Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie Review

Yesterday's news.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 21, 2014

Both during and in the direct aftermath of the Watergate Era, idol worshipers used to throwing bouquets to policemen, lawyers and doctors had a new kind of hero to look up to: the crusading journalist. Suddenly, geeky guys with nothing more than a pad of paper, a few pencils and an inquiring frame of mind were almost as cool as any spandex clad, caped crime fighter. The relentless pursuit of the truth by dedicated newspaper writers was immortalized in such cinematic efforts as All the President's Men, and on television in series like Lou Grant, but after a few years, the public’s perception of the press started to drift downward again, perhaps “helped along” by the growing partisanship that became all too obvious in any number of burgeoning cable channels which had none too subtle political agendas behind their supposed reporting. The public’s relationship with the press has always been a kind of on again, off again love affair. We love the press when they provide juicy tidbits of salacious gossip or even when they uncover malfeasance at the highest levels of government. We just as quickly deride them for the very same reportage if we’re prone to thinking that there’s too much pointless drivel in newsprint or over the airwaves, or if our personal political preferences don’t align with whatever ostensible official corruption has been revealed. Johnny Come Lately doesn’t exactly wallow in nuance as it explores the efforts of a single minded and hardnosed journalist named Tom Richards (James Cagney) who takes over a newspaper in a small American town at the dawn of the twentieth century. Tom finds himself at the center of a maelstrom of corruption and political machinations that he seeks to expose, encountering any number of difficulties along the way. This is pure, unadulterated hokum designed to celebrate the power of the Fourth Estate while also providing Cagney a chance to purvey his inherent toughness in a story where he’s a force for truth, justice and the American Way (just like any good hero).

Vinnie McLeod (Grace George) is an aging dowager who runs Plattsville’s far from profitable daily newspaper The Shield and Banner. Vinnie, whose late husband founded the paper, is the sort who offers free food to passing vagrants, also warning them not to loiter too much around the town for fear that they’ll be arrested and forced to work for local chain gangs managed by the town’s imperious politico Bill Dougherty (Edward McNamara). She in fact gives just such a warning to Tom when she sees him sitting in a park and reading The Pickwick Papers. Later, when Vinnie drops by the courthouse for a weekly view of what’s going on in local jurisprudence, Tom is hauled in for—yep, vagrancy, facing a rather lengthy jail sentence. Vinnie offers him a job on her newspaper after hearing Tom tell the Judge he has a journalism background. The judge reluctantly grants Tom probation, as long as Vinnie understands she’s in charge of the supposedly errant young man.

Vinnie quickly brings Tom up to speed on both Dougherty’s ruthless control of Plattsville as well as her impending financial ruin if things don’t improve at the paper. Meanwhile, Vinnie’s niece Jane (Marjorie Lord) is trying to decide if recent romantic advances from Dougherty’s son Pete (Bill Henry) are in fact based in love or simply the elder Dougherty’s latest attempts to keep Vinnie and her paper on a pre-approved course far removed from any muckraking. Tom has a strategy to both bring Dougherty to his knees while also updating the paper for a new, modern society (boy, does that sound familiar in today’s transition to digital media), but of course a number of obstacles rear their ugly heads along the way.

Johnny Come Lately is a rather oddly structured film which never really manages to work up much dramatic froth. This was Cagney’s first quasi-independent feature, produced by his brother William Cagney, and obviously designed to let the actor stretch his wings beyond the gangster idiom, something he had already done in his Oscar winning turn in Yankee Doodle Dandy and would continue to exploit in the coming years. But this is a film whose central plot conceit concerns diabolically corrupt politicians who frankly don’t seem all that threatening. In fact, screenwriter John Van Druten (adapting a novel by Louis Bromfield) and director William K. Howard don’t even spend much time developing the corruption angle, settling for a quick montage of newspaper headlines that gives the audience a kind of cursory overview of various supposed shenanigans (some of them at least seemingly questionable) without ever really getting into any details. In fact it’s not until somewhat later in the film that Dougherty’s habit of making local businesses contribute to an “orphans’ fund” (actually just a campaign chest) are ever even brought up, and even then, the ostensible scandal is rather meekly resolved.

Instead, the film offers some admittedly modest if never less than enjoyable pleasures, chiefly by virtue of its colorful cast. Cagney is sweet but tough, and gets to display both an appealing vulnerability with George as well as a tougher mien with McNamara. Film lovers may be somewhat surprised to see an elderly woman like Grace George getting an “introducing” credit at this late stage in her life, but the actress was a legendary stage performer who had in fact made one previous film—a silent—decades before Johnny Come Lately. (George’s stepdaughter was Alice Brady, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for In Old Chicago with Tyrone Power.) Also in hand here in a completely unexpected guise is the great Marjorie Main as a sort of quasi-madam who runs the local “club” where “nice young girls” sit around knitting (I’m not making this up). Tom goes to see “Gashouse” Mary to get the goods on Dougherty, and Main has a field day kind of vamping it up in a role that might have been better suited to someone like Mae West. Everyone's favorite wicked witch, Margaret Hamilton, is also on hand giving a little harried comedy relief as the put upon wife of the paper's long serving (and usually inebriated) main reporter. Also on hand is a spunky if underutilized Hattie McDaniel as Aida, Vinnie's all knowing, all seeing maid.

Johnny Come Lately does do a couple of interesting things, including shying away from what some might expect to be a romance between Tom and Jane, while also positing the “power of the people” to defeat corruption if only they band together and work for the common good. It’s of course a noble sentiment, but in 1943 even a nostalgic look back at a bygone era (something fostered even further by Vinnie’s writing project called “The Good Old Days”) probably couldn’t completely erase the knowledge that there were more serious threats in the world than small scale and buffoonish power brokers. Johnny Come Lately in fact may have arrived at the cinematic gate a bit too late for its own good. It’s a middling affair that tends to bury its lead and never rise to the level that would have a corner salesboy screaming “Extra!”

Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Johnny Come Lately is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. This vintage release has more than the average amount of age related wear and tear, including a few rather large scratches and other distracting if minor blemishes. Once or twice frames are also misaligned, giving a just slightly jittery appearance to the proceedings. This is never less than watchable, though, and is actually rather nice in terms of contrast and well modulated gray scale. While there's variable softness evident at times throughout the presentation, fine detail has moments of real excellence, with things like the natty fibers on Cagney's clothing easily visible. Generally speaking, Johnny Come Lately offers very good clarity and as is typically the case with Olive releases shows no signs of problematic digital manipulation of the image.

Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the video elements, the soundtrack here has recurrent issues, things like pops and cracks but also what sounds like outright damage to the stems so that any given line may have a word or two that sounds clear, with the rest of the sentence sounding a bit muddy and muffled. Nothing here is overtly problematic in any major way, but audiophiles will certainly be aware of fidelity issues that recur fairly regularly here. Despite the issues, fidelity is good enough to adequately support both the dialogue and Leigh Harline's somewhat schmaltzy score.

Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on this Blu-ray disc.

Johnny Come Lately Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Johnny Come Lately is never less than entertaining, but it's not very exciting and in fact deals almost cavalierly with the supposed scandal that has everyone in an uproar. Still, the film provides a nice showcase for legendary stage actress Grace George, as well as outré turns by Marjorie Main and (perhaps a little less so) by Margaret Hamilton. Cagney of course is always a joy to watch, and he's surprisingly effective here as a guy who is gentle enough to treat George as his quasi- grandmother, yet tough enough to take on the town's ruffians with his bare fists when the pen doesn't immediately prove mightier than the sword. With an awareness of some minor but prevalent issues in both the video and audio presentations of the film, Johnny Comes Lately comes Recommended.