Freedom of the Press (film)

Freedom of the Press is a 1928 American silent mystery film directed by George Melford and starring Lewis Stone, Marceline Day, and Malcolm McGregor.

Plot

When a newspaper owner is murdered, his son takes over his crusade against a corrupt politician with criminal associations.

Cast

Lewis Stone as Daniel Steele
Marceline Day as June Westcott
Malcolm McGregor as Bill Ballard
Henry B. Walthall as John Ballard
Robert Emmett O'Connor as Boss Maloney
Tom Ricketts as Wicks
Hayden Stevenson as Callahan
Robert Ellis as Cyrus Hazlett
Boris Baronoff as Criminal
Morgan Thorpe as Organist
Evelyn Selbie as Italian Mother
Bernard Siegel as Italian Father
Wilson Benge as Butler

Production

The plot of the Peter B. Kyne story and the film are based upon the murder of Don Mellett, a newspaper editor who crusaded against corruption in Canton, Ohio. An early version of the film had a private screening at the Capitol Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 15, 1928, in connection with an Associated Press convention.

Preservation

A print of Freedom of the Press is listed in the collection of Cineteca Nazionale in Rome.

References

Bibliography

Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.