His Girl Friday

 

 

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With a cast that includes Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell how could you possibly go wrong. But somehow they did. I waited with baited breath for my DVD to arrive and sat down to watch this as I'd never seen it before. I HAD seen just about every other C. Grant and R. Russell movie and couldn't wait. Maybe it's just me, but this was a great disappointment. I'm not sure who to blame; the actors, the script, or the director.

Realizing that I'm the dissenting voice here, let me just say that I'm a die-hard fan of B/W movies and especially anythning with Russell in it. This just seemed so tame and boring. I know others have commented on the witty dialogue, but it wasn't happening for me.

I'll revisit this again after I've seen some more movies, and perhaps I'll change my mind. For now, though, it's not one of my favorites.

With Howard Hawks in the director's chair and Cary Grant in the lead role, you're pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. His Girl Friday isn't the first or last film adaptation of the 1928 play The Front Page, but it is easily the best. This thing comes at you a mile a minute, with dialogue that starts out at break-neck speed and never slows down and more humorous moments than you can find time to laugh at. It's an unusual romantic comedy, given the fact that Cary Grant's character is a little less than noble (he is a rather ruthless newspaper man, after all) and the nice guy in the picture is lucky to finish at all, but there's still something endearing about the whole relationship between Walter Burns (Grant) and his former ace reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), who also happens to be his ex-wife (in earlier adaptations of the story, Hildy was just a darn good male reporter). Hildy is due to get married in less than 24 hours, and Burns is desperate to win her back - for the newspaper as well as himself. The big city proves most cooperative in his endeavors, with a corrupt sheriff and mayor getting set to hang a "dangerous" little man for murder in order to bolster their bids for reelection in three days. And that's only the beginning of this screwball comedy story. This battle of the sexes turns into one of the most impressive battles of wits the big screen has ever seen, and the whole wild and crazy story makes for an extraordinary experience.

Grant and Russell demonstrate remarkable chemistry together, which is a necessity given the fact that their characters are divorced and know each other's ways so well. Poor Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), Hildy's mild-manner fiance, is overwhelmed by the charm and manipulations of the remarkable Walter Burns. Even Hildy falls prey to his spontaneously elaborate schemes, finding herself agreeing to do one last story before leaving the newspaper business for good. That story, about a timid little man guilty of shooting a policeman whose forthcoming execution is being exploited as a triumph of law and order over anarchists and Reds, explodes in the hours leading up to the scheduled hanging, as the murderer escapes and ultimately provides the paper with a scoop that even the imaginative Burns could hardly have engineered on his own.

I could try to describe the story in more detail, but there's little purpose in doing so. His Girl Friday is all about the dialogue. There are more words spoken during this ninety-minute film than you will find in any handful of other motion pictures. Grant and Russell really are remarkable, as most scenes go on for many minutes without either actor breaking stride. All of the minor characters jump in and out at the same unstoppable pace, and many are the times multiple characters are speaking to different people simultaneously. This is nothing less than an elaborate circus of vocalization, and it is all you as the viewer can do to keep up with everything that is going on. Burns and Hildy may have little time to think, but that doesn't stop them from unleashing words of great wit, innuendo, sarcasm, comic genius, and even a couple of in-jokes one on top of the other. Meanwhile, the script becomes much more complicated than I expected, as the murderer awaiting the gallows escapes, the corruption of the police and local government is made manifest, a woman tries to kill herself, and Hildy's husband-to-be and his mother find themselves victimized by Burns' ruthless schemes to keep Hildy right where she belongs.

His Girl Friday is an inspired example of moviemaking at its best, a classic that demands multiple viewings and loses none of its edge over the ensuing decades since its 1940 release. Not only is the film a real hoot to watch, it's a strange sort of pleasure to sit back and enjoy a host of extraordinary actors performing at the very tops of their games. It takes accomplished actors to handle the intensity and sheer volume of dialogue that defines this film. His Girl Friday truly is one of the most impressive and extraordinary comedies ever made.

"His Girl Friday" is Howard Hawk's inspired remake of the award-winning Broadway play and previous movie release of "The Front Page". In this revamp, it's all about a rapid fire newspaper editor, Walter (Cary Grant) and his star reporter and ex-wife, Hildie Johnston. Hildie has decided to retire to the country with her soon to be new husband (Ralph Belamy). But when a prison break captures the imagination of a troupe of cutthroat reporters, all rabid for the real scoop, Hildie sets aside marital bliss for one last hurrah as a cub reporter.

THE TRANSFER: BEWARE OF THIS DVD! There are no less than 12 bootlegged versions of "His Girl Friday" being sold through various vendors on DVD. In all but one case the image quality looks as though the entire print had been fed through a meat grinder. The version you want is the one from Columbia Tri-Star Home Video. Its packaging features a disclaimer that reads "mastered from the original camera negative."

This version of "His Girl Friday" exhibits - in short - exemplary video quality. The B&W picture has been completely restored. Age related artifacts are nonexistent. The gray scale, black and contrast levels are perfectly realized. Fine detail will astound. There are no digital anomalies. The audio is mono but very nicely cleaned up.

EXTRAS: This version also includes some very nice - if all too brief - featurettes on the careers of stars Rosiland Russell and Cary Grant and the making of the film. There's also the original theatrical trailer.

BOTTOM LINE: This girl is worth seeking out!

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5.0 out of 5 stars His girl
Howard Hawks was responsible for a lot of outstanding movies, like "The Big Sleep" and "Bringing Up Baby. Read more

Published on Feb 22 2007 by E. A Solinas

5.0 out of 5 stars VINTAGE SCREWBALL SPARKLES ON DVD FROM COLUMBIA
"His Girl Friday" is Howard Hawk's inspired remake of the award-winning Broadway play and previous movie release of "The Front Page". Read more

Published on Jun 10 2004 by Nix Pix

5.0 out of 5 stars THE funniest movie ever made!
'His Girl Friday' was released in 1940 (Actually, it was released on January 18th to be exact, which was Cary Grant's birthday). Read more

Published on May 28 2004 by _M_

3.0 out of 5 stars "What did I treat you like? A water buffalo?"
Walter Burns: I still wish you hadn't done that, Hildy.
Hildy Johnson: Done what?
Walter Burns: Divorced me. It makes a man feel he's not wanted. Read more

Published on April 3 2004 by Steven Y.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my top 10 favorites
Senior year in Cinema class, our teacher made us read "The Front Page" (the play HGF is based upon)as extra credit in addition to watching this classic flick. Read more

Published on Jan 29 2004 by Shaz

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvellous play with words
This is one of those films which are just pure fun strength derived from the dialogues and delivery. Read more

Published on Dec 19 2003 by Sathyanarayanan Sekar

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant witty comedy from 1940 that has not aged at all
This is the kind of film that used to be made for intelligent people- nowadays you get lame hack actresses like Cam Diaz, but back them Rosiland Russell ruled the land. Read more

Published on Dec 7 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific stuff
Rosalind Russell is great here. The only thing she did better was The Women, in which she simply gives the greatest supporting comedy performance of all time. Read more

Published on July 11 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars a his and her fight
a very humorous battle of thesexes.

Published on Jan 21 2003 by KEVIN KUNZ

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Comedy!
This is a priceless, brilliant comedy from 1940. Although several movies were made based on the hit play The Front Page, a sarcastic comedy about the newspaper business, none was... Read more

Published on July 6 2002 by ehakus

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