So little is known about the infamous New York City tragedy of the fire aboard the excursion steamer, GENERAL SLOCUM in 1904. Roscoe Karns venerable character actor performs adequately in this newspaperman story, by giving all of the sordid details of how all these human lives were lost through corruption and greed. One hopes, that if it is seen, it will raise the curiosity of viewers into the tragedy of how complete families of German Lutherans were wiped out in the consuming blaze aboard the General Slocum. The two films, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and TITANIC did awaken viewers into the 1912 disaster, but so little is known of the ships that sank or burned in midtown New York and Chicago (Eastland) during the first decade of the 20th Century.
5 Reviews
Awfully melodramatic and dated...but not bad.
planktonrules9 May 2017
"Copy" is a very strange short film because there really is enough plot here to make a full-length picture. I think MGM was simply using it to test out its sound equipment, as they were the last major studio to switch to sound in the US and in 1929 they were STILL making some silents.
The picture stars Roscoe Karns as City Editor Mack, a tough guy who knows how to turn a word to make a sensational story. His latest crusade is the local excursion boats...he's looked into them and they are floating hazards. However, before he can publish his exposé, the owner of the boats comes to the office to threaten him to back off. Only moments later, disaster strikes...one of the boats sinks and kills at least 500 people...and two of them might just be Mack's wife and daughter!
As I said, it comes off like a full-length movie...perhaps a B- movie. Karns is very good in this and only a few years later, Lee Tracy would make his mark playing folks exactly like this...hard- bitten newspaper men who talk a mile a minute.
The picture stars Roscoe Karns as City Editor Mack, a tough guy who knows how to turn a word to make a sensational story. His latest crusade is the local excursion boats...he's looked into them and they are floating hazards. However, before he can publish his exposé, the owner of the boats comes to the office to threaten him to back off. Only moments later, disaster strikes...one of the boats sinks and kills at least 500 people...and two of them might just be Mack's wife and daughter!
As I said, it comes off like a full-length movie...perhaps a B- movie. Karns is very good in this and only a few years later, Lee Tracy would make his mark playing folks exactly like this...hard- bitten newspaper men who talk a mile a minute.
The Lion Squeaks
boblipton25 August 2002
Static, early MGM short covering the city desk of the "Daily News", where the usually-reliable Roscoe Karns is the managing editor. Everyone speaks very loudly and very clearly and every emotion is ludicrously overemphasized. Some interesting setting shots of linotype operators.
Strange Two-Reeler from MGM
Michael_Elliott7 November 2010
Copy (1929)
** (out of 4)
Early talkie from MGM is certainly a strange one. City editor John Mack (Roscoe Karns) writes a story about safety issues on a Steamboat. Soon its owner shows up demanding the story be pulled but minutes later that said Steamboat catches fire and hundreds are dead. The editor then gets chilling news but the story must go on. This two-reeler is like many early talkies in that it contains way too much dialogue. This film runs 21 -minutes but you'd think there was enough dialogue here for five feature films. Most of the dialogue doesn't contain much to the actual story being told but you can't help but think this film helped influence stuff like THE FRONT PAGE and countless other films where the editor or newspaper man are constantly talking fast and rushing around for the story. The film has a very strange mix of comedy and drama as the thing starts off with non-stop laugh attempts but then it grows extremely dark as the subject turns to hundreds of kids being burned alive. I was surprised to see how graphic some of the talk was but I do give the film credit for trying to tackle so much in such a short amount of time. Karns is pretty good in his role, although there's no question that he doesn't handle the drama as well as some might hope. Jack Carlyle, James Donlan and Tom McGuire add nice work to their roles as well. COPY certainly isn't a masterpiece but there's enough here for fans of early talkies to make it worth checking out.
** (out of 4)
Early talkie from MGM is certainly a strange one. City editor John Mack (Roscoe Karns) writes a story about safety issues on a Steamboat. Soon its owner shows up demanding the story be pulled but minutes later that said Steamboat catches fire and hundreds are dead. The editor then gets chilling news but the story must go on. This two-reeler is like many early talkies in that it contains way too much dialogue. This film runs 21 -minutes but you'd think there was enough dialogue here for five feature films. Most of the dialogue doesn't contain much to the actual story being told but you can't help but think this film helped influence stuff like THE FRONT PAGE and countless other films where the editor or newspaper man are constantly talking fast and rushing around for the story. The film has a very strange mix of comedy and drama as the thing starts off with non-stop laugh attempts but then it grows extremely dark as the subject turns to hundreds of kids being burned alive. I was surprised to see how graphic some of the talk was but I do give the film credit for trying to tackle so much in such a short amount of time. Karns is pretty good in his role, although there's no question that he doesn't handle the drama as well as some might hope. Jack Carlyle, James Donlan and Tom McGuire add nice work to their roles as well. COPY certainly isn't a masterpiece but there's enough here for fans of early talkies to make it worth checking out.
"Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow" And this little short may well have been ancestral to many a BIG Newspaper Movie to come.
redryan6416 June 2008
WE found this old comedy 2 reel short subject quite by accident. It was yesterday, Sunday, June 15, 2008. It was on Teddy Boy's TCM in one of those "Betweener" features. It would have most likely escaped our notice completely, save for the fact that the lead actor's name served to awaken our memory; transporting us back to the early 1950's and the old DuMont TV Network, Channel 9, WGN, here in Chicago.
Roscoe Karns was the lead and title character in the Detective Series, "ROCKY KING, INSIDE DETECTIVE" (DuMont Network, 1951-54) It was a live series of the old Cops 'n' Robbers variety. It was our first encounter with the Actor with the fast talking' and sort of medium-high pitched voice. In looking back, he didn't seem to be the fellow to cast as a Police Inspector.* IN the short COPY (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929), we have what seemed to be more in the area of old Roscoe's forte. It is a farce, but it's all over the page as far as emotions go; for there are moments of decided melancholy and high seriousness. But, even the bits of business that are strictly comedy seem to vary widely. All of this is packed into a twenty minute talkie two reeler! THE later oft used setting of the editorial offices of a "Great Metropolitan Newspaper" was most likely caused by the popularity of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur hit Broadway Play, "THE FRONT PAGE"; which had a long and successful run on the "Great White Way." (Two years later, THE FRONT PAGE would be filmed as a hit feature film.
ANYWAY, this little picture was a sort of precursor of what was to come. That's all I was trying to say, honest, Schultz! STRICTLY from a technical point of view, the short seems to be very primitive and a true "Talkie", in every respect. It would appear that the placement of the microphone did outright rule the whole set of logistics for the production.
ODDER even is the opening. There is no sound, no theme music nor any incidental music; save for MGM's Leo the Lion; who appears to have a case of laryngitis. In fact, Leo appears to be in a sort of anemic condition here. This is one case where MGM's Trademark and Spokes-animal seemed lack-luster and lacking any pep or energy. The condition was so bad, that Leo would have gotten his ass kicked by Monogram Pictures' Tiger; had they met then.
NOTE: * Little did we know then that our 'Rocky King', Mr. Karns, had been in films ever since about 1915. His best roles were in those as a fast talking, comedy relief character, such as a lecherous reporter in HIS GIRL Friday (Columbia, 1940) or in what may well be his signature performance as the obnoxious traveling salesman, Oscar Shapely in Frank Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934), opposite Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
Roscoe Karns was the lead and title character in the Detective Series, "ROCKY KING, INSIDE DETECTIVE" (DuMont Network, 1951-54) It was a live series of the old Cops 'n' Robbers variety. It was our first encounter with the Actor with the fast talking' and sort of medium-high pitched voice. In looking back, he didn't seem to be the fellow to cast as a Police Inspector.* IN the short COPY (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929), we have what seemed to be more in the area of old Roscoe's forte. It is a farce, but it's all over the page as far as emotions go; for there are moments of decided melancholy and high seriousness. But, even the bits of business that are strictly comedy seem to vary widely. All of this is packed into a twenty minute talkie two reeler! THE later oft used setting of the editorial offices of a "Great Metropolitan Newspaper" was most likely caused by the popularity of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur hit Broadway Play, "THE FRONT PAGE"; which had a long and successful run on the "Great White Way." (Two years later, THE FRONT PAGE would be filmed as a hit feature film.
ANYWAY, this little picture was a sort of precursor of what was to come. That's all I was trying to say, honest, Schultz! STRICTLY from a technical point of view, the short seems to be very primitive and a true "Talkie", in every respect. It would appear that the placement of the microphone did outright rule the whole set of logistics for the production.
ODDER even is the opening. There is no sound, no theme music nor any incidental music; save for MGM's Leo the Lion; who appears to have a case of laryngitis. In fact, Leo appears to be in a sort of anemic condition here. This is one case where MGM's Trademark and Spokes-animal seemed lack-luster and lacking any pep or energy. The condition was so bad, that Leo would have gotten his ass kicked by Monogram Pictures' Tiger; had they met then.
NOTE: * Little did we know then that our 'Rocky King', Mr. Karns, had been in films ever since about 1915. His best roles were in those as a fast talking, comedy relief character, such as a lecherous reporter in HIS GIRL Friday (Columbia, 1940) or in what may well be his signature performance as the obnoxious traveling salesman, Oscar Shapely in Frank Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934), opposite Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
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