{"id":11538,"date":"2010-07-05T15:23:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-05T22:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11538"},"modified":"2021-01-27T13:48:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T20:48:46","slug":"scandal-sheet-1952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11538","title":{"rendered":"Scandal Sheet (1952)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Too bad the guy used an axe on her head; spoiled some pretty pictures for me.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster-190x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"190\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster-190x300.jpg 190w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster-81x128.jpg 81w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster-171x270.jpg 171w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Scandal-Sheet-Poster.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the editor of a sensationalist newspaper (Broderick Crawford) accidentally kills his estranged wife (Rosemary DeCamp), his lead reporter (John Derek) is assigned to the case of the &#8220;Lonely Hearts Murderer&#8221; &#8212; not knowing that his boss is the man he&#8217;s looking for.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Amateur Sleuths<\/li>\n<li>Broderick Crawford Films<\/li>\n<li>Donna Reed Films<\/li>\n<li>Journalists<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<li>Phil Karlson Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPhil Karlson&#8217;s adaptation of Samuel Fuller&#8217;s 1944 novel <em>The Dark Page<\/em> is an enjoyable if <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3041full.html\">&#8220;solid [and] unpretentious&#8221; thriller<\/a>. Because we know the identity of the &#8220;Lonely Hearts Murderer&#8221; from the moment we see Crawford accidentally killing his long-lost wife in a hotel room scuffle, the film&#8217;s suspense lies exclusively in how and when his secret will be found out. A fiendishly ambitious editor devoted to milking every scandal for what it&#8217;s worth to his increasingly low-brow but profitable rag, Crawford&#8217;s Mark Chapman is forced to shove his tawdry actions (and more distant, seamy past) under the rug &#8212; and Crawford does a fine job portraying the kind of audacious (or foolhardy) man who, in his own words, &#8220;gambles&#8221; with his own life rather than running, at least &#8220;until there&#8217;s nothing else left to do&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, John Derek is too much of a pretty boy for his role and is never entirely convincing as the eager-beaver rookie journalist who places Crawford on such a pedestal (though his opening scene with Harry Morgan as his sidekick photographer is a zinger). Meanwhile, Derek&#8217;s rocky interactions with Donna Reed (trying hard in a weakly written role as his moralistic female colleague) seem to be included in the screenplay merely to provide a requisite love interest subplot. In addition, while its central premise is inherently exciting, the script is predicated on a series of implausible coincidences, and many scenes simply don&#8217;t ring true (c.f. a disturbingly paternalistic sequence near the end of the film involving a bar full of stereotypical &#8220;winos&#8221;). However, the movie possesses enough <em>noir<\/em>-ish atmosphere (courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematographers.nl\/GreatDoPh\/guffey.htm\">Burnett Guffey<\/a>&#8216;s stark cinematography), enjoyably hardboiled dialogue, and genuine suspense that film fanatics will surely be curious to check it out at least once. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Fuller was apparently so unimpressed by <em>Scandal Sheet<\/em> that he vowed to helm all his own flicks in the future &#8212; and did.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Broderick Crawford as Mark Chapman<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-crawford.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-crawford.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11541\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Burnett Guffey&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11542\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/scandal-sheet-cinematography2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11543\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0045124\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1952\/01\/17\/archives\/scandal-sheet-with-broderick-crawford-playing-editor-new-bill-at.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/scandalsheet.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3041full.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll down)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.noiroftheweek.com\/2007\/10\/scandal-sheet-1952.html\">Noir of the Week Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/27678\/scandal-sheet#articles-reviews?articleId=161307\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Too bad the guy used an axe on her head; spoiled some pretty pictures for me.&#8221; Synopsis: When the editor of a sensationalist newspaper (Broderick Crawford) accidentally kills his estranged wife (Rosemary DeCamp), his lead reporter (John Derek) is assigned to the case of the &#8220;Lonely Hearts Murderer&#8221; &#8212; not knowing that his boss is the man he&#8217;s looking for. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Amateur Sleuths Broderick Crawford Films Donna Reed Films Journalists Murder Mystery Phil Karlson Films Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=11538\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66398,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11538\/revisions\/66398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}