Searching for headlines at any cost, an unscrupulous newspaper owner forces his editor to print a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a woman involved.
Acting
Edward G. Robinson's editor: conscience carved in granite.
Direction
LeRoy's newsroom: claustrophobic as a coffin.
Writing
Dialogue that spits, hisses, and never apologizes.
Director
Mervyn LeRoy
Edward G. Robinson
Joseph W. Randall
Marian Marsh
Jenny Townsend
H.B. Warner
Michael Townsend
Anthony Bushell
Phillip Weeks
George E. Stone
Ziggie Feinstein
Frances Starr
Nancy (Voorhees) Townsend
Ona Munson
Kitty Carmody
Boris Karloff
T. Vernon Isopod
Aline MacMahon
Miss Taylor
Oscar Apfel
Bernard Hinchecliffe
Purnell Pratt
Robert French
Robert Elliott
R.J. Brannegan
Polly Walters
Telephone Operator (uncredited)
James P. Burtis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before the Hays Code enforcement, this is pre-Code Hollywood at its most socially critical—tabloids were genuinely this vicious in the 1920s.
The Broadway play ran simultaneously; Warner Bros. rushed production to capitalize on its notoriety, shooting in 15 days.
US
