Brenda Starr, Reporter (film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' (1945) was the 25th
film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...
released by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
. It was inspired by ''
Brenda Starr, Reporter ''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' (often referred to simply as ''Brenda Starr'') is a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, and continued by others until 2011. ...
'', a popular comic strip created by Dale Messick. The title role was played by Joan Woodbury, who had similar roles in feature films for Columbia and
Monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...
.


Plot

''Daily Flash'' newspaper journalist Brenda Starr (Joan Woodbury), and her photographer, Chuck Allen (Syd Saylor), are assigned to cover a fire in an old house, where they discover the wounded Joe Heller (Wheeler Oakman), a mobster suspected of stealing a quarter-million-dollar payroll. The dying Heller tells Brenda that someone took his satchel of stolen money and he gives her a coded message. Kruger (Jack Ingram), the gangster who shot Heller, escapes to his gang's hideout with the bag, but discovers it is filled with paper rather than money. The gang, knowing Heller gave Brenda a coded message, makes many attempts on her life to get her to reveal where Heller hid the payroll money, but thanks to Chuck and police lieutenant Larry Farrell (Kane Richmond), she evades them, until Pesky (Billy Benedict), a ''Daily Flash'' office boy, succeeds in decoding the Heller message.


Cast

* Joan Woodbury as Brenda Starr *
Kane Richmond Kane Richmond (born Frederick William Bowditch, December 23, 1906 – March 22, 1973) was an American film actor of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly appearing in cliffhangers and serials. He is best known today for his portrayal of the character L ...
as Lt. Larry Farrell *
Syd Saylor Syd Saylor (born Leo Sailor; March 24, 1895 – December 21, 1962) was an American comedic actor and movie cowboy sidekick who appeared in 395 films and television series between 1926 and 1962. Early years Saylor was born Leo Sailor in 18 ...
as Chuck Allen * Joe Devlin as Sgt. Tim Brown *
George Meeker George Meeker (March 5, 1904 – August 19, 1984 ) was an American Character actor, character film and Broadway theatre, Broadway actor. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Meeker made several films such as ''Crime, Inc.'' (1 ...
as Frank Smith *
Wheeler Oakman Wheeler Oakman (born Vivian Eichelberger; February 21, 1890 – March 19, 1949) was an American film actor. Early years Oakman was born as Vivian Eichelberger in Washington, D.C., and educated in that city's schools—specifically Henry School ...
as Joe Heller *
Anthony Warde Anthony Warde (born Benjamin Schwartz; January 1, 1909 – January 8, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in over 150 movies from 1937 to 1964. Early years Born as Benjamin Schwartz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on New Year's Day 1909 ...
as Muller * Cay Forester as Vera Harvey *
Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Alt ...
as Kruger *
Billy Benedict William Franklin Sater Benedict (April 16, 1917 – November 25, 1999) was an American actor, perhaps best known for playing "Whitey" in Monogram Pictures' The Bowery Boys series. Early years Benedict was born in Haskell, Oklahoma, After ...
as Pesky * Ernie Adams as Charlie * Marion Burns as Zelda


Production

In September 1944 Katzman signed a deal to make the film for Columbia release. At this time Katzman was making feature films for the "budget"
Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...
studio, and with his typical thrift he produced ''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' on the side at Monogram, using that studio's sets, technicians, and some of its actors. Katzman had commissioned a newspaper-office set for Monogram's
East Side Kids The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. The series was a low-budget imitation of the Dead End Kids, a successful film franchise of the late 1930s. History The 1935 Sidney ...
comedy ''Muggs Meets a Deadline'' (which began filming on June 5, 1944 and was ultimately released as '' Bowery Champs''), and with the producer's typical thrift he retained the set (as well as actors Billy Benedict, Wheeler Oakman, and Frank Jaquet) for ''Brenda Starr, Reporter''. Columbia's original plan was to make "at least two features based on the character", but Katzman received permission to use the property in a serial instead. Joan Woodbury later recalled:
It was made during the war and everybody was hungry, including me. My former husband had gone off to war. I was left with a little daughter. So you grabbed anything you could grab and, believe me, you were very grateful for anything that came along. This was a 13-episode thing, in 21 days! The only reason they gave me the role was the fact I could learn dialogue fast enough to do everything in one take. The most memorable thing is, on the last night, the back of the set was one solid bar and there wasn’t an inch of space between one bottle and the next. Everybody was waiting for the wrap-up, so we could have a party! But I had 19 pages of dialogue on a telephone, with nobody talking back to me. It’s great if an actor talks back, you can at least ad lib on his ad libs. When you have nobody talking back, you’ve got nobody to ad lib you. So I’d look at a page and say, ‘Okay, let’s do it,’ pick up the phone and we’d shoot it. I shot all 19 sequences in one take, because they were going to kill me if I didn’t, with all that booze waiting; and I proceeded to get bombed after that. (laughs) Sam, at least, realized it was cheaper to hire a stuntlady than break my leg. So I didn’t fall out of windows, I didn’t have any fun at all. (laughs) I didn’t care to do any more serials.


Release


Theatrical

The serial's theatrical release date was January 26, 1945.


Home media

''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' is one of the last sound serials to be made available commercially. For many years, the serial was considered lost, with only a single known print in the hands of a private collector. The serial was released on DVD by VCI Entertainment in March 2011.


Critical reception

Cline writes that Woodbury "managed to carry the story from one episode to another in fine style, leaving herself in jeopardy just enough to require ichmond'sservices as a rescuer each week... hesalvaged by her beauty and charm what might have been Katzman's greatest fiasco except for '' Who's Guilty?''" Serial historian Daniel J. Neyer writes about the film:
''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' spent over sixty years as a “lost” serial, not receiving a post-1945 public screening until it was shown at the fan event “Serial Fest” in 2006–and not coming out on commercial DVD until 2011. Because of its long unavailability and the understandable jubilation attendant upon its rediscovery, it hasn’t been as uniformly or as harshly criticized as other early Katzman Columbias like ''Who’s Guilty?'', '' Son of the Guardsman'', ''
Hop Harrigan Hop Harrigan (also known as The Guardian Angel and Black Lamp) is a fictional character published by All-American Publications. He appeared in American comic books, radio serials and film serials. He was created by Jon Blummer, and was a popular ...
'', and ''
Chick Carter, Detective ''Chick Carter, Detective'' is a 1946 Columbia Pictures, Columbia Serial (film), film serial. Columbia could not afford the rights to produce a Nick Carter (literary character), Nick Carter serial so they made ''Chick Carter, Detective'' about h ...
'' have been. However, it’s fully as listless as those disappointing efforts; though its cast is stronger overall than those of ''Guilty'', ''Guardsman'', or ''Harrigan'', this strength is offset by Brenda’s more complete lack of action. Its closest relative is ''Chick Carter'', with which (as we’ve seen) it shares many plotting similarities; like that chapterplay, it’s ultimately sunk by a thin, talky, uninteresting, and nearly action-free screenplay, despite a solid acting lineup of B-movie and serial veterans.


Chapter titles

# Hot News # The Blazing Trap # Taken for a Ride # A Ghost Walks # The Big Boss Speaks # Man Hunt # Hideout of Terror # Killer at Large # Dark Magic # A Double-Cross Backfires # On the Spot # Murder at Night # The Mystery of the PayrollCline, p. 240.


See also

* List of American films of 1945 * List of film serials by year *
List of film serials by studio This is a list of film serials by studio, separated into those released by each of the five major studios, and the remaining minor studios. The five major studios produced the greater number of serials. Of these the main studios are considered ...


References


External links

* {{Sam Katzman 1945 films American black-and-white films 1945 crime films Columbia Pictures film serials 1940s English-language films Films directed by Wallace Fox Films about journalists American crime films Films with screenplays by George H. Plympton Films based on comic strips 1940s American films English-language crime films Films produced by Sam Katzman