http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue01/features/fuller1.htmI

This short essay from Images touches on some interesting aspects of the way Fuller presents his films.  Park Row is not explicitly mentioned.  However:

“Like the layout of different stories on a newspaper page (“Co-Ed Murder Suspect to Tell All,” “Saw Parade of Beauties Unclad in Worker’s Room,” “Furriers Fail to Quit in Needle Strike” [The Graphic, June 20, 1929, 5]), the overall presentation of a Fuller film often shifts from one narrative mode to another.” 

This is just one example of the way the author likens Fuller’s style to newspaper layout and tabloid journalism.

Fuller actually used these topics as the set piece for his older films like Park Row, but the other films mentioned in this essay, with the exception of Steel Helmet, all fall in the years to follow.

This leads me to believe that Fuller not only still fell back heavily on his reporting background, but also that he subtly maintained his passion for journalism and news print, if only stylistically.

There is also an explanation for some of the clunkiness we discussed today.  According to the essay,

“Fuller has said that he plotted his potboilers on a blackboard with different color chalk to make sure the compositions of red (action), white (exposition) and blue (romance) were balanced.”

Though this may have made sense to Fuller, his little exercise came across as abundantly obvious.  That being said, Fuller seems quite unconcerned with being subtle, which comes right back to the point the article is making about Fuller’s journalistic style.

I think the important thing to Fuller is that his message was not only received, but received through a megaphone pointed into the ear of the audience.  In that, he succeeds.