The Front Page (1931)

Landmark Adaptation. - The Front Page review by Steve

Hardboiled newsroom comedy drama adapted from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's Broadway smash of 1928. The play is sometimes cited as an influence on the emerging screwball style; the verbal gags build up an unstoppable momentum, though the romance is peripheral. It is probably set in Chicago, but the material is so censorious it's never made clear.

It all takes place in the press office at the city jail as a political prisoner is due to be hanged for murder. The Morning Post's hotshot reporter (Pat O'Brien) intends to leave for New York to marry, so his manipulative editor (Adolphe Menjou) spins a web around his writer to keep him on the story. This is a frame for diverse observations on political corruption, race, Communism and the death penalty.

Some of the contemporary references are now obscure but the political climate hasn't changed much. Menjou was Oscar nominated, which is a stretch as he is mostly offscreen. The support cast plays the cynical and borderline crooked news hacks with gusto, and O'Brien stands out in a rare star role. Mae Clarke makes an impact as a sex worker agitating for the condemned man.

Lewis Milestone explores his single interior space with a fluency still rare in '31. He sets the dialogue to a breakneck speed, much as Howard Hawks did in his 1940 remake, His Girl Friday. This version isn't as brilliant, or as funny, but it is much more faithful to the source and still a pretty good precode talkie which captures the spirit of the roaring '20s.

*this is available as an extra on His Girl Friday.