The Front Page (1931)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

Ben Hecht (play) and
Charles MacArthur (play) ...

Release Date:

4 April 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Hildy Johnson, newspaper reporter, is engaged to Peggy Grant and planning to move to New York for a higher paying advertising job...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Editor | Newspaper | Press Room | Suicide Attempt

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Adolphe Menjou	...	Walter Burns
Pat O'Brien	...	Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson
Mary Brian	...	Peggy Grant
Edward Everett Horton	...	Roy V. Bensinger
Walter Catlett	...	Jimmy Murphy (as Walter L. Catlett)
George E. Stone	...	Earl Williams
Mae Clarke	...	Molly Malloy
Slim Summerville	...	Irving Pincus
Matt Moore	...	Ernie Kruger
Frank McHugh	...	'Mac' McCue
Clarence Wilson	...	Sheriff Peter B. 'Pinky' Hartman (as Clarence H. Wilson)
Fred Howard	...	Schwartz (as Freddie Howard)
Phil Tead	...	Wilson
Eugene Strong	...	Endicott (as Gene Strong)
Spencer Charters	...	Woodenshoes

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PA (Ontario) | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Metropolitan Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

The Caddo Company

Trivia:

The journalists are all based on actual reporters who were Chicago colleagues of authors Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, with most working alongside them at the courthouse. The real names were only slightly changed: Hildy Johnson was based on the real-life reporter Hildebrand Johnson, Walter Burns was based on the editor Walter Howey, and Mac McCue was based on reporter Buddy McHugh.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title card: This story is laid in a mythical kingdom.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Kids in the Hall: (#1.3)" (1989)

Superior to Lemmon-Matthau version and "His Girl Friday"

This picture, of astronomical quality compared to other films of its era, represents, by and large, a photographic, if sanitized, record of the Hecht-MacArthur classic Broadway hit depicting yellow journalism, the "Red Anarchist Scare", and political corruption in 1928 Chicago. Being intimately familiar with the original stage production, this picture represents the play more faithfully than any subsequent remake (except for the rampant profanity in the original stage work); "His Girl Friday" being an inverted rework of the original, and the 1974 version merely a caricature of the original concept - with superfluous "madcap" elements added. Let's hope an intact negative can soon be found and restored - The viewing public and the memory of the artists and makers of this film deserve as much.