The 1934 crime drama 'Night Alarm' is all about the intrepid newspaper reporter uncovering the 'fire-bug' (and getting the girl). Overall it is a bit dated. The acting is quite decent, but there are some unexpected jumps and shortcuts in the story as well as an eyebrow-raising musical number halfway. It does have some lively action scenes with firetrucks and cars screeching round the corner. (Regarding the odd jumps in storyline; this surviving copy may well have been heavily cut down for broadcasting on television. It could well be that a half-hour's worth of acting was cut out. For many films, the television edit is the only copy that remains.)
To properly set the newspaper scene at the beginning of the film, it shows the typesetting room with several linotype (I think) machines.
And in more detail.
From there on, the action moves to the newsroom to introduce the players.
An array of desks with standards.
Although a bit dated, the film still is quite watchable and is readily available even; 'Night Alarm' can be seen or downloaded over at The Internet Archive.
Machine spotting!
Back in the days.
ReplyDeleteI think those are linotype machines. A bit different than what was in the local newspaper shop though. Maybe just older.
Might well be - this could be stock footage somewhat older than '34. And the machines could've been decades old when filmed :-)
DeletePerhaps theme of the budget-film. The car isn't the latest model and the standard typewriters also look more like 1910 than thirties' machines (but then, Underwood stuck to the style for half a century ;-)