They Asked for It (1939)

Three college grads---each about 15 years past their teenage years and not portrayed as such in this film---are trying to make a living pursuing the professions they received their degrees in a few years prior to the film's opening. Steve Lewis, is the owner-editor of a small town newspaper and is on the brink of bankruptcy. Two friends he went to college with---many years ago, when they were teen-agers---Howard Adams, a struggling attorney, and Dr. Peter Starks, have been persuaded to open offices in the village. Steve's sweetheart, Mary Lou Carroll, is working as a reporter on Steve's "Clarion-Bee" newspaper. When Ted Herkimer, a penniless farmer, dies, Steve, in order to increase his newspaper's circulation, creates a story hinting at murder, while Ames and Sparks plant phony evidence. The local coroner soon refutes the claim and refutes the evidence, with all three men ---long past being teenagers---becoming the laughing stock of the town. Then, Steve receives a call from Marty Collins, who says his sweetheart, Molly Herkmiker, daughter of the dead man, did indeed kill her father. She didn't, but the non-teenage Steve, his non-teen-age friends and his non-teenage girlfriend set out to find the guilty party.