Front Page Woman (1935)

A woman reporter tries to prove she's just as good as any man, but runs into trouble along the way.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Richard Macaulay (story), Laird Doyle (screenplay),

Stars:

Bette Davis, George Brent, Roscoe Karns

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bette Davis	...	Ellen Garfield
George Brent	...	Curt Devlin
Roscoe Karns	...	Toots O'Grady
Wini Shaw	...	Inez Cordoza (as Winifred Shaw)
Walter Walker	...	Judge Hugo Rickard
J. Carrol Naish	...	Robert Cardoza (as J. Carroll Naish)
Gordon Westcott	...	Maitland Coulter
Dorothy Dare	...	Mae LaRue
June Martel	...	Olive Wilson
Joseph Crehan	...	Spike Kiley
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Hallohan
Addison Richards	...	District Attorney
Joe King	...	Hartnett (as Joseph King)
Selmer Jackson	...	Joe Davis (as Selmar Jackson)
Miki Morita	...	Fuji - Stone's Servant (as Mike Morita)

Storyline

Reporter Curt Devlin loves sob sister Ellen Garfield but believes women are "bum newspapermen". When she learns the identity of a murdered arsonist, he calls it luck. When she goes after the murderer he gets enough evidence to have Maitland Coulter arrested. She finds a bunch of "not guilty" ballots and publishes the wrong story; he eavesdrops on the jury and gets the correct verdict. After being fired she gets a confession from the real killer and gets Coulter released.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | jury | trial | fainting | district attorney | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 July 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dagspressens sporhunde

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the promotional trailer, Bette Davis and George Brent talk about a proposed radio broadcast dealing with their latest picture, _Front Page Woman_.

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Quotes

[Devlin demands to see a possible witness]
Desk Clerk: She died seven months ago.
Curt Devlin: Ah, the perfect alibi.
Toots O'Grady: We don't want to see her then.

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Connections

Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Bette Davis (1977)

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Soundtracks

"A Good Old Fashioned Cocktail (With a Good Old Fashioned Gal) (1934) (uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Played in the nightclub

User Reviews

Miscast dynamic reporter Bette Davis and ace reporter George Brent love each other but do what they can to out-scoop each other.

Bette Davis seems miscast as a hard-working dynamic reporter in a rivalry with star reporter, George Brent, who works for a different newspaper. The role is more suited to wise-cracking, fast-talking stars such as Glenda Farrell (who made a similar film, Blondes at Work (1938)), or Joan Blondell (who also made a similar film, Back in Circulation (1937)). Her make-up, too, belied her profession. With perfectly tweezed eyebrows and immaculately applied lipstick, she looked like, as well as sounded like, a Hollywood star rather than a reporter. Still, Bette Davis is always a pleasure to watch even if not perfect. She and Brent are supposedly in love, but she won't marry him until he admits she is just as good a reporter as he is. You would think he wouldn't place any obstacles in her path towards reporting equality, but his vanity won't allow that conclusion, so he does. After a jury comes to a "guilty" verdict in the trial both are covering, and the jurors leave the jury room, Brent sneaks in to examine the ballots so he can get an extra on the street as quickly as possible. But sensing Davis is following him, he replaces the ballots with ones that read "not guilty." With friends like that, who needs enemies? Davis does report the wrong verdict to her editor, leading to the two rival newspapers coming out at the same time with opposite verdicts. Davis gets fired because of this hostile and vicious act, but, of course, it's not the end of the story, and she does get the last laugh in the matter.