Guy Kibbee
Dr. Peter Blood, unjustly convicted of treason and exiled from England, becomes a notorious pirate.
Although he’s credited only for story, the dialogue has Fuller’s headline punch, and of course newspapering was an alternative universe he knew inside out. A publisher whose once-honest New York tabloid has been ideologically hijacked is aiming to make a course correction. Minutes after saying, “The power of the press is the freedom to tell the truth–it is not the freedom to twist the truth,” he’s a dead man. The rest of the movie deals with the efforts of his old friend, small-town newsman Guy Kibbee, to complete the paper’s redemption. Made in mid World War II, the picture angrily and explicitly likens homegrown demagoguery to Nazism–and its condemnation of media organizations “playing on the prejudices of stupid people” has acquired fresh relevance. Otto Kruger and Victor Jory (“a little Himmler”) supply the villainy, while Lee Tracy steps up to save the day as a casehardened yellow journalist named Griff.
Four aspiring musical actresses – Carol, Trixie, Polly and Fay – are struggling to make a living on Broadway in the midst of the Great Depression. When producer Barney Hopkins has the idea of creating a show about the Depression, the girls team up with newly-discovered songwriter Brad Roberts to make it happen. But Brad is not who he seems.
Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state’s senior senator–presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys’ camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor. Taylor first tries to corrupt Smith and then later attempts to destroy Smith through a scandal.
A producer puts on what may be his last Broadway show, and at the last moment a chorus girl has to replace the star.
James Cagney stars as a fledgling producer who finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences. Co-starring Joan Blondell and Dick Powell with spectacular Busby Berkeley dance sequences. Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.