Watch Scandal Sheet For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

Admirable film.

The first must-see film of the year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although inspired by Samuel Fuller's 1944 novel, The Dark Page, this film was directed by Phil Karlson. The casting of John Derek is disappointing too. But everything else about Scandal Sheet is pretty good: It's atmospheric photography by Burnett Guffey and even the director's attempt to mimic the atmosphere of John Farrow's masterpiece, The Big Clock. Of course the cast can't hold a candle to the actors in that film, Nor can the writing and direction. Nevertheless, on its own level, Scandal Sheet offers reasonable entertainment. The director is inclined to over-use close-ups, but he has a few inventive moments, such as the track with Broderick Crawford past the pawnshop. Henry O'Neill gives an effectively seedy study of a has-been reporter and other cameo players like Ida Moore's morgue secretary and Cliff Clark's morgue doctor, James Milican's police lieutenant, Jay Adler's rummy, and Don Beddoe's pawnbroker, excel too. Donna Reed looks reasonably attractive, Jonathan Hale is effective as the publisher; but Henry Harry Morgan has a routine part as a photographer. Production values are very moderate by "A"-picture standards. But at least, Karlson didn't muff it! Available on a Sony DVD in The Sam Fuller Collection.

With themes borrowed from The Big Clock and for a lot less money, Columbia Pictures delivered a good noir thriller with Broderick Crawford as the editor of a Scandal Sheet type newspaper who kills and then exploits the story in his paper.Neither the killing or the exploitation was planned. Crawford was summoned by someone out of his distant past. Rosemary DeCamp is his estranged wife whom he abandoned 20 years earlier and even took an alias that he's been living under ever since. DeCamp who usually plays mother roles plays a slightly unhinged woman and one can see why Crawford left her. She's very good in a part that is light years from what she normally plays.A sudden burst of lost temper and Crawford kills her and then tries to cover it up. But one of his junior reporters John Derek gets the police call and a hunch and proves homicide if not her identity. Even her lack of identity is exploited as it is referred to as The Lonely Hearts Murder. And Crawford goes all the way with it providing Derek and sob sister columnist Donna Reed don't get too close.Crawford and Derek work well together, they're reunited from All The King's Men where Derek played Crawford's son. There's also a nice performance by Henry O'Neill as a stew bum ex-reporter who also starts investigating. A very offbeat role for him as well as he's usually authority figures of sorts in movies.Samuel Fuller delivered a good noir film from his ensemble cast.

Entertaining noir directed by Phil Karlson, who also did the excellent Kansas City Confidential the same year, and based on a novel by Sam Fuller (and the film can be found in a box set of Fuller films Columbia released a while back). Broderick Crawford stars as the editor-in-chief of a scandal sheet. He runs into an ex-wife whom he dumped years earlier, before changing his name and climbing to his current position. The woman wants to spoil his success, so he kills her. Of course, such a sensational and mysterious murder is just the kind of thing his newspaper covers, and the story, much to Crawford's chagrin, makes his paper more popular than ever. Reporters Donna Reed and John Derek are getting closer and closer to the truth, and Crawford, though he tries to throw them off his scent, is basically trapped by his position. Henry O'Neill is also excellent as the broken-down drunk who first uncovers the secret.

Shades of 1948's "The Big Clock"! Reporters on an East Coast newspaper diligently attempt to find the killer of a middle-aged, female "lonely heart" who was found murdered in her bath...but the culprit may be closer to them than they think! This must have been an embarrassment for John Derek, playing one of those cocky young journalists who keeps turning away crucial evidence out of sheer inexperience...and who doesn't even believe a witness who exposes the killer right in front of him! Donna Reed, as a writer with ethics, comes off somewhat better, while sweaty editor Broderick Crawford (looking more like Fred Flintstone than ever) goes a bit overboard with the tight grimaces and steely-eyed glares. Still, not all bad; the noir-styled cinematography is excellent, and the script, adapted from Samuel Fuller's novel "The Dark Page", is quite absorbing despite so many familiar ingredients. **1/2 from ****