FRONT PAGE STORY
UK, 1954, 99 minutes, Black-and-white.
Jack Hawkins, Elizabeth Allen, Eva Bartok, Derek Farr, Michael Goodliffe, Martin Miller, Walter Fitzgerald, Joseph Tomelty, Jenny Jones, Helen Haye.
Directed by Gordon Parry.
From the title, this is a film about newspapers. It takes place over one day in a popular British tabloid.
The focus of the film is on the news editor played by Jack Hawkins. Hawkins, always a serious actor, was playing many war roles at this time in his career. Elizabeth Allen (The Heart of the Matter) plays his neglected wife. The editor is workaholic and does not appreciate the tensions between him and his wife.
The film shows the working of the paper during the day. There is a range of journalists, Derek Farr as a sleazy journalist who has had a thing for the editor’s wife in the past. There is a poetic, idealistic journalist played by Michael Goodliffe. Walter Fitzgerald is an old veteran who is drinking but shows that he has the capacity for tracking down a story.
The stories include the arrival of a nuclear scientist in Britain, the presence of politicians and police, the tracking down of the man, his being seen handing over secrets, his going to the paper and wanting to write an article about world peace but is taken away because of his criminal actions.
Another story concerns a mercy killing, allegedly, by woman played by Eva Bartok who does not say one word during the whole film. She is acquitted but is pursued in the streets by journalists and rushes away in front of an oncoming vehicle and dies.
The third story involves a woman going to hospital, her group of young and poor children going to the office and being looked after by the staff, with the news finally arriving that the woman has died.
The dramatic buildup of the film is a confrontation between the editor and the idealistic journalist, the screenplay providing rather long speeches highlighting both sides of an argument about the service that the papers do each day and the ideals of respect for those in the public eye. The idealist has to back down in some ways while the editor, hearing that his wife has been killed in a plane crash, grieves but the happy ending provides him with the news that she is safe and that he must reassess his life.
1. The newspaper drama? British and serious? The comparison with American stories – and their touches of satire?
2. The British setting, the city, homes, offices, newspaper production? Hospitals, courts, the airport? The contemporary issues? The musical score?
3. The title, the aims for newspapers? Headlines, dramatic stories, the role of the editor and supervision decisions, the news editor and deploying the staff, human relations? The range of journalists, mainly men in those times, the women journalists and contact with government officials, the range of stories, the contacts? The style of the 1950s and ability and technology for communication? Following people, photographs, accosting people? Serious stories? Sentiment? Death?
4. Jack Hawkins as JG, workaholic, his relationship with his wife, not appreciating her desperation? Phone calls, arriving at the office, going to the meal with his friends? The past relationship? Her decision to leave? The note? Going to the airport, on the waitlist, the support of her mother? Her not going – but being on the list, the crash and the victims?
5. JG, his age, experience, working, not wanting a holiday, lack of communication with his wife? His skills with the journalist, editing, news stories, decisions?
6. The range of journalists, the old man and his drinking, his daughter, going to interview the scientist, following him, the opportunity after the airport, the phone call, trapping the man? Police and politics? The atmosphere of nuclear bombs, sharing of secrets? The scientist, his desire for peace, wanting to write the article, passing on secrets, subversive, idealistic? JG informing the authorities, the arrest of the man, his saying he was doing his duty as with the police and the editor?
7. The importance of the court case, the background of mercy-killing, the idealistic and poetic journalist and his sympathy, present in court, the other journalists and their discussions, wanting interviews with the woman? The judge, lawyers and prosecutors? The plea? The jury, the acquittal? The woman, her walking free, the journalist following her, the more exploitative journalist, accosting the woman, her running and being knocked over and dying? The reaction of the journalist, in the bar, callous remarks, the idealist punching out the pragmatic man?
8. Jenny, the mother dying, the absent father? The children in the office, the journalist looking after them? News of the mother’s death? JG and his explaining everything to Jenny, supporting her?
9. The idealist, his drinking, going back to the office, the confrontation with JG? The significance of the speeches by the two men, the idealist and his putting his principles on a pedestal and the contrast with JG, getting out a paper, daily, the pragmatic issues? The service of a paper?
10. JG thinking his wife was on the plane, people sympathy? The audience seeing her arriving, waiting, his finally glimpsing her – and the day being important for him to learn more about his wife? The future?
