Leofwine_draca STAR REPORTER is a typical low budget crime drama from Monogram. The film lacks the kind of spark that makes these films so watchable and as a result it feels rather tired and slight. The plot is fast paced and with plenty of incident, but when none of it is involving it becomes a bit of a problem as it tends to go by in a blur.The main character is the usual nice-but-dull protagonist seen in films such as this. He's gunning for a crime boss but through a plot contrivance doesn't realise the bad guy is his own father. It's a bit hard to swallow. A legal ally does know and tries to cover for the father for the son's sake, so the son takes out his wrath on the lawyer instead. It all comes clean in the end, but the journey is ordinary and devoid of depth so that you just won't care when it does.

csteidler A lot of plot for 62 minutes in this fast paced little entry in the "newspaper vs. mob" genre. Various characters on both sides of the law harbor secret (and not-so-secret) motives, hidden relationships, and the good old-fashioned grudges that D.A.s, gangsters, and newspaper reporters bounce back and forth among themselves. Along with all that are the two women in the story--fiancée and mother, each with her own concerns.At the center of it all, Warren Hull is not bad in the title role, though perhaps the most interesting thing about his character is how long it takes him to discover a basic fact of the plot that several other characters--both on his side and working against him--are keeping from him! Is it a lot to keep track of? Um, not particularly, since the plot moves along too fast for us to get too wrapped in the whole situation. But then, we don't have time to get bored either. Which is kind of what we expect from a B movie with a title like Star Reporter, right?

MartinHafer "Star Reporter" is not a film that you should rush out to see. It's got some serious problems with the plot now and then, a very low budget and predictability. And yet, it is entertaining if you are a fan of B-movies from this period.The film is about the District Attorney and his reporter friend in their efforts to crack organized crime. Their big lead comes when a murder suspect is caught--and the crook knows a lot about the mob and might just be willing to talk. However, the mob isn't about to let this happen and will do anything to get this guy off the hook--though oddly, they don't just have him murdered (this seemed like the logical alternative to me). But, how the mob handles this is novel--as they discover that the killer is actually the father of the reporter and they plan on exploiting this! This ridiculous coincidence is pretty hard to believe as is the incident with the reporter's fiancée (Marsha Hunt) getting accused of murder herself (after she's in a particularly dumb scene involving a gun). While the plot problems are obvious, the film has a certain charm and is oddly compelling--mostly because the script, while clichéd, works well as a B-film.

Larry41OnEbay-2 Marsha Hunt is the best thing about this low budget crime drama! Mongram studios like other low budget poverty row studios tried to compete with the majors by adding more action, sex or violence where they couldn't afford talent. And this story has more than your average plot twists... In this newspaper drama, a young man's father, a prominent newspaper publisher is violently murdered by famous gangsters. The young man uses the power of his newly inherited press to get revenge upon the killers by exposing them. Unfortunately, the young man's schemes go awry when he learns the identity of the trigger man. Plot devices include two sets of fathers, two signed confessions that gets stolen out of two safes, by two safe crackers!