Odd Newspaper Headlines in Old Noir Movies

[Frost Giant]

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) - Has Bats Gone Bats?

 

[Jeffbert]

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) - Has Bats Gone Bats?

 

[J Riff]

I keep seeing examples, but nothing interesting so far. Lots of mention of car accidents being a real problem, but usually it's mostly unreadable. But there are many more old B n W movies left on the playlist.

 

[Extollager]

Last night we were watching Narrow Margin -- a real RKO gem from 1952. About ten minutes into the feature, we see a newspaper front page. A small headline: MERCURY NEW X-RAY SOURCE, TWO SCIENTISTS REPORT.

This same "Mercury" headline appears at 10:25 in the well-known classic Twilight Zone teleplay, "Time Enough at Last."

 

[tinkerdan]

MERCURY NEW X-RAY SOURCE, TWO SCIENTISTS REPORT

scientific article published in 1934
Phys. Rev. 46, 542 (1934) - The Production of X-Rays by Swiftly Moving Mercury Ions
copy of 1937 news article pertaining to death of author of article.
Columbia Daily Spectator 22 March 1937 — Columbia Spectator


another sighting of the news in Kronos (1957
Gutbrain Records
Perry Mason episode where article shows
Perry Mason TV Series Wiki | EpisodePages / Show28
Witness to Murder
Gutbrain Records
Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959)
Gutbrain Records

 

[J Riff]

Okay, Warning From Space (59?)- there's a headline in French, about the saucers, but you can also read the text in a few columns, and they are on about time-dilation, and a trip to a star nine light years away, and other fun stuff.

 

[Daver]

Time for me to start another low-traffic thread.

You know how noirs often feature newspaper front pages. Last night we were watching Narrow Margin -- a real RKO gem from 1952. About ten minutes into the feature, we see a newspaper front page. A small headline: MERCURY NEW X-RAY SOURCE, TWO SCIENTISTS REPORT.

I'll bet there are some other odd headlines that could be reported here and I'll bet I'm not the only person who watches for them when taking on these enjoyable old movies.

So... how about it?

For what it's worth, that same exact headline also appears in a shot of a newspaper in the episode "Alibi Me" of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 2, Episode 7), which is from around 1957. It's at about the 06:27 mark. Interesting how these headlines, or newspaper pages, get reused.

 

[That Guy]

Twilight Zone is a great source for these sort of article headlines too. In addition to the one mentioned above with the 'mercury xray story', a fake newspaper the series uses called 'The New York Chronicle' also displayed a different sub-headline seasons apart. In the episode "The Mighty Casey" (S1;E35) The newspaper features the Casey character in the headline, but a sub-headline has an article titled "$3,000,000 For Aid Pledged to S.A. Earthquake Victims" which also shows up in yet another Twilight Zone episode four seasons later in the famed "Nightmare at 20,000 feet"(S5;E3) being read by William Shatner's character, Robert Wilson, as he starts to lose his composure aboard a plane under attack by a gremlin.

 

[Extollager]

110,000 CHINESE LIVING IN TREES AS RESULT OF FLOOD

I think that was in Slightly Honorable (1940), but didn't write it down.

Say, for old movies, here are other good signs, along with newspaper headlines, in the kind of old movie I like:

1.Supporting cast listed in a diagonal arrangement across the screen, top at left, down to bottom at right.
2.Glum protagonist in diner.
3.Double exposures as guy has bad dreams or bad memories.
4.Location photography of gas stations, etc.
5.Disregard of geographical verisimilitude -- it is a real plus when a guy is driving through Ohio, say, and you see dry California mountains in the background.
6.The movie should last no more than about 80 minutes.
7.Worried eyes seen in rearview mirror of car.
8.Rain.
9.Venetian blinds.
10.Doors that are too short, so that there's a goodish gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.
11.Steep steps or staircases.
12.Elevators.
13.Cats in alleys.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

14. Torch singer in a nightclub. Extra points if she sings the title of the film.
15. Radio news broadcast that's relevant to the plot.
16. Movie set in an exotic locale starts with a map of the world, zooming into the place where it's set.
17. Flashing neon signs with generic names of businesses -- HOTEL or DINER.

 

[J Riff]

That headline may be in a few movies, they must have had a generic newspaper template or two.
18: Newspaper headlines that spin as they are zoomed in on.