''Deadline – U.S.A.'' is a 1952 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

and starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...

and

Kim Hunter Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar ...

, written and directed by

Richard Brooks Richard Brooks (born Reuben Sax; May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), '' ...

. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's crimes while trying to keep the paper from going out of business; he is also attempting to reconcile with his ex-wife.

Plot

Ed Hutcheson is the crusading managing editor of a large metropolitan newspaper called ''The Day''. He is steadfastly loyal to publisher Margaret Garrison, the widow of the paper's founder, but Mrs. Garrison is on the verge of selling the newspaper to interests who plan to permanently cease its operation. Hutcheson has other concerns, including the fact that his former wife Nora is going to remarry. He also puts his reporters to work on the murder of a young woman and the involvement of racketeer Tomas Rienzi, which could turn out to be a circulation builder that keeps the paper in business or else the last big story it ever covers. Reporters discover that the dead girl, Bessie Schmidt, had been Rienzi's mistress, and that her brother Herman had illegal business dealings with the gangster. Hutcheson provides Herman with an opportunity to safely tell his story, but Rienzi's thugs, disguised as cops, take him away, resulting in Herman's death. All seems lost when Mrs. Garrison's daughters, majority stockholders Kitty and Alice, refuse to budge, causing a judge to permit ''The Day'' to be sold. Bessie's elderly mother, Mrs. Schmidt, turns up in Hutcheson's office with her daughter's diary and $200,000 in cash, implicating Rienzi in his illegal activities. The presses roll as Hutcheson ignores the gangster's threats.

Cast

as Ed Hutcheson *

as Margaret Garrison *

as Nora Hutcheson *

Ed Begley Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film '' Sweet Bird of Youth'' (1962) an ...

as Frank Allen *

Warren Stevens Warren Albert Stevens (November 2, 1919 – March 27, 2012) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Early life and career Stevens was born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania and graduated from Clarks Summit High School.

as George Burrows * Paul Stewart as Harry Thompson *

Martin Gabel Martin Gabel (June 19, 1911 – May 22, 1986) was an American actor, film director and film producer. Life and career Gabel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Rebecca and Isaac Gabel, a jeweler, both Jewish immigrants. He married Arlen ...

as Tomas Rienzi * Joseph De Santis as Herman Schmidt * Joyce MacKenzie as Katherine "Kitty" Garrison Geary * Audrey Christie as Mrs. Willebrandt * Fay Baker as Alice Garrison Courtney * Jim Backus as Jim Cleary Uncredited * Carleton Young as Crane, Garrison's daughters' lawyer *

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa ...

as Williams *

Fay Roope Fay Roope (born Winfield Harding Roope; October 20, 1893 – September 13, 1961) was a Harvard graduate and a character actor who appeared in American theater in New York City from the 1920s through 1950, and in American film and television from ...

as Judge McKay * Parley Baer as Headwaiter * John Doucette as Hal * Florence Shirley as Miss Barndollar * Raymond Greenleaf as Lawrence White * Tom Powers as Andrew Wharton * Thomas Browne Henry as Fenway * Phillip Terry as Lewis Schaefer, Nora's fiancé * Joseph Sawyer as Whitey Franks *

Lawrence Dobkin Lawrence Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002) was an American television director, character actor and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. Dobkin was a prolific performer during the Golden Age of Radio. He narrat ...

as Larry Hansen, Rienzi's lawyer * Clancy Cooper as Police Captain Finlay * Willis Bouchey as Henry *

Irene Vernon Irene Vernon (born Irene Vergauwen, January 16, 1922 – April 21, 1998) was an American actress. Background Vernon was born Irene Vergauwen in Mishawaka, Indiana, and graduated from Mishawaka High School. Following graduation, she moved to ...

as Mrs. Burrows *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as White's City Editor * Kasia Orzazewski as Mrs. Schmidt *

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

as Copyboy * Norman Leavitt as Newsroom reporter

Production

The newspaper used as background on the film, called ''The Day'', is loosely based upon the old ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

'', which closed in 1950. The original ''Sun'' newspaper was edited by Benjamin Day, making the 1952 film's newspaper name (not to be confused with the real-life New London, Connecticut newspaper of the same name) a play on words. ''Tough as Nails'', a biography of Brooks authored by Douglass K. Daniel, cites the 1931 death of the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

'' newspaper as the basis for the film, including the decision by the sons of

Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born , ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and a newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in the U.S. Democ ...

to sell the paper rather than run it themselves. The World was sold to Scripps Howard, which merged it with their ''New York Telegram'' to form the ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

''. Twenty-one years later, Scripps-Howard also acquired the New York Sun to form the ''World-Telegram and The Sun.''

Reception

'' Variety'' gave the film a positive review calling Bogart "convincing". The film's DVD and Blu-ray debut was in 2016. In the audio commentary, film historian Eddie Muller rates this film as one of the best films ever made about the inner workings of a major newspaper.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deadline - U.S.A. 1952 films American crime films American black-and-white films 1952 crime films Films directed by Richard Brooks Films with screenplays by Richard Brooks Films about journalists 20th Century Fox films Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge James Dean Films produced by Sol C. Siegel 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language crime films