Front Page Woman (1935)

81-82 mins | Comedy-drama | 20 July 1935

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Cinematographer:

Tony Gaudio

Editor:

Terry Morse

Production Designer:

John Hughes

Production Company:

Warner Bros. Productions Corp.
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HISTORY

The film's working title was Women Are Born Newspapermen. Contemporary reviews comment on the unrealistic picture of news reporting depicted in this film. Modern sources credit Heinz Roemheld with the musical score. The plot of the 1937 Warner Bros.' film Back in Circulation, although based on a story by Adela Rogers St. John, is similar to the above film as is the 1938 Torchy Blane film, Blondes at Work. ...

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The film's working title was Women Are Born Newspapermen. Contemporary reviews comment on the unrealistic picture of news reporting depicted in this film. Modern sources credit Heinz Roemheld with the musical score. The plot of the 1937 Warner Bros.' film Back in Circulation, although based on a story by Adela Rogers St. John, is similar to the above film as is the 1938 Torchy Blane film, Blondes at Work.

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SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
Daily Variety
15 Apr 1935
p. 11
Daily Variety
17 Apr 1935
p. 4
Film Daily
11 Jul 1935
p. 8
Hollywood Reporter
2 Jul 1935
p. 3
Motion Picture Daily
3 Jul 1935
p. 10
Motion Picture Herald
25 May 1935
p. 51
Motion Picture Herald
20 Jul 1935
p. 88
New York Times
12 Jul 1935
p. 15
Variety
17 Jul 1935
p. 27
CAST
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT
PRODUCTION CREDITS
NAME
PARENT COMPANY
PRODUCTION COMPANY
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT
DIRECTORS
Dial dir
Asst dir
PRODUCER
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photog
ART DIRECTOR
Art dir
FILM EDITOR
MUSIC
SOURCES
LITERARY
Based on the short story "Women Are Bum Newspapermen" by Richard Macauley in The Saturday Evening Post (1 Sep 1934).
LITERARY SOURCE AUTHOR
DETAILS
Alternate Title:
Women Are Born Newspapermen
Release Date:
20 July 1935
Production Date:
began 17 Apr 1935
Copyright Info
Claimant
Date
Copyright Number
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
16 July 1935
LP5670
Physical Properties:
Sound
Black and White
Duration(in mins):
81-82
Length(in reels):
9
Country:
United States
PCA No:
923
SYNOPSIS

Rival reporters Curt Devlin and Ellen Garfield are in love but Ellen refuses to marry Devlin until he admits that she is as good a reporter as any man. He tries to talk Ellen out of covering a prison execution, but she insists on staying to watch. When she faints in the middle of dictating her article, Devlin dictates his report to her paper at the same time as he is delivering his own. Both reporters are in trouble when their papers discover the stories are identical. Their rivalry continues at the scene of an apartment fire. The police will not allow Ellen to cross the lines, but she overhears a conversation between two men leaving the building. Remembering a report on the disappearance of Marvin Q. Stone that Devlin had written, she tracks down one of the men, whom the police addressed as Mr. Stone. She traces Stone to the hospital, then learns he has died of a stab wound and scoops Devlin with the story. Devlin learns that an unnamed woman was at Stone's apartment the night he was killed and, using the scent of perfume on Stone's jacket collar, identifies her as Inez Cardoza and names the other man as polo player Maitland Coulter, who is also in love with Inez. Ellen traces Inez through her laundry and forces her to tell her story. Inez insists that Coulter is innocent and sticks to her story when confronted by the police. At the trial, the district attorney claims that even though the murder weapon was a knife, the fact that Coulter had a gun showed intent to kill. ...

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Rival reporters Curt Devlin and Ellen Garfield are in love but Ellen refuses to marry Devlin until he admits that she is as good a reporter as any man. He tries to talk Ellen out of covering a prison execution, but she insists on staying to watch. When she faints in the middle of dictating her article, Devlin dictates his report to her paper at the same time as he is delivering his own. Both reporters are in trouble when their papers discover the stories are identical. Their rivalry continues at the scene of an apartment fire. The police will not allow Ellen to cross the lines, but she overhears a conversation between two men leaving the building. Remembering a report on the disappearance of Marvin Q. Stone that Devlin had written, she tracks down one of the men, whom the police addressed as Mr. Stone. She traces Stone to the hospital, then learns he has died of a stab wound and scoops Devlin with the story. Devlin learns that an unnamed woman was at Stone's apartment the night he was killed and, using the scent of perfume on Stone's jacket collar, identifies her as Inez Cardoza and names the other man as polo player Maitland Coulter, who is also in love with Inez. Ellen traces Inez through her laundry and forces her to tell her story. Inez insists that Coulter is innocent and sticks to her story when confronted by the police. At the trial, the district attorney claims that even though the murder weapon was a knife, the fact that Coulter had a gun showed intent to kill. While the jury is reaching a verdict, Devlin tricks Ellen into phoning in an incorrect not guilty verdict to her paper, which gets her fired. Walking into a bar for a drink, she encounters Inez. Over drinks Inez confesses to murdering Stone. Ellen scoops Devlin and, when he finally admits that she is a good reporter, agrees to marry him.

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Legend
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement Award

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