The Star Reporter (1931)

The Star Reporter is a 1932 British crime drama, directed by Michael Powell and starring Harold French and Garry Marsh. The screenplay was adapted from a story by popular thriller writer Philip MacDonald.

The Star Reporter is one of eleven quota quickies directed by Powell between 1931 and 1936 of which no print is known to survive. The film is not held in the BFI National Archive, and is classed as "missing, believed lost".

Powell later recalled that the film was brought in on a budget of £3,700, and that he had rented a hand-held camera for £8 and travelled to Southampton to film a docking ocean liner for use in an intercut scene. He said "The Star Reporter was fun and I was not ashamed of it". The film was shown in the UK as the support feature to the Jean Harlow vehicle Platinum Blonde, and Powell also remembered his amusement when a critic observed sniffily that his film lacked the polish of the main feature, reasoning that this was perhaps to be expected when comparing his budget with the $600,000 which had reportedly been spent on the Harlow picture.

Synopsis

Major Starr (French) is an ambitious newspaper reporter who has taken undercover employment as chauffeur to Lady Susan Loman (Isla Bevan) in the hope of witnessing high-society goings-on which he can use in a feature article he is planning. Lady Susan's father Lord Longbourne (Spencer Trevor) meanwhile is experiencing financial embarrassment, and is persuaded by professional criminal Mandel (Marsh) to conspire in an insurance scam whereby Mandel will steal a diamond belonging to Lady Susan from the West End jeweller where it is currently on display, Longbourne will claim the cash and Mandel will return the diamond to him for a cut of the proceeds.

Actors