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IMDb > The Front Page (1931)

The Front Page (1931) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   595 votes
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Up 6% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Lewis Milestone
Writers:
Ben Hecht (play) and
Charles MacArthur (play) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Front Page on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
4 April 1931 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy more
Plot:
Hildy Johnson, newspaper reporter, is engaged to Peggy Grant and planning to move to New York for a higher paying advertising job... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. more
User Comments:
Superior to Lemmon-Matthau version and "His Girl Friday" more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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
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Additional Details

Runtime:
101 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Canada:PA (Ontario) | Spain:T

Fun Stuff

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. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Title card: This story is laid in a mythical kingdom.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Kids in the Hall: (#1.3)" (1989) more

FAQ

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19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful:-
Superior to Lemmon-Matthau version and "His Girl Friday", 11 December 2001
Author: Lee-65 from Arizona

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.

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Related Links

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