Headline *** (1943, David Farrar, Anne Crawford, Merle Tottenham, John Stuart, Antoinette Cellier, William Hartnell) – Classic Movie Review 13,987

The 1943 British crime thriller film Headline stars David Farrar as a newspaper crime reporter who investigates a murder intimately witnessed by the romantically involved wife of his boss.

Director John Harlow’s 1943 British black and white thriller film Headline is based on the 1933 novel Reporter! by Ken Attiwill, and stars David Farrar, Anne Crawford, John Stuart, Antoinette Cellier, and William Hartnell.

The 1943 British crime thriller film Headline stars David Farrar as a newspaper crime reporter who investigates a murder intimately witnessed by the romantically involved wife of his boss.

David Farrar stars as British newspaper crime reporter ‘Brookie’ Brooks is instructed by his editor L B Ellington (John Stuart) to cover the story of a man who has shot dead a woman in a London flat. Brooks finds out that the man is Paul Grayson, who goes on the run. Then Brooks searches for the mystery woman who was in Paul Grayson’s flat at the time of the murder. It turns out she is Ellington’s wife, and she is now being blackmailed by Grayson. Ellington treats ‘Brookie’ badly, using and abusing him as newspaper bosses do, but ‘Brookie’ does him one huge kindness in return, though maybe the kindness is really solely for the wife. The irony is that theirs is a marriage not really worth saving.

Headline is a charming relic of a bygone age, with lots of creaky, rough edges, but even more sweet and lovely items. It’s not often you want to start by applauding a film’s production qualities, especially those of a independent wartime British thriller film are quite remarkable.

High on the list of good things are the super sets designed by the art director James Carter, which include the News Theatre at London’s Victoria Station and the combined street, flat and pub set. Geoffrey Faithfull’s cinematography is smart looking too, making the most of the sets.

Next on the list of good things are David Farrar and Anne Crawford as his newspaper office girl Friday and love interest Anne, who do really rather well as the main stars, keeping things going nicely, sprightly and vivacious. Also on the plus side are William Hartnell as chirpy rival newsman Dell, Richard Goolden as the eccentric clue solver Arthur Jones, Merle Tottenham as gossipy eternal movie maid Mrs Deans, Joss Ambler as the Chief Sub-Editor, and Elsie Wagstaff as Mrs Daly.

The script has its weakness and problems, but the story is solid, and the dialogue is amusing. The film risks taking a dark story of murder and blackmail mostly quite lightly, Hitchcock style. This means there is quite a lot of comedy, much of it clumsy and unwelcome, though even so the performers put it across gracefully. The serious basis of the story, based on the 1933 novel Reporter! by Ken Attiwill, is far more entertaining. And there is enough serious intent to rivet the attention in the screenplay written by Maisie Sharman (screenplay) and Ralph Gilbert Bettison (adaptation).

John Harlow was adept in delivering crime thriller genre potboilers, and this is a good one. He controls the pace, tension, suspense effectively, attending carefully to the newspaper office atmosphere and railway atmosphere, both of which now have period charm. The scenes in the pub, the News Theatre and on the train have the Hitchcock touch. And the climactic fight between the reporter and the killer on the fast-moving train is both suspenseful and thrilling. There’s even a little irony and subtlety in the conclusion.

Don’t mention the war! It is extraordinary that for a film made in London in 1943 there is no mention or evidence of World War Two or the Blitz. They have created an alternate universe fantasy world, just like the sets the News Theatre at London’s Victoria Station are a fantasy version of the real thing. Though it’s a News Theatre, it shows an escapist musical instead of showing up-to-date newsreels. Of course another explanation is that though filmed in 1943, it is perhaps set in the period of the 1933 novel. There’s no rule that a ‘contemporary’ film has to be exactly contemporary.

It was shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, West London. 

Running time: 75 minutes.

It premiered in London on November 16, 1943 and was released in the UK on 24 January 1944.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,987

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