Night Editor is a 1946 B-movie film noir directed by Henry Levin and based on a popular radio program of the same name. The script for the film was based on a previous radio program episode "Inside Story."[1]

Night Editor
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Henry Levin
Screenplay by	Hal Smith
Based on	Night Editor episode "Inside Story" by Scott Littleton
Produced by	Ted Richmond
Starring	William Gargan Janis Carter Jeff Donnell
Cinematography	Burnett Guffey Philip Tannura
Edited by	Richard Fantl
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	March 29, 1946 (1946-03-29) (United States)
Running time	67 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The movie was to be the first in a series of films featuring stories about the graveyard-shift police beat reporters at a fictional newspaper, the New York Star, but no other Night Editor films were made.

Sony Pictures released it in the boxed set Bad Girls of Film Noir: Volume II along with Women's Prison, One Girl's Confession and Over-Exposed.

Plot

Crane Stewart (Charles D. Brown), the editor of the New York Star, while playing poker with his friends, tells a story about a cop involved in a murder investigation.

In flashback, the editor tells the tale of police lieutenant Tony Cochrane (William Gargan), a family man who cheats on his wife with socialite femme fatale Jill Merrill (Janis Carter). Cochrane and the woman, who is also cheating on her husband, witness a man bludgeoning his girlfriend to death with a tire iron while the couple is parked at "lovers lane" by the beach.

The two can't report the crime without revealing their cheating, a dilemma which eventually leads to bigger troubles. Meanwhile, Cochrane must investigate the killing but is not able to tell anyone he witnessed the crime.

Cast

• William Gargan as Lt. Tony Cochrane
• Janis Carter as Jill Merrill
• Jeff Donnell as Martha Cochrane
• Coulter Irwin as Johnny
• Roy Gordon as Benjamin Merrill
• Charles D. Brown as Crane Stewart
• Paul E. Burns as Police Lt. Ole Strom
• Harry Shamnon as Police Capt. Lawrence
• Frank Wilcox as Douglas Loring
• Robert Kellard as Doc Cochrane (as Robert Stevens)

Radio program

The radio program the film was based upon ran from 1934 until 1948.

Sponsored by Edwards Coffee, this featured Hal Burdick (1893–1978) as the "night editor". Burdick would receive readers’ requests for stories, in a "letter to the editor" format, which he would relate to the listeners. Burdick played all characters in the program. The stories varied greatly including tales of war, adventure, crime, and an occasional ghost story. The radio series was adapted for Night Editor, a short-lived TV series on the DuMont Television Network in 1954, also hosted by Burdick.

See also

• List of American films of 1946

References

External links

• Night Editor at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Night Editor at IMDb
• Night Editor at AllMovie
• Night Editor at the TCM Movie Database
• Night Editor is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Night Editor film clip on YouTube

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