Scandal Sheet

Scandal Sheet is a 1952 crime thriller set in the world of a New York tabloid newspaper. Mark Chapman, its ruthless editor, has turned a struggling, respectable paper into a profitable scandal sheet that thrives on sensational stories. His success is threatened when his former wife reappears and recognizes him despite the new identity he adopted after abandoning her years earlier. A confrontation between them ends with her dead, and when the body is found, Chapman assigns one of his own reporters, young Steve McCleary, to cover the investigation, hoping to keep control of a story that could expose him. Julie Allison, a reporter close to McCleary, becomes involved as the case develops.

The film was directed by Phil Karlson and released in January 1952, the same year as Kansas City Confidential and one of six features he directed between 1952 and 1975 covered here. Broderick Crawford plays Chapman, with Donna Reed as Julie Allison, John Derek as Steve McCleary, Rosemary DeCamp, Henry O'Neill and Harry Morgan rounding out the main cast. Eugene Ling, Ted Sherdeman and James Poe wrote the screenplay, and Edward Small produced. Running 82 minutes, the film holds a 7.4 rating from roughly 4,200 votes on IMDb and a 7 rating from a much smaller sample on TMDB.