Important News (1936) User Reviews

All the important news to fit the front page

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 4 January 2006]

MGM and the other studios produced a lot of one reel features which were intended to showcase an upcoming actor or actress in a format that was pleasing and made the viewers aware of new faces. This seems to be the case with "Important News", directed by Edwin Lawrence and released in 1936.

We are taken to a small town in which the editor of The Cole County Clarion is preparing the front page of the paper. Elmer, the editor, is an older man who is wiser than what everyone gives him credit for. When he decides on an important local news item for the lead story, his nephew, Cornelius, disagrees with him. Elmer doesn't think that printing the sensational news about a gangster killed on Main Street will be as important as what his readers will be looking for. In the end, Chic is complimented by the visiting big city newsman, Ed Rollins, from the Chicago Daily Sentinel, which is the best praise anyone can get while serving the community.

Charles "Chic" Sale does a great job as Elmer. Young James Stewart plays Cornelius, showing what will become his screen persona in an uncredited performance. Charles Trowbridge is good as the visiting Chicago newspaper man.

Priorities in a Small Town

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 14 June 2008]

Comedian Chic Sale who specialized in playing small town rustics was the star of this short subject from MGM. It's only of interest because of the appearance of James Stewart as Sale's assistant.

Chic is the owner/editor of a small town newspaper along the lines of William Allen White's Emporia Gazette. In a small town they've got a different idea of what's important news. So even when a notorious gangster is gunned down in their small town streets, Sale just goes business as usual and takes a ribbing for it.

Of course there's an upshot to all of this which I won't reveal, but Sale's none the worst for wear for all the ribbing he took.

Stewart barely registers a blip in this short film. My guess is he hadn't made much of an impact yet and Louis B. Mayer did like to keep his players working.

Important News is an important piece of Hollywood trivia, that's all.

Are Gangsters News?

[boblipton · 7/10 · 14 July 2019]

Chic Sales runs a weekly newspaper out in the middle of nowhere. It's a newspaper which carries the weather as front-page news because some of the subscribers are farmers without radios. When Sales is an eyewitness to gangster "Pretty Face" Wilson (intended to be "Pretty Boy" Floyd) being gunned down on Main Street, he keeps the weather on the front page and puts the slaying in the obituaries.

It's a homespun short about small-town values, a bit far away from MGM's usual values. However, they thought they had a new star in Sales, and for a while they did.

You may also be amused to find Jimmy Stewart as Sales' typesetter. You may find him a little hard to spot, given he's wearing glasses. His voice, however, is unmistakable.

Good

[Michael_Elliott · 29 December 2008]

Important News (1936)

*** (out of 4)

James Stewart has a supporting role in this MGM short. A small town editor (Charles 'Chic' Sale) must decide, which story to put on the front page of his newspaper. One story is a famous gangster being shot down in front of his eyes, which would get attention across the country. The second story is a frost warning that would only help those few people in his city that don't have a radio. This is certainly a short meant to tell a morals story and on that level it works even though one-reel doesn't give it too much time for a stronger story. The message is pretty much cut and dry but Sale gives a pretty good performance that makes the film watchable. The young Stewart, in his sixth film, also does a pretty good job and manages to get a few laughs. There's certainly nothing great or ground breaking about this film but it is fun for what it is. This was Lawrence's only film as director.

IMPORTANT NEWS (Edwin Lawrence, 1936) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 13 March 2010]

Like BURIED LOOT (1935), this was an MGM effort; however, its homespun qualities rather than the former's hard-hitting approach were closer to the studio's convention-bound maxim! Stil, as with that film, it features a durable and much-loved star who would bloom soon after (James Stewart, who actually only has a supporting role here as an editor's gawky assistant). This involves a small-town paper's activities and how they do not allow an out-of-the-ordinary event (such as the gunning-down locally of a notorious criminal) to disrupt their established way of life; since an oncoming frost is likely to bring havoc upon the community's all-important crops or taking out an advert by a valuable sponsor in favor of the gangland scoop could affect the income of any one enterprise, it is these mundane 'news flashes' that make it to the paper's front page! Ironically, the townsfolk begin to ridicule the editor for his lack of foresight – but a reporter from the big city takes his side and congratulates him on his integrity! The film – its director's sole credit in that capacity – is hardly inspired, then, but the inherent modesty at work (it is a one-reeler, after all) makes the whole easy enough to take.

Not especially believable or interesting, but at least you get a peek at a young Jimmy Stewart....BRIEFLY.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 11 March 2007]

This is one of Jimmy Stewart's earliest roles. Like many contract players, the studio didn't seem sure what to do with the soon-to-be star and dumped him into this pretty thankless role. You see, Stewart isn't the star but merely a supporting player that easily could have been played by anyone else--though it is pretty neat to see him with curly-ish hair and glasses.

The star of the short is Chic Sale, an actor mostly forgotten today (and with pretty good reason, I think after seeing him in several less than distinguished films). He plays the publisher of a small local paper who meets up with a big city publisher and they get to talking. Shortly after this meeting, a famous hoodlum is gunned down on the streets of this small town and Sale is one of the first people there. However, having incredible ethical standards (an impossible notion for someone in the media, I know), he doesn't exploit the killing but issues another headline that is REAL news. That's nice, but not especially interesting and the overall effect just isn't the least bit compelling. So the film's value is more as a curio for its brief and rather unremarkable appearance by Stewart.

A fleeting appearance by James Stewart in early short subject...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 23 December 2008]

To print or not to be print--that's the dilemma facing newspaper editor CHARLIE SALE when he has to choose between a headline that becomes a matter of priorities for him. Should he do the tabloid headline about Pretty Face Wilson gunned down in the street, or should he do the farmers a favor and print the one about a frost warning?

Depends on what someone thinks is "important news." What matters here is that this is a very stale, very inadequate short overacted by Charlie Sale and presenting JAMES STEWART in a very subordinate role as a hick assistant who wears a dumb expression and mumbles his way through a small role, looking rather detached until he sees a man being gunned down in the street. Not exactly a standout part for Stewart.

Very forgettable little short without any style at all.

An Early Peek At James Stewart

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 30 June 2001]

An MGM MINIATURE Short Subject.

The editor of the Cole County Clarion must decide what is the real IMPORTANT NEWS for his readers: an impending frost which may spell disaster to their crops, or the sensational shooting-down of a notorious gangster on their small town main street.

This is an enjoyable little one-reeler, featuring a good performance by comic Charles `Chic' Sale. Today's viewers will perhaps be more interested in the appearance of uncredited James Stewart, as Sale's nephew/assistant. Slow talking & somewhat goofy, Stewart shows many of the attributes which would make him a huge star in a very short time.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something like writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Look for Charles Trowbridge!!

[SkippyDevereaux · 14 June 2001]

A great little short film about a small town newspaper and the decision by its editor on what stories to put on the front page. Should it be a story that is surely to get national attention or a local story for the townsfolk? This film is really short, about 10 minutes long!! Maybe that is why "Chic" Sales is tolerable in this film!! LOL This film is known mostly for an early James Stewart performance, but I was happy to see one of my favorite actors in it--Charles Trowbridge!! He plays "Ed", in an uncredited role. It is always nice to see one of his films. Try and catch it next time it is on television.

What Good Is Ambition

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 28 November 2018]

Just a silly little film about a small town newspaper editor who is more interested in a frost warning than the killing of a gangster. This is about the little things in life that matter to simple people. I found it charming. And the bonus is a very young Jimmy Stewart, doing his things in a ten minute film. He was already a presence.