''-30-'' (released as ''Deadline Midnight'' in the UK) is a 1959 film directed by

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise), ''Dragnet'' franchise ...

and starring Webb and

William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...

as night managing editor and night city editor, respectively, of a fictional

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

newspaper, loosely based on the real-life (and now defunct) ''

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon ' ...

.'' The title is a reference to

-30- -30- has been traditionally used by journalists in North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean ...

, a notation used in journalism to indicate the end of a story or article.

Plot

Managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edi ...

Sam Gatlin and his staff assemble the early edition of the ''Examiner'', a morning newspaper in Los Angeles. During a particularly active news night, Gatlin and his wife Peggy disagree about adopting a child, as Peggy is

infertile In biology, infertility is the inability of a male and female organism to reproduce. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy organism that has reached sexual maturity, so children who have not undergone puberty, which is the body's sta ...

. Gatlin is hesitant to adopt because his young son from his first marriage had been killed several years before, presumably in some sort of accident. Longtime reporter Lady Wilson's grandson pilots a military bomber from Honolulu to New York, intending to set a speed record. A child is lost and feared drowned in the L.A. sewers during a torrential rainstorm, and Gatlin composes a provocative headline for the news story.

Copy boy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...

Earl Collins considers quitting after failing to place a $1 bet for city editor Jim Bathgate about how many babies a pregnant Italian actress will birth. Bathgate would have won $50, so he demands an IOU from Collins but then tears it into pieces, smiling to himself on his way out of the newsroom.

Cast

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', critic Howard Thompson wrote: " e picture sorely lacks the pounding, graphic drive of Mr. Webb's previous directional efforts. Even worse, about 80 per cent of the dialogue is a wearying exchange of stale wise-cracking—the kind of sophomoric newspaper lingo that went out with

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. It is Mr. Webb who outcracks everyone. And somehow, with all the crass yammering, a paper actually emerges, headlining a child's rescue from a sewer. ... Mr. Webb has used for his title the traditional newsman's sign-off symbol. But his picture, crammed with so much smart-alec nonsense, is rarely as authentic."

References

External links

* 1959 drama films 1959 films American black-and-white films American drama films Films about journalists Films directed by Jack Webb Films set in Los Angeles Mark VII Limited films Warner Bros. films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language drama films {{1950s-US-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links