In my opinion, you really can’t go wrong with a Criterion DVD. They basically invented the special edition, and I wish they could release some of their old Lasers on DVD (like Fisher King or The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen), so when I heard about a new Billy Wilder release starring Kirk Douglas in a Noirish indictment of the media I was all there. And I am so glad I picked this one up, not only is it an absolutely gorgeous, showing off the Black and White with very little compression, but the book is also done up like a newspaper so it perfectly fits in with the film, and the performance by Kirk Douglas a is true tour de force. Actually it is sad to me that this perfect indictment of the media as manipulator did so well when it came out (as The Big Carnival on it’s original release, through as studio change), because what it shows is exactly what the media is like today, going only for ratings and not caring a lick for who they hurt as long as their is more money in it for them. This is an absolute must see film. Thank you once again Criterion.

Kirk Douglas plays Charles Tatum a former ace reporter whose sleazy methods, excessive drinking, philandering and lack of anything coming even close to be considered morals have left him being fired from one job after another. Being towed into town he stops at the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin manages to get himself hired on the staff at what he calls a discount rate, in order that he can get a big story and have it go out on the wire, and he can get his original job back in New York. A year passes and he is still doing the same job, and ranting and raving about it every day. And his editor sends him and the young photographer Herbie Cook (Robert Arthur) are sent out to photograph a public snake hunt, but on the way they stop at a gas station next to an old Indian Cave Dwelling and learn there is a man trapped, and Chuck realizes he just might have his story that will bring him back to the top.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER…

Right away Chuck knows he can use this, and he heads into the cave to see if he can talk to the guy who got trapped stealing Indian Artifacts for his family to sell at the restaurant at the gas station. The man is Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict) and he instantly trusts Chuck, and believes he will get someone in to brace the walls and get his leg out from the rocks it is trapped under. Chuck starts setting things up, sending Herbie back into town with photos and some copy, and getting a room from Leo’s platinum blond wife Lorraine (Jane Sterling). Lorraine wants to leave and head back to New York, but Chuck makes her stay, because he promises her that the measly 20 bucks in the cash register will grow a lot in just a few days.

And as the story gets out, first one family shows up, and then more and more people, until it really does become a circus, and in fact even a circus does arrive. And Chuck limits access to Leo to only him and the doctor, who has assured Chuck that Leo is so strong, he went 2 days with a bust appendix to do something for his wife.

Chuck then makes a deal with the corrupt Sheriff Kretzer (Ray Tea) that he will make him famous, and have an easy re-election if the Sheriff keeps the other media off his back, and makes it so that only Chuck has access to Leo. The Sheriff brings in a contractor who wants to brace the roof, and says they get to Leo in 16 hours, but Chuck has him instead go in from the top of the cliff which will take 6 days, all the better to drag the story out longer.

And the story gets huge, with all the media there, and Chuck quits the Newspaper for him and Herbie, and cuts off the flow of the story in order to get a huge deal, and he does, he gets $1000 a day for an exclusive on this story, and he gets his old job back, but all is not well.

Chuck ends up having an affair with Lorraine, who plans on going to New York soon, all the while promising Leo he will bring him and Lorraine out to visit him in New York. And with more than a day left of drilling, the Doctor tells Chuck that Leo has only 12 hours to live because of his pneumonia, so now Chuck wants to go in the easy way, but it is too late, the drilling has made it too dangerous.

Again Lorraine wants to leave, and Chuck wants her to stay, and he attacks her and she stabs him. Finally some humanity shows in Chuck and he spends all the time he can with Leo, trying to get him to hang on, but he doesn’t make it. And instead of giving his exclusive story, he goes out on the loud speaker and announces the death and tells everyone to leave, and all the other papers get the story first, so Chuck is of course fired.

Lorraine leaves with the crowds and the money she has made, and Chuck gets Herbie to go back to the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin and tells him to take his old job back, and offers himself up as a $1000 dollar a day reporter who they can have for free, as he drops to the floor dead.

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Wow, this is such a powerful film with an amazing performance by Douglas. I can’t believe this was critically panned and failed at the box office, because this is an absolute powerhouse of a film. Thank you Criterion, for if it wasn’t for you I would never have seen this fantastic film.