I Cover the Waterfront

A waterfront reporter (Ben Lyon) uses a smuggler's daughter (Claudette Colbert) to get the story, then has to decide whether the story is worth the person. Directed by James Cruze, 1933, from Max Miller's book; the song of the same name outlived the picture. Pre-Code enough that Colbert's father (Ernest Torrence) is a genuine criminal, not a lovable rogue, and the San Diego docks look like work. Colbert is already the Colbert of It Happened One Night — dry, faster than the men — a year before that film. Often circulating in public-domain prints that do the photography no favors; watch the best one you can find.