The Front

The Front is both a comic delight and perhaps the most graceful act of show business revenge in cinema history. Written, directed by, and starring various talents blacklisted during the 1950s McCarthy-led witch hunts of the entertainment industry, the film stars Woody Allen as Howard, a cashier and bookie approached by blacklisted television-writer Alfred (Michael Murphy) to act as a "front," i.e., the alleged author of Alfred's works. The scam proves hugely successful, and before long Howard is fronting for several other banned writers, taking a cut from every sale to the networks, and basking in praise (and romantic attentions) for his prolific talent. Of course, it all unravels when congressional investigators dig into Howard's past for Communist ties and squeeze him to name others with supposed links to the Red Menace. Charming, tragic, heroic, and briskly intelligent, director Martin Ritt's The Front--which also features a heartbreaking performance by Zero Mostel--arrives on DVD sporting a reasonably sharp transfer, and the option to watch the film in anamorphic widescreen or full screen, but no extras beyond a pair of unrelated trailers. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)