The Quitter (1934)
68 min | Drama | 5 February 1934 (USA)
When her husband, who founded the town's crusading local newspaper, doesn't come back from the French battlefields of World War I, a woman struggles to raise her two sons and keep the newspaper going. Matters are complicated by the fact that, several years later, one of the sons wants to turn the paper from its position as a hard-fighting champion of the working-class into an upscale society paper catering to the rich and powerful. Matters are complicated even further by rumors that their father was in fact NOT killed in France during the war but took another man's identity and is still living there.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Writer: Robert Ellis
Stars: Charley Grapewin, Emma Dunn, William Bakewell
68 min | Drama | 5 February 1934 (USA)
When her husband, who founded the town's crusading local newspaper, doesn't come back from the French battlefields of World War I, a woman struggles to raise her two sons and keep the newspaper going. Matters are complicated by the fact that, several years later, one of the sons wants to turn the paper from its position as a hard-fighting champion of the working-class into an upscale society paper catering to the rich and powerful. Matters are complicated even further by rumors that their father was in fact NOT killed in France during the war but took another man's identity and is still living there.
Director: Richard Thorpe
Writer: Robert Ellis
Stars: Charley Grapewin, Emma Dunn, William Bakewell
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Who are the Winthrops?
00:02I told you that they were people I met at school.
00:05But you never told me their names before.
00:08Is it Stephen Winthrop's daughter?
00:10Yes, it is.
00:12You see, Mother, I've been meaning to tell you this.
00:16We're engaged.
00:18I hope you'll approve.
00:20I can't approve or condemn.
00:22I've never met her.
00:24I didn't want to bring her down here till I had things well started on the paper.
00:28To be quite frank, I was rather embarrassed.
00:32About what?
00:33Well, I didn't want her to know what a dinky little sheep we were running down here.
00:37You know, it's quite a comedown after editing the college paper.
00:40Is that why you didn't want me to meet the girl you're going to marry?
00:43Oh, now, Mother, please don't make this a personal thing.
00:46It isn't that, but you must realize that our paper is behind the times.
00:50It's passé.
00:51Is it?
00:52You see, Mother, there's a great field in newspaper work,
00:55but the free press has got to be developed.
00:57And it can't be helped if you're going to cling to a lot of antiquated ideas.
01:01Do you think I'm interfering with your progress, Ross?
01:04Well, I can't be tied to your apron strings.
01:06This is a man's work.
01:08Being a woman, you probably can understand some of the things that are expected of one in the business world.
01:13What do you suggest?
01:15Well, I'd like to expand.
01:17There's no reason why we shouldn't publish a daily sheet and be a paper we could be proud of.
01:22I don't think they'd stand that here, Ross.
01:25This is a small community, and they're intolerant of sudden changes.
01:29Well, then let's forget it.
01:30But you're the one who always urged me to be ambitious.
01:33All I've ever heard was about Father and Grandfather being newspaper men.
01:38But this isn't a matter of sentiment. It's business.
01:41I have to make a place for myself and the girl I'm going to marry.
01:45Would you be happy here, Ross, if you could do that?
01:49Well, that's what I've been talking about.
01:52All right.
01:55The free press is yours to do with as you please.
01:59Thanks, Mother.
02:01I didn't mean to be brusque, but we just had to have an understanding.
02:05Yes, and now we understand each other.
02:09Well, I'm going to get to the office now and do a little figuring.