Roar of the Press (1941)
Director: Phil Rosen
Production: Scott R. Dunlap (Monogram Productions)
Screenplay: Albert Duffy
Starring: Wallace Ford - Jean Parker - Paul Fix - Jed Prouty
Filmed in March 1941 - Released on 30-April-1941 - 71 min.
Let's see. A just-married journalist witnesses the death of a pacifist, falling down from the top of a building. Quickly he inspects the corpse and takes with him a piece of paper before the police arrives, a clue that takes him up to a second hotel where he finds a second cadaver, from which it extracts new clues and photographs to be published before the police could find out what happened. Both murders are the action of a mysterious fifth-column organization -"foreign" to go further- that does not hesitate to kidnap the journalist and his wife to worm out the same information that is already published in the newspaper (??), while a patriotic local gangster takes charge of rescuing them. This crazy history is the base of Roar of the Press, one of the six movies filmed by the prolific Phil Rosen in 1941 for Monogram Pictures, perhaps the most "prestigious" Poverty Row studio and the home of declining stars and cast actors in search of main roles. With a philosophy based on extremely short shootings (between one and two weeks maximum), even more shorter budgets (90.000 dollars as average per title) and a technical finish aligned to all this, Monogram productions didn't try anything else than make enough money in the box office filling the programs led by the big studios, but also served for the promotion of future stars as Robert Mitchum or for the sustenance of directors like Rosen or William Beaudine, respected figures in the silent times. If in the middle of it all it was possible to imbue the movie with some artistic aura (but not in excess), even better. The results were always similar: an scarce hour of light entertainment, with hasty scripts and plots too similar to other movies that, nevertheless, even today keep on being agreeable to see... if one is not too demanding.
Production: Scott R. Dunlap (Monogram Productions)
Screenplay: Albert Duffy
Starring: Wallace Ford - Jean Parker - Paul Fix - Jed Prouty
Filmed in March 1941 - Released on 30-April-1941 - 71 min.
Let's see. A just-married journalist witnesses the death of a pacifist, falling down from the top of a building. Quickly he inspects the corpse and takes with him a piece of paper before the police arrives, a clue that takes him up to a second hotel where he finds a second cadaver, from which it extracts new clues and photographs to be published before the police could find out what happened. Both murders are the action of a mysterious fifth-column organization -"foreign" to go further- that does not hesitate to kidnap the journalist and his wife to worm out the same information that is already published in the newspaper (??), while a patriotic local gangster takes charge of rescuing them. This crazy history is the base of Roar of the Press, one of the six movies filmed by the prolific Phil Rosen in 1941 for Monogram Pictures, perhaps the most "prestigious" Poverty Row studio and the home of declining stars and cast actors in search of main roles. With a philosophy based on extremely short shootings (between one and two weeks maximum), even more shorter budgets (90.000 dollars as average per title) and a technical finish aligned to all this, Monogram productions didn't try anything else than make enough money in the box office filling the programs led by the big studios, but also served for the promotion of future stars as Robert Mitchum or for the sustenance of directors like Rosen or William Beaudine, respected figures in the silent times. If in the middle of it all it was possible to imbue the movie with some artistic aura (but not in excess), even better. The results were always similar: an scarce hour of light entertainment, with hasty scripts and plots too similar to other movies that, nevertheless, even today keep on being agreeable to see... if one is not too demanding.
Veamos. Un periodista que acaba de casarse es testigo de la muerte de un pacifista, caído desde lo alto de un edificio. Sin dudarlo inspecciona el cadáver y se queda con un trozo de papel antes de que llegue la policía, una pista que le lleva hasta un segundo hotel donde encuentra un segundo cadáver, del que extrae nuevas pistas y al que hace fotos para, todo ello, publicarlo antes de que la policía se entere de nada. Ambos asesinatos son responsabilidad de una misteriosa organización quintacolumnista -"extranjera" para más señas- que no duda en secuestrar al periodista y a su esposa para sonsacarles la misma información que ya está publicada en el periódico (??), mientras un patriótico gángster local se encarga de rescatarles. Esta descabellada historia es la base de Roar of the Press, una de las seis películas filmadas por el prolífico Phil Rosen en 1941 para Monogram Pictures, quizás el más "prestigioso" estudio de Poverty Row y el hogar de las estrellas en declive y los actores de reparto en busca de papeles protagonistas. Con una filosofía basada en rodajes extremadamente cortos (entre una y dos semanas máximo), presupuestos aún más cortos (una media de 90.000 dólares por título) y un acabado técnico acorde con todo ello, las producciones de Monogram no pretendían nada más que hacer la suficiente caja en taquilla rellenando los programas liderados por los grandes estudios, si bien sirvieron para la promoción de futuras estrellas como Robert Mitchum o para el sustento de directores como Rosen o William Beaudine, otrora respetadas figuras en la época silente. Si en medio de todo ello se podía imbuir el filme de un halo artístico (pero no en demasía), pues mejor que mejor. Los resultados siempre fueron parecidos: una hora escasa de entretenimiento liviano, con guiones atropellados y tramas demasiado parecidas a otras películas que, sin embargo, incluso hoy en día siguen siendo agradables de ver... siempre y cuando no se sea demasiado exigente.
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