Broderick Crawford is a newspaper editor that sets up a Lonely Hearts Ball with his colleagues, and is shocked to find that his wife is attending. He abandoned her years ago, and he's changed his name, but she still wants him. But when the two end up bickering in her apartment, Crawford accidentally kills her and knows
it will ruin his career. It doesn't make it any better that John Derek and Donna Reed are hot on his tracks ... "Scandal Sheet" looked to me like a heck of movie, considering it has a cast that includes two Academy Award winners, a phenomenal noir director, and stellar reviews to top it all off. The biggest problem for me though, was that I feel like I've seen "Scandal Sheet" many times before. There's many different kinds of plot devices used in film noir like, "Innocent man on the run", "Kill the husband for the money and run off with the lover", "Accidental killing ruins a career", and "Life after the heist". The biggest problem with film noir, is that the genre almost always uses on of those trademarks. Yes, I love the genre, but what's so irritating is that "Scandal Sheet" doesn't cover any new tracks, because unlike many other great thrillers of the day, it takes the device but still has twists, and this is predictable the whole way through. Yes, the performances are great, and Karlson covers a lot in its short running time, but overall, "Scandal Sheet" is just another look at a forgettable film noir. If I were you, look for "99 River Street" which is ten times better.
November 17, 2011
