I'd like to revise my opinion of George B. Seitz. The same year that he brilliantly directed "Shadow of Doubt", he also made "Exclusive Story" which is almost equally entertaining. Once again, he had the services of a superb cast, this time headed by Franchot Tone, Stuart Erwin, Madge Evans, Joseph Calleia and Robert Barrat. This flick was produced on an extremely lavish budget by Lucien Hubbard who would deliberately write scenes that would expand that budget during production – such as the marvelous ship-on-fire footage. When supervisors complained about Hubbard's spendthrift ways to Louis B. Mayer, the studio chief almost always supported Hubbard – especially in this case in which he agreed that the spectacular footage written and supervised by Hubbard and masterfully directed by Seitz, had lifted a routine "B" offering into the "A" class. The movie was therefore released with a bit of fanfare and several critics even suggested that Calleia be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award. But that of course didn't happen. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.
Review of Exclusive Story
