Hollywood had a fixation on the press in the 1930s. It had other fixations too, when it came to making certain types of movies. Jimmy Cagney became a star and built a career on gangster films, although he was talented as a dancer as well. But "Back in Circulation" is one of the big productions of the studios that focused on the press.
It's true that there were press scandals, just as there was a gangland culture that included some corrupt elements of law and order. The latter were associated to a great extent with prohibition and organized crime. The former fed the latter. In the press scandals, sensationalism and competition drove much of the journalism before World War II.
While Pat O'Brien has first billing in the film, "Back in Circulation" is mostly a Joan Bennett film. As Bill Morgan's (O'Brien) star reporter on the Daily Express, Timmy Blake (Blondell) is a one-woman production with multiple skills. Besides her reporter's nose for news and her female intuition, she can investigate, play attorney, ply coroners and otherwise stage crime and accident scenes.
The best thing of this film is Blondell's character. The bantering, arguing and exchanges between Timmy and Bill are almost standard scripts of films of this genre in the 1930s. "Front Page," "His Girl Friday," and the myriad others of the genre all had the city editor/news room quandaries with the reporters. So, O'Brien's role isn't anything special. But the script for this film has a huge hole that hurts it and Blondell's performance in the end. Except for the very opening at a train wreck, there isn't another scene involving the police anywhere to be found.
So, what this turns out to be is a film in which the press - reporters and photographers and editors, follow leads, conduct investigations, solve crimes and bring the criminals or culprits to trial. None of the great comedy-crime films of the Golden Age presumed such a high regard for the press and low regard for the justice system. The police were always seen as being on the job, even if they were a move or two behind the movie's hero. But the plot of this film proceeds as though the press were the purveyors of law and order, and there were no police to be found anywhere. That considerable absence or oversight from this film stretches its credibility and strains the ability of the audience to appreciate the film.
It's worth watching just for Joan Blondell's performance, and the bit of intrigue toward the end. Otherwise, "Back in Circulation" joins the ranks of the mostly forgettable "press" movies of the period.
It's true that there were press scandals, just as there was a gangland culture that included some corrupt elements of law and order. The latter were associated to a great extent with prohibition and organized crime. The former fed the latter. In the press scandals, sensationalism and competition drove much of the journalism before World War II.
While Pat O'Brien has first billing in the film, "Back in Circulation" is mostly a Joan Bennett film. As Bill Morgan's (O'Brien) star reporter on the Daily Express, Timmy Blake (Blondell) is a one-woman production with multiple skills. Besides her reporter's nose for news and her female intuition, she can investigate, play attorney, ply coroners and otherwise stage crime and accident scenes.
The best thing of this film is Blondell's character. The bantering, arguing and exchanges between Timmy and Bill are almost standard scripts of films of this genre in the 1930s. "Front Page," "His Girl Friday," and the myriad others of the genre all had the city editor/news room quandaries with the reporters. So, O'Brien's role isn't anything special. But the script for this film has a huge hole that hurts it and Blondell's performance in the end. Except for the very opening at a train wreck, there isn't another scene involving the police anywhere to be found.
So, what this turns out to be is a film in which the press - reporters and photographers and editors, follow leads, conduct investigations, solve crimes and bring the criminals or culprits to trial. None of the great comedy-crime films of the Golden Age presumed such a high regard for the press and low regard for the justice system. The police were always seen as being on the job, even if they were a move or two behind the movie's hero. But the plot of this film proceeds as though the press were the purveyors of law and order, and there were no police to be found anywhere. That considerable absence or oversight from this film stretches its credibility and strains the ability of the audience to appreciate the film.
It's worth watching just for Joan Blondell's performance, and the bit of intrigue toward the end. Otherwise, "Back in Circulation" joins the ranks of the mostly forgettable "press" movies of the period.