FRONT PAGE WOMAN
US, 1935, 82 minutes, Black and white.
Bette Davis, George Brent, Roscoe Karns, J. Carrol Naish.
Directed by Michael Curtiz.
Front Page Woman is in the vein of The Front Page, remade in 1941 as His Girl Friday. Bette Davis and George Brent are rival reporters on a newspaper. They are supposed to be in love – but she won’t marry him until he admits that she is as good a reporter as he. The film focuses on a court case, his cheating to see the results of the jury card, substituting others so that she will make the wrong report. Which she does.
This is part screwball comedy, part fast-paced battle of the sexes – in the context of the 1930s and newsrooms, a theme popular at the time.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, early days at Warner Bros. He was to go on to make a number of the action adventure films at Warner Bros winning an Oscar for Casablanca. In his later years he moved to softer subjects, a number of Doris Day musicals and some colourful films in the 50s and 60s, culminating with Francis of Assisi,
1. A Bette Davis vehicle? Now, in its time?
2. Warner Brothers' style in the 30's, crisp dialogue, black and white photography? Music etc?
3. The blend of the serious and the humorous? The dialogue, irony and satire? the character of Toots?
4. The presentation of the newspaper world; unscrupulous, ambitious? The atmosphere of rivalry? The initial impact, the death sequence and the overtones of the classic play, The Front Page (and the reference in the title) the intrusion of the press? The press and their right to their career, the invasion of privacy, the various tricks? Lack of scruple? The build-up, the showdown for the two reporters? What was the audience left with in attitude towards the role of the press?
5. Curt and the heroine as persons? The bonds between them, love and the romantic sequences, their work and their professional rivalry? The bargain, the overtones of the marriage?
6. The film as a serious comedy of relationships between man and woman, equality?
7. The background of the murder, the investigation? The characters involved in the a murder especially Inez and her brother?
8. Audience interest in the following of the leads? The various ploys that they had to outwit each other, with the district attorney, seeking interviews? Tracking down personages?
9. The build-up to the court case? The rivalry with the headlines and the mutual tricking? the heroine being outwitted? The importance of Curt in gaol and the editor's attitude towards him? Yet his being, outwitted by the heroine in her revealing of the truth?
10. The enjoyment value of tough romantic American comedy? The social implications of such light comedy and the observation of social attitudes in the 30s?
