams (Wallace Ford) has just married Alice (Jean
Parker) and they want to spend their honeymoon in an exclusive Manhattan
penthouse ... when Wally sees a man falling from a window to his death
just across the street ... and being a good reporter, he immediately
phones the news in. his editor (Jed Prouty) though blackmails him into
following up on the estory, and before he knows it, WAlly finds another
dead body and as a result spends the night being questioned by the police,
while his wife feels more and more neglected, only being comforted by
other reporters' wives. Once released by the police, Wally finds himself
forced to go on investigating, until the organisation behind the two
murders, led by Fifth Columnist Louis Detmar (Robert Frazer) and local
mobster Nick Paul (Matty Fain) get a bit panicky and they hife locl
gangster Sparrow (Paul Fix) to take care of the problem ... but Sparrow is
not only a gangster but also a good American, and he sides with Wally to
fight the Fifth Columnists, and ultimately even frees Wally and Alice from
their clutches and helps bringing them to justice. In the end, Wally
figures it's high time to pay back his editor, so he gives the story of
his fight against the Fifth Column away to all journalists who care to
listen but fails to phone it in with his newspaper himself. After this,
Sparrow forces Wally to go home to his wife at gunpoint, to at least enjoy
the rest of their honeymoon ... Cheaply made but nicely done
crimethriller of the nosey reporter variety, and while the plot of the
film might not be especially original, it highly profits from its
light-footed approach, its slick pacing and a likeable central performance
by Wallace Ford, who does everything to not come across as he-man hero.
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