User Reviews

One of the biggest problems facing filmmakers in the early sound era was not a technical one, but one of what form the stories should take. Now that the spoken word was a means of expression, stage plays became a prime source for movie material. The only trouble was that, while the theatre is not necessarily an inferior medium, if you shoot a play simply as it is, no matter how good it would be in the theatre, on the screen it becomes static and dull. There are ways round this problem, and they demonstrate how much of a difference it makes the way in which a movie is filmed.

The Front Page's director, Lewis Milestone, was an ostentatious attention-grabber who liked to make every use of the technology at hand. But all his showing-off was for a purpose. As oppose to the limited dimensions of the stage, Milestone is always staging things in extremes of width and depth, especially when introducing major characters. A really neat manoeuvre is when a cop visits the newsroom during a game of poker. The camera sits on the middle of the small table and pans round as each reporter is harangued in turn. A man walking round a table is a fairly low-key bit of business, but this technique makes it simply whirl. There is only one point where I feel it's too much, when the camera "bounces" up and down on the faces of the reporters as they sing a taunting song. But the great thing is Milestone also knows when to tone it down and let the players shine. He often uses a long, still take for a key scene, such as Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou's talk at the bar.

But an equally important contribution is the sense of realistic camaraderie between the principle members of the cast. The atmosphere in the newsroom straddles comedic exuberance and realistic banter, and as such is absolutely in the spirit of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's original work. Adolphe Menjou shows impeccable control, with movements that are almost cartoonish, such as the little backward lean into his stride off after announcing "I'll kill him!" It's a fresh approach, but one that would catch on, being very much the vein of Clark Gable's Oscar-winning performance in It Happened One Night (1934). Lead man Pat O'Brien is at his most extrovert and, in the process, his most likable. Walter Catlett is unflappably brilliant, and there is also a chance to see Edward Everett Horton honing the persona that would make him a fixture throughout the next decade.

The result is probably the most vibrant and effective stage adaptation of the early talkies, and it set the tone of much of what was to come, straddling the gap between the wild farce of the Marx Brothers and the sophisticated comedies like Dinner at Eight. Later directors (George Cukor, most notably) would learn to tone down Milestone's approach and create stage-to-screen adaptations that flowed smoothly and were purely cinematic, but The Front Page was nevertheless an important jolt to an industry still trying to find its way, and a lesson in how to make a script low on action and confined in space into something dynamic and brassy.

Newspaperman Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien) is quitting the business and getting married to Peggy (Mary Brian). But his unscrupulous boss Walter Burns(Adolphe Menjou) doesn't want him to quit. Also an innocent man is about to be hanged and Burns will do anything to make sure Johnson works on that story.

Fast and funny--the first cinematic version of this story. It shows its age at times and some of it is wildly overacted but O'Brien and Menjou are both just great in their roles. Also director Lewis Milestone uses some very unusual camera tricks to keep the story moving and there's lots of action and running around which is unusual for an early talkie.

This was remade in 1940 with a sex change making Johnson a woman. That was "His Girl Friday" with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. That one is better than this but this is better than the 1974 version (that had Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau) and 1988 remake called "Switching Channels" (with Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds). They're all good to varying degrees but this one came first. Worth seeing.

While the staging was limited, the acting was believable and the camera work was great for the technology available. After watching "Front Page" again after watching "Girl Friday", I was struck by the original's emphasis on the role of the newspaper in revealing political corruption. But, the question remains, who's the girl? Not the actress but the girl in the picture hanging on the wall in back of Adolph Menjou's head during the final scenes... Since the movie was released in 1931, it can't be Jane Russell. She's to busty to be Katherine Hepburn (Howard Hughes' friend). The only reason I noticed it was that she appears nude and Howard Hughes probably put it there to see if the 'censors' would notice.

If it weren't for the even better Howard Hawks remake, "The Front Page" would probably be much more well-remembered today. It's entertaining in its own right, with a slightly different feel from the remake, and it is better than most movies of its own era in at least a couple of important respects. While you can still tell at times that it is from the very early sound era, it does use sound and dialogue more smoothly and constructively (that is, rather than as a mere novelty) than do most early 30's movies.

Adolphe Menjou has the role of Walter Burns, and he is a good fit, giving the character just a slightly different turn from the way that Cary Grant would later play it. The role of Hildy Johnson is somewhat bland in this one - it was the genius of Hawks in changing this role into a more worthy foil for Burns that made "His Girl Friday" so outstanding - but in compensation, some of the other reporters get more to do here. The supporting cast has a number of good character actors, especially Edward Everett Horton as the fussy Bensinger, and it's good that they were given some worthwhile moments of their own. Certainly the great remake deserves its own reputation, but this version deserves to be remembered as well.

A bustling Chicago press-room is about to lose top "Examiner" writer Pat O'Brien (as Hildy Johnson), who wants to quit reporting after fifteen years, to marry Mary Brian (as Peggy Grant). But, managing editor Adolphe Menjou (as Walter Burns) wants Mr. O'Brien to stay, and cover stories like the execution by hanging of George E. Stone (as Earl Williams). The plot thickens when Mr. Williams escapes from jail, and tightens when O'Brien meets the convicted killer.

"The Front Page" was held in high regard for the way director Lewis Milestone made a staid, one-room stage play really MOVE on the big screen. There were "Academy Award" nominations for "Best Picture", "Best Director", and "Best Actor". The later went to Mr. Menjou, although O'Brien is arguably the film's leading actor. Menjou had taken over the role when Louis Wolheim died; either man would have been up for a "Supporting Actor" award, had they been given.

"This story is laid in a mythical kingdom," by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the writers who deserved "The Front Page" award.

******* The Front Page (3/19/31) Lewis Milestone ~ Pat O'Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Brian, Edward Everett Horton

The Front Page was the 12th, and 9th credited, feature film directed by Lewis Milestone, Russian Jewish emigré born in what is now Moldova in 1895 whose directing career spanned from the end of WWI to the early days of the Beatles, thus the core of the XXth Century. A director of moderate talent, Milestone enjoyed disproportionate renown in his day, directing everything from screen adaptations of Brodaway comedies, inter alia the effort under review, and musicals, to prestige literary adaptations such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, for which he won an Oscar for best director, which, helás, didn´t make him a better director...) or Of Mice and Men (1939), graduating in the 50s to big budget productions like Les Misérables (1952) or Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Fun factoid: he also directed the original Ocean´s 11 (1960) the first film to feature the full Rat Pack.

The Front Page adapts to the screen an eponymous play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, about a group of hardboiled Chicago newspapermen bent on scooping on the imminent execution of a presumed subversive agitator (George E Stone), mandatory love interest provided by the scheduled wedding of journalist Hildy Johnson (Pat O´Brien, much more at ease playing Irish priests and the like) to fiancée Peggy Grant (Mary Briant), event which conflicts with the professional duties, interests and urges of Hildy.

The Front Page was one of the first films to use the rotambulator, an ancestor of the dolly, which allowed for a few press room sequences with dialogue shot in circular motion, not unlike similar scenes in much later efforts by Quentin Tarantino (viz Reservoir Dogs, 1992), providing for some relief for what otherwise comes across as excessive, undestandably in a stage adaptation and an early talkie, talkyness. The remaining relief comes from Ben Hecht´s delighful dialogue.

Supplementary sort of interest for contemporary viewers is the political and sexual innuendo, both verbal and physical, that pre-code comedy allowed. For all this, in 2010, The Front Page was included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in consideration of it being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

All aforementioned qualities nothwistanding, the films lives of script and dialogue mostly, and direction is often unimaginative and delivery wooden. Onliners do save the show. A favourite: Hildy´s boss Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou, best on screen) to Hildy, trying to persuade him not to folllow Cupid´s ephemeral lure and stay in the newspaper business: "Yes, I know, I too was in love once, with my third wife...".

The camera-work on this underrated beauty is breathtaking - one of the panning shots in the newsroom precedes Woody Allen's restaurant pan shot in Hannah and Her Sisters by over half a century! It is so organic, yet so breezy and alive. Don't miss the clever panning action with the gun sequence, and the mirrored room with the man getting off the elevator, which is also a throw-away gem. The actors are some of the finest character and bit players ever assembled on screen and the lightning dialog and clever editing is really quite modern in its speed and ingenuity.

I too am a devoted fan of His Girl Friday, but these are two very different films. Front Page is a masterpiece of old school ensemble character acting, and without it to break new ground, I don't believe His Girl Friday would have had nearly the breakneck pacing and out of the bottle genius that it is rightfully remembered for. The Front Page should take an esteemed place in film history for being the fertile breeding ground of screwball comedy in general and many of its masterpieces, including His Girl Friday, in particular. A must see for 1930's film buffs and screwball comedy fanatics!

This is the classic rendition filmed in 1931 titled ¨The Front Page¨ by Lewis Milestone with big cast as Adolph Menjou , Edward Everett Horton , Mae Clark and Pat O'Brien in his film debut . Acceptable version about known story in which a reporter wants to marry a beautiful woman but his mean editor impedes it . Rip-roaring vintage newspaper comedy ¨The Front Page¨ and subsequently , 1940 , the best retelling titled ¨His girl friend¨ and acceptable acting from everyone . Cynical editor named Walter Burns (Louis Wolheim was originally cast to play him , but Adolphe Menjou got the part when Wolheim died suddenly , this character was based on a famed editor) wants to get a big scoop on an execution which involves convincing star reporter Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien , whose role was based on the real-life a notorious reporter) to come back to work and put off her marriage to handsome millionaire Peggy Grant (Mary Brian) . Walter tries to keep him in town and break up her upcoming marriage takes place against the backdrop of a botched death row . Hildy can't resist covering some good news , even when it mean helping a condemned man getaway the law as she attempts to help an innocent man is about to be executed . And the escaped convicted murderer offers the journalist an exclusive interview . Other reporters also give hilarious acting in this breathless pursuit of an exclusive with the escaped death row inmate .

Great cast gives powerful performances as Adolphe Menjou as a scheming publisher and Pat O'Brien as a convincing as well as incautious journalist . Agreeable play and screenplay from Ben Hecht , Charles MacArthur about a cunning managing editor of a known newspaper and his ambitious reporter . 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 . Bartlett Cormack Charles Lederer's brilliantly tart dialogue overlaps story to carry the black farce along the roller-coasted speed . Attractive performance from Pat O'Brien as ace journalist who wants to quit the business and get married and likable Adolphe Menjou as an editor who finds out his main reporter wants to leave him and gets in the way . Inventive and furious screen combats in which Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien are given equal footing with staccato dialog and sparkling interpretations . Phenomenal playing from everyone , including a top-notch secondary cast such as Edward Everett Horton , George Stone , Mae Clarke , Slim Summerville and Matt Moore . Mediocre cinematography by cinematographer Hal Mohr who replaced Tony Gaudio , being necessary an alright remastering because of film copy is worn-out and suffers the public domain . Professional direction by Lewis Milestone render more funny than usual , and achieved success enough . Rating : 6,5 . Worthwhile watching .

Other versions about this this frequent-told story are the followings : The play "The Front Page" opened at the Times Square Theater on August 14, 1929, and ran for 276 performances . As Osgood Perkins , Anthony Perkins's father , created the role of Walter Burns on the Broadway stage . And "Academy Award Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 22, 1946 with Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien reprising their film roles . In cinema a classic adaptation titled ¨His Girl Friday ¨ 1940 , it makes some memorable exchanges , directed by Howard Hawks with Gary Grant , Ralph Bellamy and Rosalind Russell with the pivotal character assigned to a woman instead a man ; and do't miss this stunning adaptation ¨The front page¨ by the great Billy Wilder with Jack Lemmon as journalist , Walter Matthaw as managing editor and Carol Burnett . And 1988 new recounting , a modernized fourth remake titled ¨Switching Channels¨ in which an attractive TV anchorwoman want to marry tycoon but his mean ex-husband impedes it , starred by Burt Reynolds , Kathleen Turner , and Christopher Reeve , being directed by Ted Kotcheff .

Way ahead of its time in both style and substance. The Front Page is a comic look at the underbelly of the newspaper business as well as a tough commentary on the times. In a press room outside the city jail, a group of newspaper reporters idly await the execution of a communist sympathizer accused of murder. Once the story heats up though, the press room becomes an absolute madhouse. The hilariously cynical script adapted from the play by Ben Hecht pulls no punches. Politics, the justice system, communist hysteria, love and marriage are all targets for the biting wit of the author. The script is complemented by a good ensemble cast. Pat O'Brien gives a good performance as Hildy Johnson, the star reporter for The Post, who is leaving his job for marriage. Adolphe Menjou steals the show, however, as Walter Burns, the conniving editor who will do anything to keep Johnson on the job. The rest of the news hounds are all expertly played, striking us as fun loving jokers one minute, but becoming downright violent the moment they smell a story. The movie also has a rare artistic style unequaled in most films. Though most of the movie takes place in the same location, the cinematography is done so well that we never feel we are watching a stage play. The cameras constantly move around the room, effectively putting us in the middle of the action. Pretty much everything about this film is done well. It is funny, edgy, artistic and thought provoking. Movies that can do all of that are few and far in between.

Perhaps this was a good, maybe even a funny movie in 1931. It certainly isn't now - none of the gags raise so much as a smile, the overacting is still stuck in the silent era, the plot and its few twists are ridiculous. This will only appeal to movie buffs, who may want to compare the versions of this movie, or perhaps Pat O'Brians early acting. If you 're not such a person - don't bother with this. It has nothing to offer after all this time

Although Howard Hawks gave The Front Page a different twist by making Hildy Johnson a woman and giving her a romantic involvement with editor Walter Burns, The Front Page still holds up well today for its biting wit.

All the clichés about newspapers as portrayed on film originate with this work. Lewis Milestone assembled a great cast of character actors as the gang in the press room and the lines they toss back and forth at each other are priceless. Even better were some of the lines at the expense of the self important political and law enforcement figures they cover.

I suppose it's the nature of the job that makes newsmen cynical. But this group takes it to an exponential level. Frank Capra did something very similar in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. When newly appointed interim Senator James Stewart arrives in town and they make him out a buffoon, Stewart goes around punching out all of them he can find. When he does reach the Capitol Press Room, the whole group of them Thomas Mitchell, Jack Carson, Charles Lane, etc. bring him up quite short. That group of correspondents could easily have been in the press room in The Front Page. I have no doubt that Capra was inspired by Milestone's work in The Front Page.

The casting of the leads is quite a story. Pat O'Brien had played Walter Burns on stage and someone in the Howard Hughes organization got their wires crossed and signed him for Hildy Johnson. O'Brien made the switch effortlessly though.

Lewis Milestone originally wanted Louis Wolheim with whom he'd worked the year before in All Quiet on the Western Front. But then Wolheim died suddenly right before filming was to start. Adolphe Menjou was hurriedly substituted and he proved to be an inspired choice.

When The Front Page was done on the Broadway stage the roles of Johnson and Burns were played by Lee Tracy and Osgood Perkins. I could see either of them in their respective parts. Both got to Hollywood, but too late to do either part for the screen.

The two female roles of note were Johnson's fiancé Peggy and the streetwalker who had befriended convicted killer George E. Stone who's execution the reporters are covering. Mae Clarke as the prostitute is just fine. A tough year for Mae, she jumps through a window here and gets slugged with a grapefruit later on in Public Enemy.

Mary Brian is the fiancé and in an underwritten part, she's dull as dishwater. Not her fault because the film is about the guys. But seeing this, no wonder Howard Hawks got the inspired idea to eliminate her, create THE Ralph Bellamy part and make Hildy Johnson a woman for His Girl Friday.

Of course The Front Page has the look and feel of the era that birthed it. But the portrait of newspapermen is still fresh and the issues raised about crooked politicians running on "law and order" platforms is probably even more relevant today than back then.

It took Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and, Howard Hawks to top this timeless classic play. You can't get much better than Charles MacArther and Ben Hecht for a script that's made it through decades remakes. Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou make a great screen couple. Hearing Frank McHugh's laugh for the first time, a laugh that would repeat itself for decades. So many reliable character actors who always elevate any production. Lewis Milestones directing gave us the classic storytelling of the play.

I was watching this movie, and I thought, parts of this plot seemed familiar. Then I remembered there was a remake in 1974 with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau that was not great, but at least had some good laughs.

This is a very old movie, and it shows. The dialogue is muffled. The actors talk very fast as the running gag. It is hard to catch much of the dialogue. It is boring boring boring. Even the scene when they hide the escaped convict in the desk is wooden.

It is mostly about a group of old newspaper men sitting around a table being rude to each other with insults that don't make much sense.

The actors take turns mugging silently for the camera. It is so amateurish.

THE FRONT PAGE (1931) is a snappy, quick-witted comedy about a newspaper man trying to leave the business and get married while his peers scramble to cover the story of the year. The movie is based on a stage play, and the same story was adapted (with some tweaks) in 1940 for Howard Hawks's brilliant HIS GIRL_FRIDAY, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

I absolutely love HIS GIRL_FRIDAY and wasn't expecting much from this earlier and lesser-known version. But I must say that THE FRONT PAGE is itself a terrific film that, though slightly different (but mostly similar), is just as great as HIS GIRL_FRIDAY. (The wonderful humor must be inherent in the original play.)

The ensemble cast is superb, including Pat O'Brien as the soon-to-be-married star reporter, Adolphe Menjou as his big shot editor, Clarence Wilson as the harassed sheriff, George E. Stone as a condemned man, and a roomful of reporters including Frank McHugh, Walter Catlett, and Edward Everett Horton.

Made in 1931, early on in the sound era, the movie certainly looks pretty old. But I thought it was great. The script is very witty and the direction (by Oscar-winner Lewis Milestone) is good. I particularly enjoyed the direction in the pressroom scenes, with all of the reporters and all of the phones and the various snippets of conversation.

Also, being a "pre-code" comedy, there are some bits that might have been deemed too vulgar had the film been made only a few years later. There are some allusions to promiscuity, some almost swear words, and even a brief instance of "flipping the bird".

HIS GIRL_FRIDAY (1940) is an all-time classic screwball comedy. But if you enjoyed that film, you're sure to love THE FRONT PAGE (1931). The story is basically the same (there's less of a romantic angle as the star reporter is a man in this version), but a lot of the jokes are fresh. And this version offers wonderful performances by Menjou, Catlett, Horton, et al. Both movies are delightful comedies, and it's too bad that this earlier version isn't as well remembered as its remake.

THE FRONT PAGE is a classic in its own right, and was nominated for three big Academy Awards: Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture. I'd definitely recommend checking it out whenever you can find it.

Newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien) is assigned a story from his editor Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou). He's busy getting married and leaving for New York City to get away from the news game. He has to report on the execution of Earl Williams. He sees an opportunity to get the scoop when Earl escapes into his arms.

This is based on a Broadway play and remade into the iconic His Girl Friday with a bit of gender change. This version like later versions has a brash look at the reporting backroom. There is something funnier about a female Hildy trying to out-do the boys in the all-boys club. Also Pat struggles to stand out among all the newspaper men in suits. It's funny that he has no hat to make him stand out. Overall, this is a classic which is the mould for all those after it.

In 2017, "The Post" celebrates the press and makes a case for the supreme importance of it remaining free and independent. In 1931, "The Front Page" drags it through the mud.

This early talking picture does an impressive job of overcoming the limitations that sound and the technology that came with it placed upon filmmakers at the time. Most early talkies don't have a clue how to move and speak at the same time, so the films mostly just sit there, the camera rooted to the spot as if afraid that it might pan slightly away from the frame and never come back. "The Front Page," on the other hand, never stops moving, thanks to the direction of Lewis Milestone, one of the first directors who knew what to do with sound. It's a fast-paced, snappy little film that pokes fun at journalists and what they're willing to do, and who they're willing to screw over, for a big scoop.

The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director in the Academy's fourth year of existence. Milestone became the first director to rack up three nominations (he'd already won twice before, also the first individual to win multiple Academy Awards). Oddly enough, Adolphe Menjou was nominated for Best Actor, despite the fact that he doesn't really show up to stay until the movie has only 20 or so minutes to go. If anyone should have been nominated for Best Actor, it's Pat O'Brien, around whom the whole film revolves. But these were the days before supporting categories existed, so if the Academy wanted to nominate someone like Menjou, they didn't have anywhere else to put him.

Grade: A-

The remarks by Camera Obscura do an injustice to this film and reveal a true absence of aesthetics governing the writer's appreciation for camera technique, acting, directing and pace. While I am an enormous fan of the subsequent remake, "His Girl Friday," by Howard Hawks, Lewis Milestone's direction of the original is invigorating and sets a pace that Hawks had to match before he began to trump it with his own use of crackling overlapping dialog. Way ahead of its time, the camera explores the set, and Milestone and his editor know how to use editing to create pace. This is not merely a filmed play. It is faithful to the play and excellently exploits the camera's ability to go to closeups, long shots, etc. The acting, particularly by Adolphe Menjou, is as good as in any version. I am also distressed by the comments of Eye 3 who agrees with Obscura that the dialog is shouted in order to be picked up by the microphones! The actors are shouting because their characters are excited - the rapid fire dialog coupled with shouting is an element of farce and is beautifully done, and in the televised version I just watched on TCM, entirely understandable! I do wish someone would restore this early gem to a print with a cleaned up picture and sound, but given its age, it is a remarkable treasure of early sound cinema.

The Front Page of 1931 is obviously dated, and the pace of the film is beyond frenzied, but the film is still watchable and enjoyable. The story of the adventures of a reporter and his cynical editor named Walter Burns (ironically, Walter Matthau would recreate this role several years later). Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the chaos that follows.

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.

Filmed many times, this original version is amusing, but in 1940, Howard Hawks re-made it as "His Girl Friday," which is by far the winner.

The sound is terrible and the picture quality is about as bad, I also did not care for the movie either, Will not recommend. James Welch Henderson Arkansas 10/17/2018.