Right from the unique and flashy opening credits sequence, this nifty little action picture packs energy and breezy style into every minute.
Norman Foster is Don, top newsreel photographer and news hound at Union Newsreel, Inc. It's a pretty exciting job! The boss doesn't let on that he knows Don is his best reporter, preferring to play the gruff and grumbling chief
but he assigns his own son to learn the business from Don.
Meanwhile, Evalyn Knapp is Wilma, daughter of the rival newsreel company's head man. She is generally regarded as a spoiled rich girl who has "more money than brains"—but she has nerve and talent enough to show off her flying skills as an unscheduled (and uninvited) participant in an air show. In any case, Wilma is bored and urges her rich father to give her a job. Laughing, he tells her it's preposterous: "Do you imagine for one moment that any young woman of your type would be anything but an infernal nuisance at any business?" Her steady reply: "I certainly do."
Not surprisingly, Don and Wilma eventually team up to take on Don's big idea: dramatizing news events—that is, re-enacting them using a combination of real news makers and actors—and calling it The March of Events. Of course, the whole time that Wilma is developing into Don's top collaborator on the job, he thinks her name is McCloskey and has no idea who she really is
.
Along the way, the plot involves gamblers, company spies, some tricky camera work from Don, and some wild chase sequences along gravel roads in open roadsters. Eric Linden puts in a nice performance as Bob, the boss's lazy son who finally takes a shot at redeeming himself. The great George Hayes is fun as a horse trainer—no scruffy whiskers yet, but you can see an early Gabby in his mannerisms.
No wasted motion or words in this quickie; there's really not a boring moment. Great fun, right to the corny final shot.
