072986 / G / US / 1931 / Milestone, Lewis / drama / comedy
Front Page, The / Etusivu uusiksi. PC: Caddo Company. P: Howard Hughes. D: Lewis Milestone. SC: Bartlett Cormack - based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. CAST: Adolphe Menjou (Walter Burns), Pat O’Brien (Hildy Johnson), Mary Brian (Peggy Grant), Mae Clarke (Molly Malloy), Edward Everett Horton (Roy Bensinger), Slim Summerville (Irving Pincus). B&w Early Sound 1,2. 101’ /25 fps/ PAL = 105’ /24 fps/. This film was never released in Finnish cinemas nor on video. Yleisradio TV2 transmitted it in 1996 and again 11 January 1998. Transmission’s 16mm start material had awful definition and poor sound, and the early sound aperture was uglily cropped. Viewed in Helsinki on VHS, Monday 12 January 1998. *** Because of the miserable TV print it was impossible to enjoy the film. But it is evident that this is a superbly acted version of the tough, almost horrifying, Hecht / MacArthur play. This Pre-Code version is probably the toughest of the four films based on the play, and in many ways more daring than the 1940 remake His Girl Friday. It was not such a big step for Hawks to turn Hildy into a woman. Not that Pat O’Brien is at all feminine, but in this version, too, it is obvious that the true love story is between Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson.
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