The Front Page (1931)

Directed by

Lewis Milestone

Genre

comedy film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 41m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 85 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A newspaper editor tries to stop his star reporter from quitting to get married. They end up tangled in a chaotic story about a condemned man on the run.

fast-pacedwittycynicalzanytensecomedicsharp-tongued

What happens

The Front Page is a 1931 American pre-Code screwball black comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien. Based on the 1928 Broadway play of the same name by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer, and distributed by United Artists. The supporting cast includes Mary Brian, Edward Everett Horton, Walter Catlett, George E. Stone, Mae Clarke, Slim Summerville, and Matt Moore. At the 4th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Milestone for Best Director, and Menjou for Best Actor. In 2010, this film was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is in the public domain. The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine lists The Front Page as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars." Two versions of the film exist, each made up of different takes, one for the international market and director Lewis Milestone's preferred version for its original U.S. domestic release. Both versions are available on home video. In the film when the sheriff asks who threw a bucket out the window, Walter Catlett's character replies: "Judge Mankiewicz threw it," a reference to Hecht's friend Herman J. Mankiewicz. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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