A Dispatch from Reuter’s *** (1940, Edward G Robinson, Edna Best, Eddie Albert, Albert Basserman, Gene Lockhart, Otto Kruger, Montagu Love, Nigel Bruce, Dickie Moore) – Classic Movie Review 4,247  

Edward G Robinson stars in Warner Bros’ 1940 biographical film A Dispatch from Reuter’s about Paul Julius Reuter, the man who built the famous Reuter’s news service.

A Dispatch from Reuters is a typically robust and entertaining 1940 Warner Bros biopic of the pioneer who founded the news agency Reuters, starting in the 1830s when Julius Reuter (Edward G Robinson) used carrier pigeons to transmit news across a Europe still not equipped with the new telegraph system.

Milton Krims’s screenplay (from a story by Valentine Williams and Wolfgang Wilhelm) is occasionally stodgy and pompous, and director William Dieterle’s handling lacks pace and bite. But a reined-in Edward G Robinson is clearly enjoying himself, ideally cast in the star role. Edna Best plays Mrs Ida Reuter and Dickie Moore plays the great man as a boy.

A gilt-edged support cast fills in some of the gaps: Eddie Albert as Max Wagner, Albert Basserman [Albert Bassermann] as Franz Geller, Gene Lockhart as Otto Bauer, Otto Kruger as Dr Magnus, Nigel Bruce as Sir Randolph Persham, Montagu Love as John Delane, James Stephenson as Carew, Walter Kingsford as Louis Napoleon III, and David Bruce as Mr Bruce.

And the movie has the advantage of telling a little-known story and it comes up with a strong finish about Reuter’s scoop at Lincoln’s assassination. James Wong Howe’s black and white images and Max Steiner’s score are other strong advantages. It is an accomplished technical piece of studio film-making.

It is rather short for this kind of biopic, just 90 minutes.

It previewed at the Warner Hollywood Theater on September 18, 1940, premiered on October 29, 1940 in Los Angeles, and debuted in New York City on December 11, 1940.

There was trouble shooting a scene in which a hawk pursues a carrier pigeon. They were worried about the hawk overtaking and killing the pigeon, and used a tame hawk and a weighted wild one, but the pigeon chased both hawks!

Also in the cast are: Ernie Stanton as Cockney News Vendor, Billy Dawson, Lumsden Hare as Chairman, Cyril Delevanti as Cockney News Vendor, Alex Craig, Egon Brecher, Gilbert Emery as Lord Palmerston, Robert Homans as Reporter, and Robert Warwick.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,247

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