Long before the now classic 1974 Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau vehicle, years before Howard Hawks reimagined it as His Girl Friday, there was the original film adaptation of the 1928 stage play, The Front Page. If anyone tries to argue with me that remakes shouldn’t be done, I like to point out two examples where they justify their existence: The Maltese Falcon and The Front Page. Both are prime examples of a film that doesn’t quite hit the bullseye, where a remake absolutely nails it.
The 1931 adaptation of the play is billed as a screwball black comedy. That is an apt description, though the film doesn’t manage to generate a whole lot of laughter during its relatively bloated runtime. Instead, there is the occasional chuckle, but mostly the whole affair feels forced, like director Lewis Milestone is trying too hard to garner laughs through the use of some unique camera work and a cast of actors mugging for the camera like they are trying out for a sketch comedy troop. All of this is in service of a threadbare plot that doesn’t justify the runtime.
The story revolves around star reporter Hildy Johnson (Pat O’Brien), who is quitting the journalism trade so he can marry her sweetheart Peggy (Mary Brian) and move to New York City to take a job in an advertising agency. This is interrupted by the escape of convicted murderer Earl Williams (George E. Stone), who was scheduled to go to the gallows at 7 a.m. the following morning for the anarchist-related murder of a black policeman. Hildy’s boss, editor Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou), wants Hildy to remain on his staff so he can cover the major news story for the Morning Post.
Though Earl is indeed an anarchist, it is revealed that he is unlikely the real murderer and has been wrongly convicted of it due to rising anti-communist sentiments in the city. Burns is determined that Hildy works on that angle of the story, taking measures to delay his wedding trip. Meanwhile, the sheriff and the mayor get a notice to stay the execution, though they ignore it because it would be a political boon in the upcoming election. Earl runs into the reporters, all gathered together playing cards and working on their various takes on the escape, and they hide him in one of the desks. But the sheriff is closing in on him and intends to hold the reporters accountable should he find they are aiding the fugitive.
The idea behind this film is a good one. Fill a room with reporters played by such talented comedians as Walter Catlett and Edward Everett Horton and let them riff off of each other. Where it falls flat is in the direction by Lewis Milestone who is relying too much on gimmickry to overemphasize the comedic beats. Large portions of this film take place in a single room where all of these reporters are all over each other making jokes about the newspaper business, exaggerating headlines and stories.
On top of that, the basic plot of this film isn’t all that interesting. A man has been wrongfully imprisoned but he is an anarchist/communist so those in power don’t care that they have the wrong man so long as it helps their own political ambitions. This is entry-level screenwriting and hardly worthy of the position this film has in the history of motion pictures.
Even the escape sequence is devoid of any real enjoyment. The way it is set up is asinine and should have been rewritten for the film. What it boils down to is, while Earl is being interrogated by the sheriff and an Austrian alienist, Earl is handed the sheriff’s loaded gun on the pretense that he should show them how he committed the murder. Earl fires the gun, wounding the Austrian, and escapes custody. This is a level of ineptitude that goes beyond the simple screwball comedy moment and is insultingly stupid.
This was Pat O’Brien’s second feature film and his first starring role. While the film isn’t one of his best, it does showcase what he had to offer as an actor. He is playing a variation of what he usually plays on screen, the good-natured father-figure swept up in the insanity around him. There are traces of Officer O’Malley in here as well as Father Connolly, but this is dialed up to an almost manic state at times as he is being torn between his desire to marry his bride, leave behind the newspaper business, and the excitement of the current events.
The best part of this movie is watching as Burns throws obstacles in Hildy’s way to try and stop him from leaving for New York. He interferes with a reimbursement Hildy needs in order to afford his wedding and later, frames him for theft to get him arrested as he is getting on the train to the city. It’s one of the few places where the madcap logic of the script is firing on all cylinders and generating genuine laughs. That final bit of mischief happens just before the credits roll and was literally the only laugh out loud moment in the entire picture. It ends the film on a positive note but it was a bit of a slog getting to that point.
I wanted to like this film much more than I ultimately did. Screwball comedies from this period are often amongst the best since the films of this era weren’t beholden to the Hays Code just yet. But, for all its potential, it just didn’t land for me, and I found my mind wanting to wander far too often. I know I am in the minority with this opinion, and many people adore this film, but that was not my experience, and I feel that it is unlikely I will revisit this one anytime soon.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production: Howard Hughes
Best Director: Lewis Milestone
Best Actor: Adolphe Menjou
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Release Date: April 4, 1931
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Adolphe Menjou, Pat O’Brien, Mary Brian, and Edward Everett Horton
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
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