Post by mikef6 on May 23, 2018 19:19:10 GMT
My review from the weekly "What classics did you see..." thread on the old boards.
Deadline U.S.A. / Richard Brooks (1952). Twentieth Century Fox studio head Daryll Zanuck wanted either Gregory Peck or Richard Widmark to play the high-powered newspaper managing editor Ed Hutcheson against director Brooks’ preference for Humphery Bogart. Even though Bogart had just returned from the location shoot of “The African Queen,” that picture had not yet earned the acclaim that would later come so Bogart’s recent resume didn’t look so hot. But Brooks held out, got what he wanted, and Bogie rules. This fast-talking adventure has more than one deadline approaching. The venerable old newspaper – based on the New York World founded by Joseph Pulitzer – is about to be sold to a competitor who is sure to shut it down. Before that can happen, the investigative reporters have to gather enough solid evidence to print a story that will bring down gangster Tomas Rienzi (Martin Gable). As great as Bogart is, Ethel Barrymore nearly walks away with the movie – at least, the scenes she is in. She plays the widow of the paper’s founder. It is her greedy grown children who are selling out. Kim Hunter plays Hutcheson’s ex-wife. Both Hunter and Bogart picked up Oscars in March 1952 (for 1951), just about the time that “Deadline U.S.A.” was opening. Ed Begley, Warren Stevens, and Paul Stewart all do great work. One last comment about Bogart: in his first scene, he ties a bow tie for us in close-up. About that, the DVD commentator said, “Bogart also demonstrates the proper way to wear a bow tie. It is a fact that no human being in all of recorded history wore the bow tie better than Bogart.” Amen, brother.
Deadline U.S.A. / Richard Brooks (1952). Twentieth Century Fox studio head Daryll Zanuck wanted either Gregory Peck or Richard Widmark to play the high-powered newspaper managing editor Ed Hutcheson against director Brooks’ preference for Humphery Bogart. Even though Bogart had just returned from the location shoot of “The African Queen,” that picture had not yet earned the acclaim that would later come so Bogart’s recent resume didn’t look so hot. But Brooks held out, got what he wanted, and Bogie rules. This fast-talking adventure has more than one deadline approaching. The venerable old newspaper – based on the New York World founded by Joseph Pulitzer – is about to be sold to a competitor who is sure to shut it down. Before that can happen, the investigative reporters have to gather enough solid evidence to print a story that will bring down gangster Tomas Rienzi (Martin Gable). As great as Bogart is, Ethel Barrymore nearly walks away with the movie – at least, the scenes she is in. She plays the widow of the paper’s founder. It is her greedy grown children who are selling out. Kim Hunter plays Hutcheson’s ex-wife. Both Hunter and Bogart picked up Oscars in March 1952 (for 1951), just about the time that “Deadline U.S.A.” was opening. Ed Begley, Warren Stevens, and Paul Stewart all do great work. One last comment about Bogart: in his first scene, he ties a bow tie for us in close-up. About that, the DVD commentator said, “Bogart also demonstrates the proper way to wear a bow tie. It is a fact that no human being in all of recorded history wore the bow tie better than Bogart.” Amen, brother.