Power of the Press, The (1928)
*** (out of 4)
Nice comedy/drama from Capra. Clem Rogers (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) is a cub reporter who gets his big break covering the murder of a District Attorney. One the scene Rogers sees the daughter (Jobyna Ralston) of an upcoming Mayor leaving the house and soon it's all over the news that she was involved in her death. She claims she's innocent so the reporter sets out to see if she really is and soon uncovers a dark political plot. This Columbia film runs a brief 64-minutes and while it doesn't feature anything ground breaking, it does manage to keep you entertained with a smile on your face. The best thing going for the film are the performances with Fairbanks coming off very charming. He's very believable as the rather dumb reporter yet when it's time to be serious he can manage this as well. Fairbanks can play both the comedy as well as the drama and his energy helps keep the film moving. Ralston is also very good as the daughter and the chemistry with Fairbanks comes off very well. Mildred Harris is terrific as the mystery lady who might know a lot more than anyone else and Philo McCullough and Wheeler Oakman turn in fine performances as well. The movie is so short that we really don't get any sort of character development or a well drawn out story but I really don't think the point was to make some sort of grand mystery. The movie was clearly meant to be light entertainment and that's what it is. Capra's direction perfectly handles the lighter moments as well as the romantic moments but he also handles the suspense quite well. There's a terrific scene where Fairbanks plays drunk to try and find some information from a bootlegger that works perfectly and what really happened to the D.A. is good as well. Fans of Capra and Fairbanks will certainly want to check this out even though it's rarely talked about when people discuss either man.