The Front Page

 “The Front Page” is a comedic depiction of the newspaper industry in the early 1920s. Thanks to its light-hearted nature, this movie was a breath of fresh air compared to “Shock and Awe” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

The movie follows Hildy Johnson, an ace reporter at the Chicago Examiner. Our introduction to him is watching him cheerfully sing his way to his boss's office, relishing the process of quitting, effective immediately! He’s off to Philadelphia to be married, with a new job at his Fiancée’s uncle’s advertising business.

Meanwhile, his boss, Walter Burns, is as unusual and forceful as always, proudly showing off the hidden ankle camera he made to take illegal pictures of the execution of leftist Earl Williams. When he hears that Hildy is quitting, he immediately accuses him of going to work for a competitor and then, after learning the truth, begins to try to sabotage Hildy’s relationship to keep him at the paper.

He stops short at nothing, even trying to convince Peggy Grant, Hildy’s fiancée, that he’s on probation for exposing himself in public, encouraging her to run away without him. This fails once Hildy calls and realizes what his boss is doing, cursing him out before slamming down the phone.

Meanwhile, Earl, the communist, has escaped from prison. As it turns out, his only actual crime was stuffing fortune cookies with messages about freeing two men from death row who were there for overblown murder convictions.

The movie is consistently light-hearted, with gags and overdramatic moments throughout. When Burns pretends to be Hildy’s probation officer, the “badge” he flashes is an aluminum star he pulled from a poster. The man who was supposed to be a dangerous communist is a bumbling, awkward man who wants to run away with Molly Malloy, the $2 whore, as she calls herself.

As the movie continues, Earl and Hildy meet, and of course, Hildy can’t possibly pass on the biggest story of his life. Earl hides in a desk while the room searches for him, constantly interrogating people in increasingly aggressive and funny ways.

While journalism is a serious field with many contributions to the world, it’s important to remember that it’s not all darkness and war. There’s fun in journalism, as there is in any field.