The Front Page (1931): watch the full film free, legally

A reporter tries to leave the press room

The Front Page is a 1931 American pre-Code screwball black comedy directed by Lewis Milestone. Howard Hughes produced the film, which United Artists distributed. Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer wrote the screenplay from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s 1928 Broadway play of the same name. Adolphe Menjou stars as Walter Burns, editor of the Morning Post, opposite Pat O’Brien as his star reporter, Hildebrand “Hildy” Johnson.

The action takes place in an unnamed large city with several daily newspapers. Hildy is preparing to leave journalism, marry Peggy Grant, and move to New York City for an advertising job. Burns has other plans. An escaped murderer’s case promises a major story, and Burns wants Hildy to stay with the Morning Post long enough to cover it. Mary Brian plays Peggy, while Effie Ellsler plays Mrs. Grant, Hildy’s future mother-in-law.

Burns’s determination to keep his reporter on staff runs alongside Hildy’s plans for a wedding trip and a different career. The situation puts the editor’s pursuit of a newspaper story against Hildy’s attempt to leave the trade. The story is set largely around the room occupied by the reporters gathered to cover the scheduled execution, where rival newspapers are waiting for the next development.

Earl Williams and a political execution

The wanted man is Earl Williams, played by George E. Stone. He is due to be hanged at 7 o’clock the following morning for the anarchist-related murder of a black policeman. Though Williams calls himself an anarchist, the case suggests that he may be innocent and convicted amid the city’s rising anti-red feeling. Burns presses Hildy to pursue that side of the story, even if doing so delays Hildy’s wedding trip.

Hours before the scheduled execution, Williams is interviewed by an Austrian alienist and reenacts the murder. During this exercise, he escapes custody with Sheriff Peter B. “Pinky” Hartman’s gun, which the sheriff has carelessly loaned to the doctor. With Burns and Hildy’s help, Williams is concealed in a rolltop desk in the reporters’ room, where journalists have gathered for the execution coverage. Mrs. Grant sees them hide him. Burns responds by having his associates roughly escort her from the building. Clarence Wilson plays Sheriff Hartman.

The supporting cast includes Edward Everett Horton as Roy V. Bensinger, Walter Catlett as Jimmy Murphy, Mae Clarke as Molly Malloy, Slim Summerville as Irving Pincus, Matt Moore as Ernie Kruger, Frank McHugh as “Mac” McCue, and James Gordon as Fred, the Mayor. Fred Howard plays Schwartz, Phil Tead plays Wilson, Eugene Strong plays Endicott, and Spencer Charters plays Woodenshoes. Maurice Black appears as Diamond Louie, while Dorothea Wolbert plays Jenny.

Different takes and press-room dialogue

Two versions exist, using different takes: one made for the international market and Milestone’s preferred version for the original United States domestic release. In one scene, when the sheriff asks who threw a bucket out a window, Catlett’s character says, “Judge Mankiewicz threw it,” referring to Hecht’s friend Herman J. Mankiewicz.

At the 4th Academy Awards, the film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director for Milestone, and Best Actor for Menjou. Leslie Halliwell awarded it three of four stars, calling it a “Brilliant early talkie” whose “essential power remains.” Leonard Maltin described the first film version of the Hecht-MacArthur play as “forceful, funny, and flamboyantly directed.” Eddie Muller wrote that the premise was delivered as “uproarious comedy,” crediting Hecht and MacArthur’s “ribald rat-a-tat dialogue” with creating the fast-talking, hard-drinking newshound who will do anything for a scoop.

In 2010, the Library of Congress selected The Front Page for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine included it among “The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars.”

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Front Page (1931 film)”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.