When the blacklist effectively forced great writers out of film and television, few knew what to do. Then along came a book making, sales register tapping crafter called Howard Prince. He is tasked with selling scripts written by a blacklisted writer to the television studios and taking a 10% cut for his trobules. The only problem is that one is not enough and so more join in on the scheme. When he is caught under the gaze of the HUAC however, he has to decide is it time to start playing ball and naming name or not?

Martin Ritt directs a film that is on the surface a Hollywood story set in New York and about TV. Ritt made the amazing Long Hot Summer, Hud and Norma Rae. All these were political and powerful films and this is by no means any different. He was affected by the blacklist and the long shadow it cast. He was also a TV writer and saw how this became a place of handling and being handled. The star of the film is the reason it is so succesful however. Allen could have had a career of playing the semi wise guy that bluffs his way to the top, like this film. He gives it a rounded witty, sardonic take that allows a character to take the audience along with him. Zero Mostel and his chemistry is absorbing. Mostel is the sort of actor that made you like him. Made you want him as a friend. This is the film that I believe last years TRUMBO should have been. It has a heavy weight but tells its story with an ease and manner that is not abrasive or clunky. The film delights in being funny and serious enough to make these laughs land.

Indicator have done it again. A great Blu Ray with good extras and an excellent print. The commentary is grand, the essays are subtle but well writtena nd the DOP Michael Chapman gives us an eye on things with a sense of balance and intellegence. Wow…

• Audio commentary by actress Andrea Marcovicci, and film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman
• Director of Photography Michael Chapman on The Front
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by professor Gabriel Miller, author of The Films of Martin Ritt: Fanfare for the Common Man
• Limited Dual Format Edition of 3,000 copies
• UK Blu-ray premiere