The Front Page

The 1931 film The Front Page was one of the first movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 1931. It was written by Bartlett Cormack[?], adapted from the play of the same name, and directed by Lewis Milestone.

Starring Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien[?], Mary Brian[?], George E. Stone[?], Matt Moore and Edward Everett Horton, the movie is a "screwball comedy" about an investigative reporter[?] (O'Brien) and his fiancee (Brian), who hope to cash in on a big story involving an escaped accused murderer (Stone), so they hide him in a rolltop desk while everybody else tries to find him.

The movie was remade in 1940 as His Girl Friday and again in 1974 by Billy Wilder with its original title.

The 1988 movie Switching Channels[?], starring Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner, is another adaptation.

For the real-life background to The Front Page, see City News Bureau of Chicago and Chicago's American.