Scandal Sheet (1952)

Posted by Steve-O

The story behind the creation of the 1952 newspaper-noir Scandal Sheet (1952) is almost as interesting as the film itself.

Sam Fuller – a newspaper crime writer who became a screen writer because he heard that the money was good - took a break from Hollywood and wrote the novel The Dark Page.This book was to be less like his previous light-weight pulp novels. Writers write about what they know and Fuller put his experience as a beat crime reporter on the pages of what turned out to be one hell of a crime novel. Before he could get the novel published the former crime reporter, novelist and screenwriter went off to serve in the Army. While serving with the Big Red One, he received great news from his mother. A publisher was interested in buying the rights to the first draft of the book. Then a few years later, while still fighting overseas, he found out that none other than Howard Hawks wanted to make the book into a movie. Hawks bought the rights to the film for $15,000. Fuller's mother sent Sam 1,000 dollars to her soldier son who used it to throw a party for his horribly depleted unit during a brief break from the front lines.

The good news today is the book is finally back in print. Kingly Books has done a fantastic job with the reprint of a novel that had previously been hard to come by. The new print of the 1944 book clearly is a labor of love for the publishers and editors. Fuller's story about shady newspaper men is as dark and gritty today as it was then and should be gobbled up by hard-boiled readers. The opening of the new reprint, written by film director Wim Wenders, and the well-researched afterward by Damien Love, tells some great stories about cigar-chomping Fuller and Howard Hawks plans for the book.

According to Wenders and Love, Hawks at one time considered using Humphrey Bogart in the lead for the film. Later he even though of Cary Grant as the editor of the Comet. It's even speculated that a teaming of Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart would be the perfect fit. The latter would seem to be an easy sell. You can close your eyes and almost see the movie play out in your head. Robinson as the crusty editor – not unlike his role in Unholy Partners (1941) – with Bogart playing the fast-talking beat reporter. No doubt someone like Ann Sheridan or Lauren Bacall could have played the female lead.

Unfortunately, the film was never made by Hawks. Instead he sold the rights, for six times what he paid for them, to Columbia Pictures.

Columbia made the film – stripped down and not nearly as glossy as a Hawks film – and called it Scandal Sheet. Broderick Crawford was cast in the lead role. Though not the star Fuller imagined would play the part of the newspaper editor, Crawford absolutely nails the part so completely that it's hard to imagine why the film makers would have wanted anyone else for the role.

The film was directed by Phil Karlson. During his long career Karlson made some damned entertaining junk including Ben and Walking Tall in the 70s. But for a brief time in the 1950s he put out some of the grittiest film noir. Scandal Sheet, Kansas City Confidential, 99 River Street and The Phenix City Story all had their flaws but today they stand up and are considered some of the best from the classic film noir period.

As always, as does all these Noir of the Week articles, spoilers follow.

Scandal Sheet tells the story of newspaper editor Mark Chapman. He's the head of a tabloid-style newspaper in New York city. His goal is simple – keep increasing the circulation by any means possible. The headlines on the paper are great. Instead of the Britney and O.J. headlines in today's N.Y. tabloids, it runs equally sleazy stories about the “Gorilla Man killer” and teenage sex scandals.

The paper runs a “lonelyhearts” ball – matching up pathetic loners from all over the U.S. so Chapman can again get the city talking about his lurid headlines. He even offers a prize to the couple that gets married the night of the ball – a bed with a built-in TV! The singles are sad and the movie, like Fuller's book, makes fun of them for being so gullible and stupid. Unfortunately, every time Chapman does something sleazy like this he's lectured by female reporter Julie Allison (Donna Reed).

(I assume the filmmakers both wanted a female lead and someone to be the conscience in the film. I could have lived without her in the movie. Anyone watching the film would know what Chapman was doing is wrong. Having it spelled out to us by Reed is just annoying.)

Something unexpected happens at the ball. Chapman runs into his wife... a woman he abandoned over twenty years ago. He even changed his identity to get away from the woman. Her existence could ruin his very public and successful career. Chapman quickly shuffles the middle-aged woman (Rosemary DeCamp who was equally dissed in Nora Prentiss) out of the ball and back to her little apartment. After a nasty argument, he shoves her and she hits her head on a pipe and dies. Chapman, now realizing he's in even deeper trouble puts the woman in the bath tub and tries to make it look like a drowning. After cleaning up he gets away without being seen.

Unfortunately, he's trained his young crime reporter too well. The next day, while everyone else thinks that the nameless woman is a nobody who accidentally drowned in a bathroom accident, Steve McCleary (played with some real spark by John Derek) figures out she was part of the Lonelyhearts ball and, with sidekick Harry Morgan at his side, finds out that she was indeed murdered. McCleary sells the story to Chapman who has no choice but publish his reporter's crime piece. Chapman must now keep his cool. While the story of the murdered woman becomes front page news every day he must do all he can do to keep McCleary from finding out that he was the killer. (think of Double Indemnity in reverse – with Robinson being the killer and Fred MacMurray out to find him.)

Scandal Sheet follows the book nicely but doesn't capture Fuller's rat-tat-tat newspaper writing style. Also, Fuller begins the novel with the killing – a newspaper writer never buries the lead. The movie takes a while to get there. The story is softened (in the novel editor Mark Chapman is a bigamist and he doesn't kill his first wife accidentally. He beats her to death) but still remains faithful to the book. I can't help thinking what it would have been like if Fuller directed it however. As good as the movie is, I imagine his version of the film would look more gritty – like the scenes between Richard Widmark and Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street.

But with all that said (and, yes, the novel is always better) this is a great little newspaper noir with two excellent performances by Crawford and Derek. The film was lensed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Burnett Guffey who was no stranger to film noir: he shot The Sniper, Nightfall, Night Editor, The Reckless Moment and In a Lonely Place among many others. The film is not out on video but was recently aired on Turner Classic Movies in all it's venetian-blind-shadow glory.

Editor's note: Other newspaper noir worth check out include the fantastic Ace in the Hole and The Big Clock.

Click to play. Clip courtesy of TCM