Walter Huston and Kay Francis had both been in the cast of "Elmer the Great" on Broadway. After it folded Huston popped over to Paramount's Astoria studios to film "Gentlemen of the Press". It was one of the many newspaper films designed to cash in on the acclaimed "The Front Page" but they didn't have their female menace cast yet, so Huston told Kay she may have a chance - even though the part called for a blonde!!! Writer Ward Morehouse told the story of going to Tony's Club and there, in a haze of smoke, finding Kay Francis sitting with a Tom Collins. She was "tall and dark and very interesting and had made far more appearances at Tony's than she had on the Broadway stage. Her movie career began that day".
For too many years Wickland Snell (Huston) had neglected his daughter, Dorothy (Betty Lawford, who was the original Crystal Allen on Broadway in "The Women"), missing out on all her milestones including birth, first steps, graduation etc and he is determined to make it up to her. Enter drop dead gorgeous Myra May (could it be anyone other than Kay Francis) who is suing the paper for printing lies about her in an upcoming divorce case. "I'm more than just a secretary" - when Kay says this , she makes it sound like the most alluring phrase ever uttered. Snell takes her up on that when he moves into private enterprise, along with Ted Hanley (Norman Foster), Dorothy's husband - another milestone he missed, her wedding!!
The business they are involved in are mausoleums!!! Snell is exasperated "Another six months of Higginbottam and Heaven and I'll be in the nut house"!!! He is fed up with boardroom boredom and hypocrisy and desperately wants to get back to the newsroom. He also wants to sever all ties with Myra, who, he finds, is trying her best to vamp Ted away from Dorothy. This movie is no "Front Page" - Huston and Francis are totally dynamic but when they are not in the scene the film becomes static and talkie. There is an interesting scene midway, that supposedly depicts a group of newsmen bantering in a natural, leisurely setting. Brian Donlevy, in one of his first roles, has an extended uncredited bit as Kelly. Charlie Ruggles does his usual drunken act, this was before he was an often irritating fixture in some of Paramount's more interesting horror movies. The underlying theme was how a newsman's life is often ruled by events and headlines, often at the expense of home and family. Snell wants to do better by his family but the last chilling scene in which his dying daughter is whispering "daddy, daddy" into the phone with her last breath and Snell, who is dictating a story, misses his daughter's last words, is heartbreaking.
Highly Recommended.
For too many years Wickland Snell (Huston) had neglected his daughter, Dorothy (Betty Lawford, who was the original Crystal Allen on Broadway in "The Women"), missing out on all her milestones including birth, first steps, graduation etc and he is determined to make it up to her. Enter drop dead gorgeous Myra May (could it be anyone other than Kay Francis) who is suing the paper for printing lies about her in an upcoming divorce case. "I'm more than just a secretary" - when Kay says this , she makes it sound like the most alluring phrase ever uttered. Snell takes her up on that when he moves into private enterprise, along with Ted Hanley (Norman Foster), Dorothy's husband - another milestone he missed, her wedding!!
The business they are involved in are mausoleums!!! Snell is exasperated "Another six months of Higginbottam and Heaven and I'll be in the nut house"!!! He is fed up with boardroom boredom and hypocrisy and desperately wants to get back to the newsroom. He also wants to sever all ties with Myra, who, he finds, is trying her best to vamp Ted away from Dorothy. This movie is no "Front Page" - Huston and Francis are totally dynamic but when they are not in the scene the film becomes static and talkie. There is an interesting scene midway, that supposedly depicts a group of newsmen bantering in a natural, leisurely setting. Brian Donlevy, in one of his first roles, has an extended uncredited bit as Kelly. Charlie Ruggles does his usual drunken act, this was before he was an often irritating fixture in some of Paramount's more interesting horror movies. The underlying theme was how a newsman's life is often ruled by events and headlines, often at the expense of home and family. Snell wants to do better by his family but the last chilling scene in which his dying daughter is whispering "daddy, daddy" into the phone with her last breath and Snell, who is dictating a story, misses his daughter's last words, is heartbreaking.
Highly Recommended.