Park Row

Released Aug 12, 1952

1 hr. 23 min.

Drama

List

89%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Reporter Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans) works at a successful newspaper, the Star, but does not respect the publication. After sharing his thoughts about a moral and just newspaper at a local pub, he inspires his colleagues to join him in starting a new paper, the Globe, which is an instant hit. However, the publisher of the Star, Charity Hackett (Mary Welch), will not give up her readership easily and orders sabotage on the Globe -- even as Phineas begins to fall for her.

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dave j

Written and directed by Samuel Fuller has hard nosed and uncompromise journalist Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans) has just been fired from "The Star" after printing some info heiress Charity Hackett does not approve. And while drinking his sorrows at a common bar newspaper men hang out, it is during then Phineas is offered another job at another closed down newspaper joint calling it "The Globe".

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Chris L

This is rough, sometimes corny, but never dull. The enthusiasm for journalism and over-the-top performances should be enough to win most people over. And it stands the test of time as a loving tribute to print and newspaper journalism.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/18

Full Review

Audience Member

Clearly a labor of love for director Sam Fuller who financed this NY newspaper story out of his own pocket in order to do it his way. The result is a punchy gutsy drama that sees an idealist new editor (Gene Evans) of a start-up paper fighting a larger corrupt rag that uses its wide circulation and power maliciously. The publisher of that other paper (Mary Welch) is wrong-headed but her underlings use real violence to try to smash the smaller new paper. At the same time, Fuller didactically shows us the mechanics of printing a newspaper and the birth of new technologies and innovations. Although a case could be made that the cigar-chomping editor is his surrogate, we also know that he was a copy-boy (perhaps a "printer's devil") when he was a kid. Park Row, the street in NYC near The Bowery where newspapers had their offices/presses, is artificially recreated on a studio set where Fuller is able to move the camera around in long tracking shots and nothing "real" distracts from the sense that we are in 1886. A big part of the story focuses on France's donation of the Statue of Liberty to America and the newspaper's involvement in securing donations for the pedestal on Beddoe's Island. A gritty slab of history told from the heart.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great story by Samuel Fuller about the importance of the integrity of the fourth estate.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Puts you in a different world and time, something few movies can and does it with balls and punch. Brisk and bold, just like a headline!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

http://filmreviewsnsuch.blogspot.com/2013/01/park-row.html

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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Samuel Fuller

Director

Gene Evans

Phineas Mitchell

Mary Welch

Charity Hackett

Bela Kovacs

Ottmar Mergenthaler

Herbert Heyes

Josiah Davenport

Tina Pine

Jenny O'Rourke

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Leonard Maltin

leonardmaltin.com

I decided to revisit an old favorite I hadn't seen in decades, Samuel Fuller's Park Row, and I'm delighted to report that it holds up 100%. If you're unfamiliar with Fuller's work I don't know how to prepare you; it is unique in all of American...

Jul 7, 2011

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

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 they were a sports arena, in a single take.

Jan 21, 2006

Full Review

Manny Farber

The Nation

With its lack of fluidity -- two huge faces usually dominate the screen -- and a cast that is all wrong, the only virtue the movie has is a certain brazen rashness.

Jan 7, 2021

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

Park Row is driven by Fuller's love of old-school journalism ideals and newspaper wars.

Mar 24, 2016

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

In this heartfelt portrait of the artist as choleric muckraker, Fuller is a stirred engineer keeping an unflagging flow of cracked energy between performers and lenses

Nov 3, 2013

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

It of course lost money but remained the director's personal favorite and one of his masterpieces.

Jun 17, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

Reporter Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans) works at a successful newspaper, the Star, but does not respect the publication. After sharing his thoughts about a moral and just newspaper at a local pub, he inspires his colleagues to join him in starting a new paper, the Globe, which is an instant hit. However, the publisher of the Star, Charity Hackett (Mary Welch), will not give up her readership easily and orders sabotage on the Globe -- even as Phineas begins to fall for her.

Director: Samuel Fuller
Screenwriter: Samuel Fuller
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Samuel Fuller Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 12, 1952, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2016
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.37:1)