Park Row (1952)

In New York's 1880's newspaper district a dedicated journalist manages to set up his own paper. It is an immediate success but attracts increasing opposition from one of the bigger papers ... See full summary »

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller

Stars:

Gene Evans, Mary Welch, Bela Kovacs

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gene Evans	...	Phineas Mitchell
Mary Welch	...	Charity Hackett
Bela Kovacs	...	Ottmar Mergenthaler
Herbert Heyes	...	Josiah Davenport
Tina Pine	...	Jenny O'Rourke
George O'Hanlon	...	Steve Brodie
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Dan O'Rourke
Forrest Taylor	...	Charles A. Leach
Don Orlando	...	Mr. Angelo
Neyle Morrow	...	Thomas Guest
Dick Elliott	...	Jeff Hudson
Stuart Randall	...	Mr. Spiro
Dee Pollock	...	Rusty
Hal K. Dawson	...	Mr. Wiley

Storyline

In New York's 1880's newspaper district a dedicated journalist manages to set up his own paper. It is an immediate success but attracts increasing opposition from one of the bigger papers and its newspaper heiress owner. Despite the fact he rather fancies the lady the newsman perseveres with the help of the first Linotype machine, invented on his premises, while also giving a hand with getting the Statue of Liberty erected.

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Plot Keywords:

newspaper | linotype machine | newspaper editor | obituary | competing businesses | 

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Taglines:

Street of rogues... reporters... and romance!

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

12 August 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Dama de Preto

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Fuller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Samuel Fuller put up his own money to make the movie and lost it all.

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Quotes

Phineas Mitchell: The press is good or evil according to the character of those who direct it.

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Crazy Credits

Instead of "The End", the picture ends with "Thirty"; newspaper jargon for "that's all. There ain't no more!"

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Bad Teacher (2011)

User Reviews

An engaging and entertaining tribute to American Journalism

Before becoming a B-movie specialist and one of American cinema's finest filmmakers, Sam Fuller was a journalist who once worked as a crime reporter for The New York Daily Graphic. He made his great pictures in headlines, something more akin to tabloid journalism and sensationalism. "Every newsman is a potential filmmaker", Fuller once said and explicitly used it in "Park Row", an intensely personal work in which he financed with his own money but unfortunately failed miserably when it came out.

"Park Row" is small but an engaging and entertaining tribute to American journalism. Under the opening credits we see a huge rolling title that lists about 2,000 American daily newspapers and this story is dedicated to them.

Set in the 1880s New York, the film is about the rivalry between The Globe and The Star. An aspiring newspaper editor (Gene Evans) sets up his own daily The Globe after a man jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge. He struggles to compete with his former employer's (Mary Welch) newspaper The Star, who happens to be in love with him, while the Statue of Liberty is being donated to the U.S. by France.

Unlike Fuller's bleak and lurid "Shock Corridor", "Park Row" is full of reverential optimism and is packed with so much gusto and excitement, featuring some terrific tracking shots that will make your head spin.

Highly recommended.