A rousing and inspirational newspaper noir made on a shoestring budget with director Samuel Fuller's own money (which he lost!) and a small name cast. Gene Evans is the principled editor in the Park Row of 1886, whose dream of his own paper to run is fulfilled by a heavy drinking investor at a bar. And Mary Welsh is the strong but ethically challenged editor at the paper that intends to run them into the ground. The dueling editors have a great distaste for each other, despite an undercurrent of building lust. Park Row features great dialogue, fascinating characters, amusingly detailed glimpses of the latest 1880s newsprint technology, the actual moment linotype is invented, some surprisingly violent attacks on the press, and a fundamental message that is as urgent as ever today-democracy dies without a free and active press.
Review of Park Row
