The Front Page

(1931)
Directed by Louis Milestone
Written by Bartlett Cormack, Charles Lederer, based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Starring Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian, Edward Everett Horton, Mae Clark, Walter Catlett, Frank McHugh, George E. Stone
IMDB Entry

 The Front Page is a classic play about newspapermen in Chicago that was turned into the just as classic movie His Girl Friday, which switched the gender of one of the main characters. There was also a 1974 remake starring Walter Matthau (perfect casting) and Jack Lemmon as well as other adaptations. But the original was made in 1931 and still holds up very well.

The city of Chicago is about to execute Earl Williams (George E. Stone) for killing a cop, and much of the action takes place in the press room waiting for the fatal hour. It's filled with a motley crew of reporters who are cynical to a fault. They also talk about Hildy Johnson (Pat O'Brien) who is of high regard* and whose editor, Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou), keeps calling to find out where he is. Turns out Johnson is engaged to Peggy Grant (Mary Brien) and is leaving on a train to New York, where he had a job waiting for him in advertising.  When Williams escapes, Johnson, who is visiting the press room to say goodbye, lucks into the story of his life.

Most of the movie is filled with sharp dialogue as the reporters make their cynical comments on the execution, seeing it as a political ploy to win an election and pointing out the incompetence of the police in trying to find him.  

Comparing it to His Girl Friday, it is much the same.  Howard Hawks didn't change the setup, only changing what was necessary to create the relationship between Burns and Johnson. Menjou is not Cary Grant, but he was at the time similarly regarded as the epitome of sophistication and wit. It's hard to pick who was better.  O'Brien can't really be compared, but he is fine as the reporter torn between his sweetheart and the excitement of his job.   Edward Everett Horton plays the prissy Bensinger, a hypochondriac who would rather write poetry.

Much of the dialog was reused for His Girl Friday; Hawks and his writer Charles Lederer (with Hecht contributing) knew not to mess with a good thing. I was particularly surprised to see that Johnson refers to Williams -- hiding in a roll-top desk -- as "mock turtle." Grant used the line, too, and I had thought it was an in-joke** referring to his role in the 1933 Alice in Wonderland. Grant must have liked the reference, though.

I was especially interested in what they would do with the final last line, the brilliant "That son-of-a-bitch stole my watch." It could not be used in the Hawks's remake since the Hays Office would never allow it. But Menjou delivers it just as written, accidentally banging against a typewriter to slightly obscure the word "bitch."  Even before the code, there were limits.

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*It's fairly common for plays to talk about the main character before they come on stage.

**His Girl Friday is full of them.

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*I have noticed that many plays begins by people talking about the main character before their entrance.