The Back Page (1934) Review - Cheap, fast, and full of sweaty actors

Look, if you are expecting some lost masterpiece of investigative journalism, skip The Back Page right now. But if you have twenty minutes to waste and a weird obsession with 1930s fast-talkers who never take off their hats, this might actually hit the spot.

It is very short, very loud, and clearly made on a budget of about twelve dollars.

The whole plot is just Virginia Brooks trying to prove she can be a "real" reporter instead of writing about who wore what at the local tea party. She wants to catch a notorious killer for the reward money.

Naturally, this means she does some incredibly dumb things that would get anyone killed in real life. But here, it is treated like a light afternoon jog.

The Office Boy's Face

My favorite part isn't even the main story. It is George Chandler's face.

He plays this office assistant who looks like he has never had a good day in his entire life. Every time someone asks him to do something, his face drops like a wet cake. Beautiful stuff.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Back Page (1931) through its definitive frames.

Honestly, it reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Whole Truth, where everyone is just shouting over each other until the movie just sort of... stops.

Wait, who is the bad guy again?

Wheeler Oakman plays the bad guy, and he looks about as threatening as a wet paper bag. He has this pencil mustache that looks like it was drawn on with a sharpie right before the camera started rolling.

There is a scene in the newspaper office where three people are talking at once, and the camera just pans back and forth like a tennis match. I think the camera operator got tired because at one point, Virginia Brooks is half cut out of the frame for like five seconds.

Nobody cared to do a second take, and I love that about these old quickies.

• The phone ringing sound effect is clearly just a guy off-screen hitting a little desk bell.
• The transition music is so loud it literally drowns out the first word of the next scene.
• Everyone is incredibly sweaty, probably because those old studio lights were like miniature suns.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and the ending happens so fast you might miss it if you blink to clear the dust out of your eyes.

But hey, it is harmless. It is much more fun than some of the stuffy dramas from that era like The Bond Boy, which takes itself way too seriously.

Just do not go in expecting Citizen Kane. It is more like... Citizen Meh, but with better hats.