Saturday, August 21, 2021

Quick Reaction: The Front Page (1931)


I've seen several versions of this story at this point. I saw the 1974 remake years ago. I saw His Girl Friday, which is a renamed version of the story made only 9 years after this. It's also just a pretty famous play in general. I mean, Barry's theater troop in Barry puts on this show. I understand the desire to revisit this story. While it was written for the stage, it actually translates pretty well to the screen with the screwball plot and setting. That said, the existence of His Girl Friday renders this version insignificant. Both were made within a decade of each other and it's hard to point to any element that The Front Page does better. This version is fine because the bones of the story are good. There's just no good reason to watch this instead of His Girl Friday. That said, it's funny that this version is the one that got more Oscar attention. In fact, His Girl Friday was completely snubbed by the Oscars which looks very silly now.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend

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