A Dispatch from Reuters

A Dispatch from Reuters
1940 theatrical poster
Directed by	William Dieterle
Written by	Valentine Williams (story) Wolfgang Wilhelm (story) Milton Krims
Produced by	Hal B. Wallis (exec. producer) Henry Blanke (assoc. producer)
Starring	Edward G. Robinson Edna Best
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Edited by	Warren Low
Music by	Max Steiner
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	October 19, 1940 (1940-10-19)
Running time	89–90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

A Dispatch from Reuters is a 1940 biographical film about Paul Reuter, the man who built the famous news service that bears his name.^[1][2] The film was directed by William Dieterle and stars Edward G. Robinson.

Paul Reuter starts a messenger service using homing pigeons to fill a gap in the telegraph network spanning Europe, but he faces difficulty attracting subscribers. When poison is mistakenly sent to a hospital, Reuter's message saves many lives. However, he is persuaded by Ida Magnus, the pretty daughter of Dr. Magnus, to suppress the news, as a scandal would jeopardize the good work that the doctors are performing.

With some hot news about Russia's invasion of Hungary, which would depress the stock market, Reuter convinces bankers that he can provide them with financial information much more quickly than by any other means. His friend Max Wagner runs Reuter's Brussels office, but Reuter learns that Ida had visited there and taken control of the office. Reuter sends a message by pigeon asking her to marry him, and she returns a pigeon with her assent.

When the telegraph network finally fills the gap that Reuter's business had been exploiting, he realizes that he can use his network of European employees to gather news and sell it to newspapers. He encounters resistance, particularly from John Delane, the influential editor of The Times, but persuades Louis Napoleon III to allow him to disseminate the text of an important speech while it is presented.

A rival company secretly builds a telegraph line in Ireland that provides it with a two-hour lead in receiving news from ships sailing from North America. Reuter borrows money from his client and friend Sir Randolph Persham and builds his own line that extends further west and retrieves the news even quicker. Its first use is to announce the assassination of President Lincoln. As nobody knows about Reuter's new telegraph line, he is accused of concocting the story to manipulate the stock market, and even Sir Randolph believes the rumors at first. The matter is discussed in the British Parliament, but Reuter is vindicated when slower services confirm his story.

• Edward G. Robinson as Paul Julius Reuter
• Edna Best as Ida Magnus Reuter
• Eddie Albert as Max Wagner
• Albert Bassermann as Franz Geller
• Gene Lockhart as Otto Bauer
• Otto Kruger as Dr. Magnus
• Nigel Bruce as Sir Randolph Persham
• Montagu Love as John Delane
• James Stephenson as Carew
• Walter Kingsford as Louis Napoleon III
• David Bruce as Mr. Bruce
• Dickie Moore as Reuter as a Boy
• Lumsden Hare as Chairman
• Cyril Delevanti as Cockney News Vendor (uncredited)
• Gilbert Emery as Lord Palmerston (uncredited)
• Robert Homans as Reporter (uncredited)

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Thomas M. Pryor called A Dispatch from Reuters "a slow-paced drama of mixed values" and wrote: "Though generally interesting, the new film ... is only occasionally stimulating, and there are instances when the biography of the journalist is more apocryphal than factual. But on the whole it is a creditable job, and, like William Dieterle's previous excursions into the biographical, the production is handsomely mounted and the story flows smoothly. ... Edward G. Robinson gives a sincere though not always convincing performance in the leading role."^[3]

• A Dispatch from Reuters at the TCM Movie Database
• A Dispatch from Reuters at IMDb
• A Dispatch from Reuters at AllMovie