DVD Review: The Front Page (1974)
Kino-Lorber released yet another version of "The Front Page," this time Billy Wilder's 1974 period piece with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's play about a murderer, an impending execution, a newspaper reporter, and his editor was a hit on stage and was also a hit movie in 1931. They did a gender switch on the reporter role for Howard Hawks' 1940 version, "His Girl Friday," and as late as 1988 the film was revamped as being about TV news in "Switching Channels" with Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner (maintaining the gender switch from "His Girl Friday").
Perhaps the most overlooked movie version is this new Kino Lorber release, directed by Wilder, and based on his and I.A.L. Diamond's adaption of the Hecht-MacArthur play. It stars Walter Matthau as the editor and Jack Lemmon as the reporter, and is filled with notables like Carol Burnett, Susan Sarandon, Herb Edelman, Charles During, Vincent Gardenia, David Wayne, Austin Pendelton, Harold Gould, Cliff Osmond, and Paul Benedict in the supporting roles.
Wilder's comedic approach responds well to the loud, aggressive comedy and the fast pace, having comfortably directed in that style before (the best example is probably his breathlessly fast comedy "One Two Three" after which James Cagney left movies for 20 years). The original material is still funny and the cast is great, so despite this being one of many screen versions of the play, it does manage to stand out on its own.
Jack Lemmon shines as usual, playing the ace reporter about to get married to the much younger Susan Sarandon, while harried, boisterous editor Walter Matthau blusters him into covering an execution because no reporter can do as well. Lemmon and Matthau established their working rapport with Wilder's "The Fortune Cookie," and the two actors teamed again for the Gene Saks film version of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." Re-teaming for this Wilder film, in roles that connect well with their established screen personae. Carol Burnett is miscast as the long-suffering Mollie Malloy, and she believed so herself. Once when "The Front Page" was shown as an in-flight movie while she was a passenger, she stood up upon the film's conclusion and apologized to the others, getting a bigger laugh than she does in the movie.
The attention to detail is remarkable, veteran art director Henry Bumstead effectively recreating 1929 right down to the roll top desk and row of two-piece telephones. And it is worth noting that of the four screen versions of "The Front Page," this is the only one to use the actual Hecht-MacArthur closing line: "the son-of-a-bitch stole my watch!"
Although Wilder didn't like the idea of doing remakes, the concept of doing yet another screen version of a play appealed to him. He made a point that the dialog contained no ad-libbing and the lines be clear enough for the viewer to catch every nuance. Jack Lemmon later stated that he believed the movie might have been even more effective if some of the fast talk overlapped a bit. Still, the movie worked effectively as both nostalgia and comedy, raking in a profit and considered a happy success. It holds up nicely all these years later.
The KINO blu ray includes interviews with actor Austin Pendelton, with first assistant director Howard G. Kazanjian, and with assistant to Billy Wilder, Rex McGree. Optional commentary is provided by Michael Schlesinger and Mark Evanier, that is both entertaining and enlightening.
It is worth noting that KINO also has available the original 1931 screen version of the play.
The 1974 version is available for purchase at this link: Billy Wilder's "The Front Page."