Park Row **** (1952, Gene Evans, Mary Welch, Herbert Heyes) – Classic Movie Review 3,507

Samuel Fuller draws on his own early newspaper man experiences for the neat, taut 1952 B-film Park Row starring Gene Evans as a newspaper editor clashing with a media mogul (Mary Welch) in Victorian-era New York.

Cult name writer-producer-director Samuel Fuller draws on his own early newspaper man experiences for this very neat, taut, low-budget independent B-film drama about a newspaper editor named Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans) clashing with a battling media mogul called Charity Hackett (Mary Welch), his former employer, in Victorian-era New York.

In New York’s 1880s newspaper district, Mitchell starts up The Globe, a small, visionary newspaper. But, after firing him, The Star’s ruthless heiress Charity decides to try to eliminate the enemy competition.

Despite the obviously cheap production, this 1952 movie is thoroughly good, often rousing stuff that is still relevant today – perhaps, given the state of the press, maybe even more so.  Mitchell says: ‘The press is good or evil according to the character of those who direct it.’ How up to date is that?

There are many fine sequences and there is intelligent, genuinely involving and interesting writing, as well as imaginative direction by Fuller, who really knows how to move the camera around to make a shot count. Though quickly shot in 14 days, it is stylishly made in long takes.

Also in the cast are Herbert Heyes, Tina Pine, Forrest Taylor, George O’Hanlon, J M Kerrigan, Don Orlando, Bela Kovacs, Neyle Morrow, Dick Elliott, Stuart Randall, Dee Pollock, Hal K Dawson, Heinie Conklin, Jean Del Val, Monk Eastman, Charles Horvath, Frank Marlowe, Snub Pollard, Stanley Price and Max Wagner.

Park Row premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, a prestigious venue for an independent B-film, probably thanks to its release by United Artists.

It was the former New York reporter’s favourite film, although it did not do well at the box office. Sam Fuller put up his own money to make it and lost it all. He kept $1,000 in his bank account to spend on cigars and vodka, the remaining $200,000 went on the movie. He decided to fund the film himself after Darryl F Zanuck at 20th Century Fox suggested making it with stars, colour and as a musical. About half the budget went on a four-storey set to re-create Park Row in the 19th century. Zanuck told Fuller that his period movie would be a box-office loser, and it was.

It had its world première in Los Angeles on September 1, 1952.

Runtime: 83 minutes.

Park Row is the US equivalent of the UK’s Fleet Street, the street in Manhattan where most of New York City’s newspapers were located.

Mary Welch and Herbert Heyes died on the same day of 31 May 1958.

The cast

The cast are Gene Evans as Phineas Mitchell, Mary Welch as Charity Hackett, Bela Kovacs as Ottmar Mergenthaler, Herbert Heyes as Josiah Davenport, Tina Pine as Jenny O’Rourke, George O’Hanlon as Steve Brodie, J. M. Kerrigan as Dan O’Rourke, Forrest Taylor as Charles A Leach, Don Orlando as Mr Angelo, Neyle Morrow as Thomas Guest, Dick Elliott as Jeff Hudson, Stuart Randall as Mr. Spiro, Dee Pollock as Rusty, Hal K. Dawson as Mr Wiley. Bela Kovacs, Heinie Conklin, Jean Del Val, Monk Eastman, Charles Horvath, Frank Marlowe, Snub Pollard, Stanley Price and Max Wagner.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,507

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/