The Famous Ferguson Case is a 1932 film directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Cornwall is a sleepy town in upstate New York. Bruce Foster and Toni Martin, who are dating in their spare time and in their professional life are the only two reporters for the little daily newspaper, don't usually have much to report. That all changes when wealthy banker George Ferguson is shot dead in his home. The authorities are at first inclined to believe his wife Marcia's story of burglars that tied her up and shot her husband, but Marcia was suspiciously close to Judd Brooks, a teller at the bank.
A horde of out-of-town reporters descend on Cornwall to report the story. Some, like a reporter named Collins, have a strong sense of ethics and a just-the-facts attitude. However the others, led by a particularly sleazy scandalmonger named Bob Parks, have no such scruples. The sleaze merchants decide that Mrs. Ferguson must have done it, and they cajole/threaten Collins the wimpy DA into filing charges. Will the yellow press railroad an innocent woman into Death Row? Or did Mrs. Ferguson actually do it?
Also appearing is Joan Blondell as Maizie, the only female in the group of out-of-town reporters, who is bitter about a past relationship with Bob and angry when she sees Bob set his sights on Toni.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Bob actually admits this, telling Toni that he's a "chronic alcoholic." He's drunk when he shows up in town, he misses court for drinking and debauchery with Toni, and he's drunk when the big extra about the killers being caught is released.
- Amoral Attorney: Collins, the DA who lets the reporters egg him on into filing murder charges against Mrs. Ferguson, when he knows he has little actual evidence. By the end, he's drinking with them and letting them write his closing statement for him.
- Bound and Gagged: How Mrs. Ferguson is found, bound and gagged in her bedroom. The sleazy reporters decide that she Brooks faked the scene.
- Call-Back: Bruce, trying to show Toni that he can give her the fancy things in life, gives her some fancy French perfume. The smell of this perfume on a handkerchief outside Bob's room is how Bruce finds out that Toni is cheating on him.
- Chekhov's Gun: The ring that Mrs. Ferguson realizes is missing, after the police untie her. It's found with the burglars, proving her innocent.
- Death by Childbirth: Mrs. Brooks dies suffering what must have been a miscarriage, since she wasn't even showing. It's suggested that the pressure that Parks and all the other scumbag reporters brought on her and her husband caused it.
- Death Glare: Mr. Brooks to Parks, the man he blames for the death of his wife, after the truth is revealed. The other reporters think that Mr. Brooks may be there to kill Bob, but he only beats Bob up.
- Dramatic Irony: Very heavy in the scene where Bruce says that Toni "gets around" and makes friends easily, after the viewer knows that Toni is sleeping with Bob.
- Establishing Character Moment: Parks and his sidekick Perrin get off a plane in Cornwall already drunk, swilling from a jug, and making sarcastic comments about the town and the case.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: Parks and all the other yellow journalists are having a drunken party, celebrating Mrs. Ferguson's impending conviction, when newsboys start hawking "Extra! Extra!" in the street below. It's the extra edition of Foster's Cornwall Courier, with the scoop about the real killers being caught.
- Gilligan Cut: Toni's absence from the newsroom of the Cornwall Courier is noticed, but Bruce guilelessly says "She'll be around." Cut to Toni, drinking in Bob's room.
- Immoral Journalist: The plot, as Parks and a lot of other slimy, hack reporters from the big city create a story out of whole cloth, and very nearly get Mrs. Ferguson railroaded for a murder she didn't commit. The film opens with a pretty lengthy crawl talking about sleazy yellow journalism and how "naturally, such journalistic scavenger work attracts only the lowest type of newspaper man."
- Intrepid Reporter:
- Collins, the more ethical reporter who looks on Parks and his crowd with utter contempt. After Foster breaks the real story, Collins gives Parks and the others a long speech about how they're all shitty reporters.
- Foster, the young rookie from the small-town Cornwall paper. While Parks and company gin up a bullshit story of adultery and murder, Foster actually works, sending out inquiries about the stolen ring. The ring turns up, the two thieves confess to murder, Mrs. Ferguson is cleared, and Foster has a huge scoop.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bob and all the other sleazy reporters lose their jobs. Mrs. Ferguson is suing the city, and Collins the DA is facing an investigation.
- Leg Focus: Toni is shown in Bob's room with a scene that starts with a tight closeup of her bare calves, as she sits on the couch.
- Maybe Ever After: Toni dumps her boyfriend and leaves Cornwall, getting on the train back to the big city with Bob—but Maizie stays behind. She puts her arm in Bruce's and they walk off together, as she asks for and gets Toni's old job at the Courier.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Collins gives a long one to Parks and all the other scandalmongers, telling them how they're lazy, how they push rumors because they don't know how to actually get news, how they shame journalism, and how Foster the young Intrepid Reporter outhustled them all and got the scoop.
- The Reveal: Mrs. Ferguson was telling the truth! Bruce's appeals to other law enforcement agencies results in two burglars getting caught with Mrs. Ferguson's ring, and they confess to the murder.
- Satellite Character: Maizie, despite the fact that Joan Blondell got top billing and was easily the biggest star in the cast. She has nothing to do but give Bob a couple of speeches about what a scumbag he is, which do nothing to advance the story.
- Trophy Wife: Suggested with Ferguson the rich banker and his hot young wife Marcia. One observer wonders how such a pretty woman could be with "that old compound interest buzzard."
