The Final Edition

MAE CLARK has to prove her ability as a reporter in this flashy crime melodrama co-starring PAT O'BRIEN. O'Brien hams it up in true '30s acting style, firing off his lines at everybody in sight with the quick trigger mechanism of a machine gun firing bullets.

The story is a swift moving one of a reporter who gets herself into deep trouble attempting to get the goods on a bunch of gangsters. She's a quick thinker whenever she needs to convince the bad guy that she's just a single woman looking for romance. It's her near escape from danger and her clever ideas that move the story forward, while O'Brien is usually the guy at the other end of the phone barking orders to everyone.

Typical newspaper story with a little romance thrown in. Nothing special, but if you enjoy watching Pat O'Brien ham it up, this is one of his zaniest.

When Pat O'Brien was first brought to Hollywood for The Front Page it was because he'd been seen in a production of it on Broadway. But he wound up playing the reporter instead of the editor which is the part O'Brien did on stage. Maybe to make amends, Harry Cohn cast Pat O'Brien as the editor in this film which has a lot of the elements of The Front Page or more accurately the Howard Hawks classic remake of His Girl Friday in it.

The Hildy Johnson role is played by Mae Clarke who a year before was James Cagney's favorite punching bag. Mae proves in this one that her head can be used for a lot more than receiving grapefruits on the chin. With a little snooping that Lois Lane or Brenda Starr can be proud of she whose job was in jeopardy with O'Brien gets a real good scoop on the identity of the murderer of a prominent civic leader and she's doing an investigation all on her own.

All this of course to impress O'Brien both professionally and physically which of course Mae does. Final Edition with Warner Brothers regulars O'Brien and Clarke in the leads moves at a clip more like a product from that urban studio. O'Brien is good, but the film clearly belongs to Mae Clarke.

It's too bad Ms. Clarke is best remembered for getting a grapefruit in the kisser from James Cagney in "Public Enemy", because her other roles show she had more on the ball than just that. The problem is, her lead roles were often in B films from lesser studios. This is one of those roles.

Here Mae Clarke plays Ann Woodman, a newspaper reporter who gets fired by the editor (Pat O'Brien as Sam Bradshaw) of the same paper, probably because she wouldn't accept his proposal, but he claims it is because she is a bad reporter. The new and honest police commissioner has just been shot down in front of his home, and Mae decides to solve the crime to prove to her old employer and boyfriend that she has what it takes. She is helped by the fact that these are some of the dumbest criminals in the history of the world. They plug a police commissioner when they have plenty of publicly known motives, but they practically have a round table conference when it comes to what to do to reporters who know too much. But still, it is plenty of fun seeing Mae operate fast on her feet. She reminds me of Glenda Farrell in similar roles of the time period, and she really is the whole show. Pat O'Brien is playing this strictly in support.

Highly recommended as a fast moving little crime film that tells a good story in a little more than an hour.

Final Edition, The (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

"B" movie is in the same mode as THE FRONT PAGE. This time out Mae Clarke plays a reporter who is fired by her editor (Pat O'Brien) after she turns down his proposal. After the police commissioner is killed by some gangster, Clarke tries to prove her worth as a reporter by going undercover and trying to bring down the killers. This thing doesn't have the greatest screenplay in the world as there are several plot holes but that doesn't take away from the entertainment value. The 66-minute fly by thanks in large part to the nice work by Clarke and O'Brien. Clarke has no troubles fitting the role of the tough woman as she has the perfect voice to come off tough and she's also sassy enough to be very charming. O'Brien talks as fast as he can get the words out and also adds plenty of charm making his character, while unoriginal, at least entertaining. The two together make for some real fireworks and one can't help but smile when they two are on screen. Morgan Wallace gets the play the tough guy with Bradley Page and Mary Doran also doing fine work as the rats. I doubt many people outside of fans of the cast are going to bother watching this film when they could always just watch THE FRONT PAGE or HIS GIRL Friday but fans of "B" movies will certainly want to check this one out. There's nothing great about it and it's certainly not a classic but it does have enough charm to make it work your hour.

Mae Clarke plays rookie reporter Anne Woodman who's determined to get respect as both a reporter and a girlfriend from condescending editor Sam Bradshaw (Pat O'Brien). Through feminine wiles and an obvious talent for sleuthing Anne manages to gain access to the criminal gang involved in an important murder investigation.

Loads of newspaperman flash is used to enliven this standard story of a female reporter trying to prove her worth, solve the case and win her man. Fast talking editors, bustling, sleep-deprived reporters, dozens of urgently ringing telephones and spinning newspaper overlays are just a few of the fancy tricks used to dazzle the viewers eyes and ears. I do recommend Final Edition however some slightly wooden acting, stilted dialog and a weak climax keep this from being a better effort.