In the musical "Chicago", the character of "Mary Sunshine" is described as a "sob sister", a reporter of the tragedies of celebrities and non-celebrities alike that the public can't help but take a fascination to. Times haven't changed in 80 years; In fact, they've gotten worse. Here, two rival newspaper reporters end up as neighbors and begin dating, even though the female reporter has vowed not to end up like one of her "victims". As the story begins, this female reporter gets the scoop on the family of a murdered girl by pretending to be an old friend of hers. She keeps the other reporters from getting the story out by snipping the wire of the phone she has just used! And to think that in 1930, women were still considered the gentler sex! James Dunn (best known as the father in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn") and an obscure actress named Linda Watkins are the rival reporters here, and they go at it from beginning to end to scoop each other even though its obvious that their relationship is more than platonic. One of them observes that if sex isn't a lethal weapon, then there have been a lot of innocent victims out there.
Minna Gombell is great as the wise-cracking neighbor who constantly pops into visit Watkins by simply stepping onto her fire escape and entering Watkins' apartment through her window. There are several funny exchanges involving an exasperated neighbor trying to sleep as Watkins, Gombell and Dunn speak to each other through their windows. The camera pans up, down, and across to each of their windows like a searchlight. Pretty innovative considering how many films of this year were still filmed statically like stage plays. Fox films also used a nice touch in the credits by filming down the movie's newspaper advertisement. It's still no "Front Page", but its still worth a view of how early talkie cinema could move fast, making it appear more like films from a few years down the road.
Minna Gombell is great as the wise-cracking neighbor who constantly pops into visit Watkins by simply stepping onto her fire escape and entering Watkins' apartment through her window. There are several funny exchanges involving an exasperated neighbor trying to sleep as Watkins, Gombell and Dunn speak to each other through their windows. The camera pans up, down, and across to each of their windows like a searchlight. Pretty innovative considering how many films of this year were still filmed statically like stage plays. Fox films also used a nice touch in the credits by filming down the movie's newspaper advertisement. It's still no "Front Page", but its still worth a view of how early talkie cinema could move fast, making it appear more like films from a few years down the road.