Unholy Partners (1941)

Returning home after WWI, a newspaperman (Edward G. Robinson) decides to start his own newspaper, a tabloid that sensationalizes the news and isn't above making the news rather then just reporting it. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, this doesn't feel like a movie from the MGM dream factory. Rather it has the feel of a gritty Warner Brothers topical feature. LeRoy (I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAING GANG) and his star Robinson both came from Warners so that only adds to the set up. It's an entertaining piece of pulp until it goes all saccharine on us at the very end. Now that feels like MGM. Warners wouldn't have gone soft or at least not that soft. Robinson is wonderful here and Edward Arnold as a corrupt racketeer who funds Robinson's tabloid is perfect. Laraine Day and Marsha Hunt provide the feminine requirement which translates to looking pretty with nothing much to do. Also in the cast: William T. Orr, Marcel Dalio, Charles Dingle and Frank Faylen.