The Most Important Newspaper Movies, 1931-1941

The wise-cracking, hard-drinking, working-class, regular-guy reporter made newspaper movies one of the most popular genres during the Great Depression. The best reporters would go anywhere, do anything, and step on anybody’s toes to get a good story—a scoop was like manna from heaven to these rascals. The bad ones didn’t care if the story was true or if the telling would harm an innocent as long as the story enhanced the reporter’s reputation. The hard-nosed editor was the buffer between his reporter foot soldiers and the avarice of their publisher interested only in circulation and profits. The ethical dilemmas confronting the press were usually the domain of the editor and caused his brow to furrow as often as his reporters’ drunken escapades. The following list of newspaper movies arranged chronologically from 1931 to 1941, The Front Page to Citizen Kane, are the films that delighted audiences, defined the genre and created the image of the newspaper man that has endured in American popular culture: