Unholy Partners (DVD)

Ten years after they collaborated on the "extra! extra!" fine newspaper yarn Five Star Final, star Edward G. Robinson and director Mervyn LeRoy set the presses rolling again with another rattling-good tabloid tale. They're playing with dynamite as zealous newshound Robinson returns from World War I juiced to start his own sensation-stoked rag and strikes a devil's bargain to bankroll it with a well-heeled racketeer (Edward Arnold, on screen earlier that year as Meet John Doe's nefarious newspaper baron). The mobster will be a silent partner -- until the bulldog editor starts exposing his illegal activities, resulting in menacing retribution that catches others in its blowback, including a fellow veteran-turned-novice-reporter (future TV producer William T. Orr), a blackmail-blighted songbird (Marsha Hunt, doing a fine rendition of "After You've Gone") and a long-suffering, lovestruck secretary (Laraine Day). As Robinson strikes a blow for the power of the press and crafts his own final headline, you'll be scooped up by the snappy storytelling of Unholy Partners.

• crime
• drama