The first screen version of Hecht and McArthur's classic comedy about Chicago newspapermen in the 1920s, THE FRONT PAGE stars Pat O'Brien as ace reporter Hildy Johnson. On the verge of getting married and leaving the profession, Johnson is hooked in to do one last story for his scheming editor Walter Burns (Adolph Menjou). When Clarence Williams (George E. Stone), an anarchist convicted of murder and scheduled for imminent execution, escapes, Johnson stumbles across the convict and hides him from the corrupt sheriff (Clarence H. Wilson) in order to get the scoop on the story.