'FRONT PAGE' HAS A FINE CAST

Evening Star, Issue 21012, 28 January 1932, Page 7

'FRONT PAGE' HAS A FINE CAST

NEWSPAPER TALKIE FUN OCTAGON ‘ The Front Page,’ which will start at the Octagon iueatre to-morrow, is biting, cynical, humorous, and tense, with surprise situations that make even a hard-boiled reporter who has left the game come back to it in order to land a scoop for a managing editor whom he hates like poison. Pat O’Brien’s place in the movies is secure as a result of his brilliant portrayal of the role of Hildy Johnson, the star reporter who tries to leave reporting and settle down to a quiet married life, but can’t, because he is so clever his paper won’t allow him to escape from the maelstrom of “ the front page.” Audiences are going to be surprised at Adolph Menjou in the role of, the suave, but hard managing editor— Waiter Burns, Menjou, whose acting has been confined to the niceties of the drawing room, in the past, proves himself a versatile and powerful trouper in this role—something completely different from anything he has ever essayed before. Edward Everett Horton takes the part of Bensinger, the fussy, throatspraying reporter of a high-brow paper, who doesn’t like to have people use his telephone, and who is literally sitting on top of the biggest story of the day —misses it because he is vain about his poetry. Horton is one of the greatest screen comedians, and ‘ The Front Page ’ affords him great opportunity. Mary Brian has the role of the little girl who is going to marry a wild reporter and take him “ away from it all.” She handles it splendidly. Frank M’Hugh gets laughs every time he appears on the screen, and his reputation is intact in this picture, where he takes the part of a drunken reporter. Walter Catlett, George _E. Stone, Mae C’arke, Slim Summerville, Matt Moore, and many others complete the brilliant cast of this picture.