The Power of the Press

Frank Capra's fast-paced "The Power of the Press" is even more dazzling in its 66-minutes (cut from 72) Kodascope version. Young Douglas Fairbanks plays it just right as the go-getter hero, taking care that his brashness is always cleverly tempered. His delightful interpretation of an always-laughing bootlegger is highly amusing. It's also good to see Jobyna Ralston as the in-peril heroine, Robert Edeson as the cigar-chewing editor, Dell Henderson as a blob of a reporter and Wheeler Oakman as the crook's chief accomplice, but it's blonde Mildred Harris who manages to steal the movie from all of them – and that's before you realize who she actually is, none other than the Mildred Harris who married Chaplin and then flitted around high society after her divorce in 1921, had a running affair for years with the Prince of Wales, married a gent named Everett McGovern, divorced him in 1930, and that some year introduced the Prince to another high-flying socialite, Mrs Wallis Simpson. She was only 42 when she died of pneumonia in Hollywood in 1944. Of her 134 movies, only a few survive. "The Power of the Press" was her last starring role. But what a role!