Scandal Sheet **** (1952, Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Donna Reed) – Classic Movie Review 10,822

Broderick Crawford in Scandal Sheet (1952).

‘Love Nesters! Shock Slayers! Sensation Seekers!’…

Director Phil Karlson’s excellent 1952 black and white film noir crime thriller Scandal Sheet [The Dark Page] stars John Derek and Donna Reed as New York hot-shot reporters who unwittingly follow leads to a story that will reveal their greedy exploitation newspaper editor (Broderick Crawford) as a wife-killer.

At a lonely hearts ball sponsored by his newspaper, the editor meets the wife he had abandoned years ago and, when she threatens to expose him as a wife-beater, pushes her in anger and accidentally kills her. Then he assigns his protégé reporter John Derek onto the story and is forced to watch while he tracks down the killer.

This compelling yarn, scripted by Ted Sherdeman, Eugene Ling and James Poe from Sam Fuller’s novel The Dark Page, receives the full-throttle handling and committed acting it deserves, and the film just oozes newspaper atmosphere from the period.

Crawford is particularly fine in an ideal part for him.

Also in the cast are Rosemary DeCamp, Henry O’Neill, Harry Morgan, James Millican, Griff Barnett, Jonathan Hale, Pierre Watkin, Ida Moore, Ralph Reed, Jay Adler, Don Beddoe, Duke Watson, Guy Wilkerson, Gary Owen, John Skins Miller, Harry Hines, Harry Wilson, Ralph Volkie, Katherine Warren, Mike Mahoney, Peter Virgo, Ric Roman, Tom Kingston, Charles Colean, Helen Brown, Eugene Baxter, Matt Willis, Victoria Horne, Cliff Clark, Kathryn Card, Edna Holland, Raymond Largay, Shirlee Allard, Pat Williams, Jay Adler, Charles Cane and Luther Crockett.

Fuller had sold his novel The Dark Page to H-F Productions for $15,000, and was in litigation against Famous Artists Corp, claiming the novel’s worth was $100,000.

Scandal Sheet [The Dark Page] is directed by Phil Karlson, runs 82 minutes, is made by Edward Small Productions, is released by Columbia, is written by Ted Sherdeman, Eugene Ling and James Poe, from Sam Fuller’s novel The Dark Page, is shot in black and white by Burnett Guffey, is produced by Edward Small, is scored by George Duning and is designed by Robert Peterson.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,822

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com