Power Of The Press (1943)

When the owner (Minor Watson) of a major New York newspaper discovers his publisher (Otto Kruger) has turned the paper into a right wing sensationalist tabloid with isolationist leanings, he attempts to regain control of the paper. But before he can do that, he's murdered by a hit man hired by Kruger. In his will, he leaves control of the paper to a small town newsman (Guy Kibbee) but Kruger will stop at nothing to retain control of the paper ... including more killing. The most notable aspect of this brief (it's barely over an hour) propaganda piece is that it's based on a story by the great Sam Fuller. Alas, Fuller didn't actually write the screenplay which could have used a strong rewrite and soft pedaled the clunky propaganda ridden dialog. The film is slightly prophetic in that it foresees journalism that has an agenda (Rupert Murdoch and Fox news?) rather than report unbiased news showing both sides of the story. Still, the film is incredibly naive. Tightly directed by Lew Landers. With Larry Parks (THE JOLSON STORY), very good as a political radical framed for murder, Lee Tracy, Victor Jory and Gloria Dickson.