Double Exposure

Good photographers are hard to find," complains Larry Burke, editor of the popular New York tabloid magazine "Flick." When he gets one look at the work of shutterbug Pat Marvin, however, he immediately knows he's found his man - the perfect photographer for "Flick." Trouble is, Pat Marvin isn't a man - not by a long shot. That's just the beginning of trouble, because when Larry hires Pat and shows her the city, sparks fly between them - a situation further complicated by the presence of Pat's fiancee Ben, who has accompanied her to New York and whom Pat impetuously tells Larry is her brother. With its fast pacing, snappy repartee, mistaken identities and even early spoofing of tabloid journalism, Double Exposure is a classic screwball comedy in the tradition of His Girl Friday and The Front Page.

Chester Morris enjoyed a long, prolific career that encompassed stage, screen and television. He was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for his performance in Alibi and starred in two box-office hits a year later: The classic prison drama The Big House and The Bat Whispers, the first sound version of the quintessential old-dark-house mystery. He is best known for his starring role as the wise-cracking sleuth "Boston Blackie," who he played in 14 films for Columbia Pictures. He was also a familiar face on television as a character actor, until his death in 1970.

Leading lady Nancy Kelly began her career as a child actress in the late 1920s before transitioning to leading roles while still a teenager. She co-starred with Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda and Randolph Scott in the 1939 Western classic Jesse James and with Spencer Tracy in Stanley and Livingstone the same year. One of her biggest hits was the 1940 comedy One Night in the Tropics which introduced Bud Abbott and Lou Costello to the screen. In the mid-40s she took a hiatus from films to concentrate on radio, television and stage work, earning a Tony Award for her performance in The Bad Seed, followed by an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress for the 1956 film version. Remarkably, it was her final feature film, although she worked steadily in television for the next 20 years.

This breezy Pine-Thomas actioner is all about a team of ace news photographers. Chester Morris plays Larry Burke, editor for a weekly photo magazine. Impressed by the work of photojournalist Pat Marvin, Burke hires Marvin sight unseen, only to discover that "he" is a "she" (Nancy Kelly). Having evidently never heard of Margaret Bourke-White, Burke insists that the shutterbug racket is no job for a dame, but Pat intends to prove him wrong. In the process, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, forcing Burke to come out from behind his desk and solve the mystery himself (Chalk up another victory for male chauvinism!)