Front Page Woman (1935)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Richard Macaulay (story)
Laird Doyle (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 July 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A woman reporter tries to prove she's just as good as any man, but runs into trouble along the way.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Jury | Laundry | Knife | Fire

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Ellen Garfield
George Brent	...	Curt Devlin
Roscoe Karns	...	Toots O'Grady
Wini Shaw	...	Inez Cordoza (as Winifred Shaw)
Walter Walker	...	Judge Hugo Rickard
J. Carrol Naish	...	Robert Cardoza (as J. Carroll Naish)
Gordon Westcott	...	Maitland Coulter
Dorothy Dare	...	Mae LaRue
June Martel	...	Olive Wilson
Joseph Crehan	...	Spike Kiley
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Hallohan
Addison Richards	...	District Attorney
Joe King	...	Hartnett (as Joseph King)
Selmer Jackson	...	Joe Davis (as Selmar Jackson)
Miki Morita	...	Fuji - Stone's Servant (as Mike Morita)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #923) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

In the promotional trailer, Bette Davis and George Brent talk about a proposed radio broadcast dealing with their latest picture, _Front Page Woman_.

Quotes:

Ellen Garfield: You make me so mad I could... well, I could spit!

Movie Connections:

Featured in All About Bette (1994) (TV)

Miscast dynamic reporter Bette Davis and ace reporter George Brent love each other but do what they can to out-scoop each other.

Bette Davis seems miscast as a hard-working dynamic reporter in a rivalry with star reporter, George Brent, who works for a different newspaper. The role is more suited to wise-cracking, fast-talking stars such as Glenda Farrell (who made a similar film, Blondes at Work (1938)), or Joan Blondell (who also made a similar film, Back in Circulation (1937)). Her make-up, too, belied her profession. With perfectly tweezed eyebrows and immaculately applied lipstick, she looked like, as well as sounded like, a Hollywood star rather than a reporter. Still, Bette Davis is always a pleasure to watch even if not perfect. She and Brent are supposedly in love, but she won't marry him until he admits she is just as good a reporter as he is. You would think he wouldn't place any obstacles in her path towards reporting equality, but his vanity won't allow that conclusion, so he does. After a jury comes to a "guilty" verdict in the trial both are covering, and the jurors leave the jury room, Brent sneaks in to examine the ballots so he can get an extra on the street as quickly as possible. But sensing Davis is following him, he replaces the ballots with ones that read "not guilty." With friends like that, who needs enemies? Davis does report the wrong verdict to her editor, leading to the two rival newspapers coming out at the same time with opposite verdicts. Davis gets fired because of this hostile and vicious act, but, of course, it's not the end of the story, and she does get the last laugh in the matter.