FILM ARCHIVES The Front Page
by Elliott Stein
Dir. Louis Milestone (1931).
The first screen version of Hecht and MacArthur’s play set in a cynical newspaper world suffers from uneven direction but comes alive every minute suave Adolphe Menjou is on screen as cold-blooded Chicago editor Walter Burns. Remade twice—first by Howard Hawks in his classic fast-paced His Girl Friday (1940), and then by Billy Wilder—The Front Page (1974), well-cast with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, but minor Wilder.
Sun., April 11, 3:30 & 7:30 p.m., 2010