The Front Page (1931): A Review

THE FRONT PAGE

Get the story, no matter what. That is the unofficial motto in The Front Page, the first of four adaptations of the play of the same name. While the first remake, His Girl Friday, is probably the best-known version of the story, The Front Page manages to hold its own even if it never fully escapes its stage roots.

Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson (Pat O'Brien) is through with the cutthroat newspaper business. He is cutting out to marry Peggy Grant (Mary Brian) and move to the big city. There, Hildy plans to get into advertising. One person who is displeased about the mere prospect of losing Hildy is his ever shifty, shrewd editor Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou). Burns is determined to hold onto Hildy by hook or crook, even a combination thereof if necessary.

All the newspapermen are waiting for the big news story of the day. It is of Earl Williams (George E. Stone), an anarchist (and not a Bolshevik as he himself would tell you) set to be executed for killing a "colored" policeman. Williams insists that he is innocent, but both the press and the eager politicians whipping up the Red Menace are fine with Williams pushing up daisies. Burns continuously thwarts Johnson's efforts to leave. Johnson also finds himself as attracted to covering the story as he is to Mary. Things grow complicated when Williams manages a daring escape. That escape is done thanks to the incompetence of Sheriff Peter B. Hartman, better known by the newspaper men as "Pinky" (Clarence H. Wilson). With Williams' seeming escape and both Pinky and the Mayor (James Gordon) desperate to see the case go their own way, only the press can get the story. 

Fortune seems to come Johnson and Burns' way when none other than Williams turns up at the prison press room. Williams had not so much as escaped as managed to get out of Pinky's clutches. More fortune comes Williams' way when a last-minute reprieve comes his way. Unfortunately for Williams, Pinky and the Mayor do their best to hide this information. Johnson and Burns do their best in turn to hid Williams. Who will win out in this battle? Will Hildy manage to escape Walter's various machinations, or does the wily newspaper editor have one more trick up his sleeve to see that his star reporter does not slip into wedded bliss?

The Front Page received three Academy Award nominations for Picture, Director (Lewis Milestone) and Actor (Adolphe Menjou). Whether it deserved to win in any of those categories remains to be seen. However, I think an aspect of The Front Page that still impresses is how the film moved. The film features great camera work, with Milestone moving the camera smoothly and rapid-fire editing. We see this in how for example we see when the pompous and hypochondriac newspaper writer Bensinger (Edward Everett Horton) arrives. We also have very curious camerawork when Sheriff Hartman arrives. The camera goes up and down as he goes up and down.

There is another scene that shows how rapidly technology was evolving from silent to sound. There is a scene at the newspaper print shop that is open and where the dialogue comes through clearly. We see here how The Front Page was pushing what could be both seen and heard on film.

That scene, however, was pretty much the only moment when the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play was opened up. Almost every part of The Front Page played as if it were a filmed play, with mostly the newspaper room as the setting. There were a few moments where the story did not take place within that space. Those moments even allowed for some clever bits. Burns, having faked a fire alarm, takes Johnson to a bar to discuss the possibility of Johnson covering the Williams case. Here, Menjou and O'Brien have a sight gag where Burns orders two shots. He passes one to Johnson and ostensibly has one for himself. Ever the smooth operator, Burns never actually drinks, but keeps passing his shot glass to an unaware Johnson. 

Later, we see a great shot where O'Brien, in the foreground, is escaping Burns' clutches through a fire escape. In the background, we see Menjou's Burns happily laughing, oblivious to Johnson's narrow escape. Milestone is working to use both sound and visuals to tell the story.

The Front Page also has strong editing when we get, for example, a montage of the various reporters telling their own version of Williams' capture. The details vary in accuracy, some with embellishments, some with flat-out lies. I was surprised at how Milestone used Dutch angles in some sequences, such as the aforementioned one. 

The performances are mostly strong. Adolphe Menjou is a bit broad as Walter Burns. However, that is how the character is: bombastic, arrogant and conniving. "You never me a decent woman. You wouldn't know what to do with a pure girl", Hildy tells his editor. With a chuckle, Walter replies knowingly, "Oh yes, I would". This infuriates Hildy, who snaps, "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!". Menjou was clever and delightfully sleazy. 

I was surprised to find Pat O'Brien as the more upright Hildy Johnson. While I did not think it was a bad performance, I did find it a curious one. It is as if O'Brien was trying a bit too hard to be both moral and desperate for the scoop. Mae Clark in a small role of Williams' alleged moll Molly Molloy was a bit overwrought in my opinion. Mary Brian as Hildy's girl Peggy Grant did not have much to do apart from either looking supportive or looking askance at how Hildy behaved. Edward Everett Horton was fun to watch as the fussy Besinger. His hypochondria, haughtiness and sometimes total cluelessness made him highly watchable.  

The screenplay had some nice in-jokes. At one point, the reporters comment on a previous inmate hanging, that of "George "King" Cukor". At another point, they say that "Judge Mankiewicz" was the one who tossed out garbage. These are obvious nods to director George Cukor and Herman Mankewicz, who would go on to cowrite (or fully write) Citizen Kane, depending on which version you believe. 

The Front Page is fast, clever and zippy. One is well-advised to not believe everything you read in the newspaper. One can believe that The Front Page does well both story-wise and in embracing the incoming technology. 

DECISION: B-