Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 303: Tue Oct 30

Park Row (Fuller, 1952): 71 Leonard St, London, EC2A, 7pm
Here's a fascinating evening, a screening of the best film there is on journalism plus a discussion of the current issues surrounding the Leveson report

Here's the introduction to the evening: With the Leveson report on press abuses about to drop, TCOLondon (The Church of London) have teamed up with Media Reform activists and Eureka! films to present Samuel Fuller's seminal 1952 journalism film Park Row on Tuesday, October 30 at 71a.

Presented by former Daily Star reporter-turned-comedian Richard Peppiatt, Park Row is an exhilarating tribute to the ideals of a free press amid the rise of tabloid journalism in America. Come along, watch the film, have a few drinks and meet some of the people cranking up the heat on government to make our media more democratic and accountable. 

Park Row is the first in a series of screenings hosted by TCOLondon & the Media Reform Coalition. Doors open at 6.30pm and the film starts at 7pm, following an introduction by Richard Peppiatt.

Chicago Reader review:

'This neglected Samuel Fuller feature from 1952, a giddy look at New York journalism in the 1880s, was his personal favorite—he financed it himself and lost every penny. A principled cigar smoker (Gene Evans) becomes the hard-hitting editor of a new Manhattan daily, where he competes with his former employer (Mary Welch) in a grudge match loaded with sexual undertones; meanwhile a man jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge trying to become famous, the Statue of Liberty is given to the U.S. by France, and a newspaper drive raises money for its pedestal. Enthusiasm flows into every nook and cranny of this cozy movie: when violence breaks out in the cramped-looking set of the title street, the camera weaves in and out of the buildings as through a sports arena, in a single take. “Park Row” is repeated incessantly like a crazy mantra, and the overall fervor of this vest-pocket Citizen Kane makes journalism sound like the most exciting activity in the world.'

Jonathan Rosenabum

Here is Telegraph film critic Tim Robey's feature on the movie.

"Park Row is one of the greatest love letters in the history of film, and it's a love letter to journalism." - Quentin Tarantino

Here is the trailer.