Summary
In the bustling, ink-stained world of 1920s journalism, Anne Cornwall portrays an aspiring reporter trapped in the purgatory of clerical work. When her city editor dismissively denies her a promotion, he sets an impossible bar: capture a photograph of the reclusive and heavily guarded Senator Hangnail. After two seasoned male photographers return empty-handed, Anne stakes her career on a single shutter click. Her journey takes her into the heart of the Senator's estate, where a comedy of errors leads to her being branded a 'Black Hand' terrorist. Despite a series of technical failures where she captures everything but the Senator's face, Anne's persistence leads her to a local café. Posing as a waitress, she finally secures the career-making image, only to find that the price of professional success is the forfeit of her domestic future. The film serves as a sharp, albeit eventually regressive, look at the 'New Woman' of the silent era trying to navigate a man's world with a camera as her only weapon.
Synopsis
The city editor refuses to give Anne a reporter's job. Two photographers have failed to get a picture of Senator Hangnail, and Anne is promised a job if she succeeds. She gets into the senator's house and is suspected of being a mafia black-hand terrorist. Escaping that, she manages to snap several pictures but, when they are developed, she has photographed everything by the senator's face. The senator has hired a couple of bodyguards to protect him the the 'black-hand' woman, and takes them to eat at a café. She poses as a waitress and gets the picture. She is offered the job but her boyfriend, Jimmie, says he will have to get another girl to be his wife, and she turns down the job.
