Love Is News (1937)

1937's "Love is News" marked the second film to pair Tyrone Power and Don Ameche ("Ladies in Love" came first), but it was the first to offer Power top billing, which reportedly infuriated leading lady Loretta Young. She definitely comes off worst of the three, as heiress Tony Gateson, tiring of the gossip printed about her, getting even with hot shot reporter Steve Leyton (Power) by offering up a scoop for all the other newspapers, that she and Leyton are engaged. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with her former fiancée (George Sanders), but her uncle (Dudley Digges) plays along so far as to buy an interest in Steve's ailing paper, Don Ameche as the harried editor. The stars are able to carry the thin screwball plot, while the supporting players prove even better, in particular Slim Summerville's judge and Walter Catlett's fellow reporter. Fans of Lon Chaney Jr. will be most disappointed, as what would have been his first film under a two year contract with Fox found his role as an unbilled newsman left on the cutting room floor, a fate repeated in "That I May Live," "Born Reckless," and "Walking Down Broadway."

Loretta Young, Don Ameche and Tyrone Power in a madcap comedy about an heiress who turns the tables on a reporter by announcing they are engaged. Power as Steve Leyton is classicly comic as the sensationalistic reporter whose world is turned upside down when the media spotlight is focused on him. Don Ameche wonderfully offsets him as the city editor, an old friend, who grapples with Power to get a scoop. Loretta Young is pretty and charming as heiress Toni Gateson who chases after Power to keep him in the media spotlight. The acting is wonderfully funny, and the supporting actors do equally well--George Sanders as the egotistical count jilted by Young, Dudley Digges as Young's wealthy uncle, and Jane Darwell in a minor role as Power's landlady. Though remade in 1948 as "That Wonderful Urge" with Gene Tierney, this is one case where the original is much better. The comic rapport between Young and Power keeps the action moving. Though Power was one of the most romantic of leading men throughout his career, this movie showcases his talent for comedy.

While watching Love is News, what I wished for was that this film would have been cast and directed by a whole different team. Because I like screwball comedy, it's hard to do, and requires a finesse, a light touch, and a specific feather tone from both director and actors to handle delicate material - like a soufflé - a little bit too heavy- handed, and it falls flat. With the exception of Slim Summerville as the small-town judge, the performances were uniformly bad. None of the very young and green principals knew how to handle comedy - so they just went broad and big - Don Ameche bellowed, Loretta grinned and mugged, and Tyrone Power was over-animated. Of course it was the director's fault - pump it up, give me bigger, bigger. But he was dealing with actors who were not natural comedians, whose charms were more in smaller gestures. I kept dreaming of the usual stable who could handle the material - Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Melvyn Douglas - because the storyline was fun and sillilly amusing - an heiress turns the tables on a reporter, and decides to put him under the glare of publicity by planting a false story. I watched it all the way through, seeing potential in the script, and wishing it had been at another studio and cast differently, with a different director. I think it could have been a classic. There were priceless moments, from the fake car crash, to the jail scene, the airport scene - that with the right actors and a director like Mitchell Leisen or Greg LaCava or Howard Hawkes could have catapulted this film in a minor classic instead of an ersatz version of the classic screwballs by people who knew how to do it

Three of 20th Century Fox's stars of the late '30s team up for "Love is News" - Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Don Ameche. Power plays a clever reporter, Steve Layton, who is after a big story on a $100 million heiress, Toni Gateson (Young). Sick of being hounded night and day by the press, Young turns the tables on him and announces to the world that she and Layton are engaged. It comes as a surprise to him, as it does to his editor, Ameche, and of course, they don't have the story and the rest of the papers do. Layton soon learns that being engaged to Gateson has some perks and also a few things that aren't so great, particularly when the two of them end up in adjacent jail cells.There is a very funny scene in the beginning where Power and Ameche become hysterical laughing as they reminisce about the horrible things they've done to one another. The actors worked together often and make a great team. Young is gorgeous as the heiress, and she and Power are a beautiful couple as usual. This is one of Power's very early films - he was about 23 at the time - and still in his pretty phase. You can't take your eyes off of him when he's on screen - he lights it up.This is a high-energy, pleasant comedy with a delightful cast, though there's nothing particularly unusual about the story. Madcap heiresses abounded in '30s films. Power actually remade this movie with Gene Tierney in 1948 as "That Wonderful Urge." By then, it was tired stuff, and Power was tired of these roles. But here, it's three young stars on top of the world, and you can't beat the spirit with which they imbue "Love is News."