Several less than warm reviews have been posted here regarding "Roar of the Press," but if a viewer decides to take a look at the film based on the knowledge that this is a B-movie about a newspaper reporter from 1941 and that it stars Jean Parker and Wallace Ford, satisfaction and enjoyment are very likely. The many actors with spoken parts are familiar to fans of old movies, if not by name at least by sight, and they do a good job of acting together and expressing themselves in a fairly natural way. Fans of B-westerns will see at least a couple of actors who have wandered off the range to appear here, including the venerable Charles King. The "Roar of the Press" story is a bit contrived perhaps, but no complaints here about the directing or editing. I say: pretty good stuff all the way!
9 Reviews
Any movie with Jean Parker is a good movie!
JohnHowardReid29 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Comedy mixes quite agreeably with murder in this attractively photographed (Harry Neumann) and breezily directed (Phil Rosen) "B" from good old low-budget Monogram – not close-to-zero budget PRC as mentioned by one reviewer. True, the screenplay by Albert Duffy (from a story by Alfred Block) is no Pulitzer Prize-winner, but I found the newspaper scenes with taskmaster Jed Prouty quite entertaining and I wondered how Jean Parker was going to play out her sexual frustration in 1941's super-tight censorship era. I thought she handled this aspect extremely well. Just watch the expression on her face at times! In my opinion, she was absolutely brilliant and fully deserved her top billing. She was dressed in style too. My guess is that she selected her own clothes. Certainly she outclassed the rest of the femme brigade, including Suzanne Kaaren, Evalyn Knapp, Betty Compson and Dorothy Lee. Always reliable Paul Fix has a small part as a loyal-to-his-country thief, and the keen-eyed will spot Charles King in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him role as a police lieutenant. Byron Foulger, Jack Perrin, Dennis Moore and Lynton Brent are in there too. Yes, by "B" standards, it's an admirable cast line-up. True, the spies-in-our-midst plot is a bit weak, but it adds to the annoyance that the Jean Parker character experiences, namely that her newly acquired husband is sent off on a chase that could have been handled equally well (and maybe better!) by Jack Cheatham, Pat Gleason and company. Available on a very good Grapevine DVD coupled with Double Cross (also 1941).
What's not to like about Wallace Ford?
Paularoc17 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This is a nice little Monogram mystery with the always likable Wallace Ford. Ford plays a newspaper reporter, Wally Williams who has just married Jean Parker. On their wedding day a big story breaks (murder of a well known man) and Wally is off to cover it (actually, tricked into covering it by the news editor played by Jed Prouty) and leaves his new bride home alone. Ford, Prouty and Paul Fix (as "Sparrow" a gangster, but "loyal American") do very good jobs and the scenes they're in move along nicely. But what is it with Jean Parker? She was kind of perky and fun in the Kitty O'Day mysteries but here she is bland with little to do (except get kidnapped) and no snappy lines. One of the most interesting things, given the movie's release date, about the movie is that a pacifist group is behind the murders. Sparrow refers to the group as a bunch of foreigners who are Un-American but gangster, such as Sparrow are at least "loyal Americans." Huh? However, if Wallace Ford is in the movie, I'll watch it – I enjoy his work that much.
Not too interesting newspaper mystery of early war years.
mark.waltz4 May 2010
Warning: Spoilers
When newspaper reporter Wallace Ford returns to New York with a new bride (country bumpkin Jean Parker, with a Katharine Hepburn "Philadelphia Story" hairdo), his boss is determined to get him back to work immediately even though Ford still has a few days left to celebrate his honeymoon. That plan comes quickly to an end when a body falls off the roof of a New York skyscraper right in front of them. Ford's boss uses the presence of one of his old flames to get Ford down to the office, while Parker must wait around in their swank penthouse for him to return listening to gossipy socialites and the possessive wife (Betty Compson) of one of Ford's pals. Being 1941, it's anybody's guess who the culprit of the murder will be (and the motive), and when it's revealed, it comes out of left field. The interesting thing about this low-budget Monogram film is that it actually has extremely beautiful art deco sets for its hotel lobby and suite. Also, its nice to see Dorothy Lee (the leading lady of most of Wheeler and Woolsey's comedies) making one of her last film appearances as Ford's ex girlfriend. The writers were obviously attempting a complex murder mystery with comic overtones, but it simply ends up as confusing, convoluted, and careless. And if Jean Parker is a girl from the country, then portly Wallace Ford is an exact duplicate of Slim Summerville! Pretty disappointing and other than an interesting cast and some nice interior decoration, quite forgettable.
Formulaic and predictable but still, it's not bad...
planktonrules28 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This film stars Jean Parker and Wallace Ford. While Ford is a name seldom remembered today, the very ordinary looking guy starred in quite a few B-movies as well as played supporting roles in some A-pictures. As for Parker, she really isn't given much to do and I have no idea why she got top billing.
The film begins with Parker and Ford marrying. However, he plays a reporter—the very clichéd type with an even more clichéd boss. As a result of Ford witnessing a famous local guy tumble onto the streets from a skyscraper, the heart of stone boss orders him back to work. And, since Ford obviously loves the job and is a workaholic, he agrees—leaving his poor bride waiting and waiting and waiting throughout the film.
For the most part, this is a very, very familiar sort of film if you watch a lot of old movies. While the acting and direction are fine, the writing is just old and tired—making the film seem more like a case of déjà-vu than anything else. Not bad and worth seeing if you are a casual movie viewer. However, for old movie freaks like me, it's just too much of the same to be anything more than just another time-passer.
The film begins with Parker and Ford marrying. However, he plays a reporter—the very clichéd type with an even more clichéd boss. As a result of Ford witnessing a famous local guy tumble onto the streets from a skyscraper, the heart of stone boss orders him back to work. And, since Ford obviously loves the job and is a workaholic, he agrees—leaving his poor bride waiting and waiting and waiting throughout the film.
For the most part, this is a very, very familiar sort of film if you watch a lot of old movies. While the acting and direction are fine, the writing is just old and tired—making the film seem more like a case of déjà-vu than anything else. Not bad and worth seeing if you are a casual movie viewer. However, for old movie freaks like me, it's just too much of the same to be anything more than just another time-passer.
The life of a reporter
bkoganbing24 December 2018
This B picture from Monogram casts Wallace Ford as a hotshot reporter who is
returning from Vermont after covering a story there with a bride Jean Parker. He
wants and has been promised a little honeymoon time from editor Jean Prouty.
But as they arrive at their honeymoon penthouse suite, a body literally drops to
the ground from the next building. All his reporter instincts kick in as Parker
waits for her new husband to cover the story before getting down to honeymoon
business.
All the cliches about newspaper reporters also kick in as the stereotypes created by The Front Page also kick in. Covering a story is one thing, but Ford flirts dangerously with evidence tampering. If he turned over the evidence he had to the cops he and the new missus would have avoided a lot of trouble. But there would be no picture.
It's Monogram and a typical Monogram cheap product.
All the cliches about newspaper reporters also kick in as the stereotypes created by The Front Page also kick in. Covering a story is one thing, but Ford flirts dangerously with evidence tampering. If he turned over the evidence he had to the cops he and the new missus would have avoided a lot of trouble. But there would be no picture.
It's Monogram and a typical Monogram cheap product.
Obscure Cast -- Obscure Film -- Obscurity Deserved
alonzoiii-129 January 2010
Our reporter hero has just married our heroine, country girl from Vermont, and has come back to New York for a brief honeymoon. When he sees a famous rich person fall from a window, will he get entangled in getting the story, following the siren call of the ROAR OF THE PRESS, or will he be able to give his cute newlywed some quality time?
This is a rather ordinary film from the infamous PRC, home of Edgar G. Ulmer and a whole lot of very cheap cinema. The leads are obscure -- they act well enough and give decent line readings. But the male lead is a decidedly peculiar choice for leading man -- he has "fat best friend character actor" written all over his looks and his cheerful, but hardly dominating performance. The female lead complains in the way that wives of husbands, journalists, and other busy professions always seem to do in the movies.
The end result is nothing very bad (the acting and pacing is OK), but nothing memorable either. Whether you respond with mild bemusement, mild boredom, or utter despair, depends on your appreciation for, or tolerance of, the host of "reporter after hot story" clichés trotted out here. Almost any Warner Bros film from the 30s that you can find will handle this sort of material better. But, if you have a hankering for a rootin, tootin hard-bitten stop the presses kind of movie right this second, you can watch this picture any time you want over at archive.org.
This is a rather ordinary film from the infamous PRC, home of Edgar G. Ulmer and a whole lot of very cheap cinema. The leads are obscure -- they act well enough and give decent line readings. But the male lead is a decidedly peculiar choice for leading man -- he has "fat best friend character actor" written all over his looks and his cheerful, but hardly dominating performance. The female lead complains in the way that wives of husbands, journalists, and other busy professions always seem to do in the movies.
The end result is nothing very bad (the acting and pacing is OK), but nothing memorable either. Whether you respond with mild bemusement, mild boredom, or utter despair, depends on your appreciation for, or tolerance of, the host of "reporter after hot story" clichés trotted out here. Almost any Warner Bros film from the 30s that you can find will handle this sort of material better. But, if you have a hankering for a rootin, tootin hard-bitten stop the presses kind of movie right this second, you can watch this picture any time you want over at archive.org.
Depressing snore
mmtoucan28 November 2008
Someone, perhaps veteran B director Phil Rosen, created okay, one-scene moments for former A stars, Dorthry Lee (Wheeler and Woolsey pics), Evelyn Knapp and Betty Compson. Someone also just saw His Girl Friday, so lots of pressroom reporter comraderie with one a star reporter with marriage issues. There's too much battle of sexes, verbal sparrage between reporter Ford and wifey Parker. Unfortunately, instead of capable, adult feminest Roz, we have the beautiful, but insipid Jean Parker, at home twiddling her thumbs and fuming. She complains he's missing dinner. He whines and lies.
Not fascinating.
Not fascinating.
Roar of the Press
CinemaSerf13 April 2023
A fast moving story about a honeymooning journalist Wallace Ford ("Wally") who happens across a scoop as an influential industrialist falls to his death from a rooftop. His editor needs (blackmails) him to follow up so we engage in a fine, if predictable, balancing act between his investigation and his new wife "Alice" (Jean Parker). When they are both kidnapped and discover a secret web of fifth columnists they must combine their talents to outwit them... It didn't have much of a budget, so the script and production are a bit creaky, but the supporting cast and sheer pace make it an OK newspaper-man film.
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