Customer Reviews

His Girl Friday

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Don't buy this DVD. The sound quality is terrible--a loud hissing noise overshadows the film's trademark fast, witty dialog. $5 seemed a small investment at the time, but I should have saved my money. Surely someday those who own the rights to "His Girl Friday" will release a DVD worthy of this wonderful classic.

I read a review about the bad DVD quality of the version of HIS GIRL FRIDAY produced by D3K films. I made sure I bought a different DVD of the movie from a company called Alpha Video. This was also an incredibly bad rendition of this classic movie. The contrast of the movie was so poor that you could not see the faces of the actors. It was also poorly framed. DON'T BUY THIS VERSION EITHER!

As noted by other viewers, this movie is fantastic - a true classic that holds up incredibly well over time. I am not writing about the film but about this particular DVD version by d3kfilms-- it is unwatchable, BOOTLEG quality, in my opinion. I had the misfortune of trying to rent this movie on DVD at my local video store, and this is the version they had in stock. It hadn't occured to me that a reputable video store would be stocking poor quality, unofficial versions of films, so I didn't at all expect what I saw when I watched this DVD. The image quality is EXTREMELY bad-- out of focus even when I put the sharpness levels up to maximum on my TV, and there are MAJOR scratches and jarring skips in the film. It was as if someone went to a revival theatre showing an extremely worn-out print of "His Girl Friday" and recorded the movie as it was playing on screen with their video camera, then burned what they recorded onto a DVD! That is how terrible the quality is, and this classic film deserves so much better. In fact, any film deserves better-- so watch out for DVDs that have this company's name (d3kfilms) on them or that do not have the original, legit studio's name on them. I noticed that amazon.com sells 2 other versions of this movie on DVD-- try those before wasting your money on this one. I'd even recommend buying an official VHS version of the movie over this one. I was so shocked by what I saw that I got a refund of my money from the video store and then felt compelled to go online and warn people about it-- and I've never done either thing before.

1940's His Girl Friday is a fast-paced comedy from director Howard Hawks that is has brilliant pacing and performances from Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell. The film is based on the play, The Front Page and had been previously made into a film and those versions concern the professional relationship of two men, Walter Burns & Hildy Johnson. In this version they changed the gender of Hildy to a female and the professional tension of the original is replaced by sexual tension. Though it seems tame today, the erotic electricity & innuendo between Mr. Grant & Ms. Russell was quite groundbreaking for the time. The screenplay has been one of the most influential in film history, with Quentin Tarantino citing it as an inspiration for his script's pacing.

I highly recommend this film. It has great comedy, some drama, and some suspense as well. It's a mystery and very entertainng to watch. Rossalind Russell and Cary Grant make a great funny and romantic pair.

His Girl Friday is Cary Grant in one of his best roles in a classic film. The story is extremely humorous and well written, and the characters are engaging. This is a real movie, the kind you enjoy simply because of the sensational acting skills of the cast. Add it to your collection.

Based upon the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play "The Front Page", "His Girl Friday" is one of the most terrific and enjoyable of screwball comedies, as well as a satire of the newspaper business (Which explains it lack of Oscars).

Cary Grant is Walter Burns, the chief editor of the Morning Daily newspaper. He runs into trouble with his ex-wife "Hildy" Johnson (Rosalind Russell), who is also the best writer at the paper. Hildy tells Walter that she is moving to Albany and is getting married to an insurance man, Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Thus, she's quitting her job. This comes at a bad time, for an innocent man named Earl Williams (John Qualen) has been charged with and will be hanged for murder. Walter seems to still love Hildy, and sure isn't going to loose his best writer. So he has her interview Williams and get a story on him to prove he isn't insane. Walter, however, has a plan behind this. He wants to delay the trip of Hildy and Bruce long enough to allow Hildy to reconsider her decision to leave the paper. Thus, he has Bruce put on the charge of stealing a watch. Hildy becomes so irate that she destroys her story and is about to depart when Earl Williams breaks out, causing a chain reaction of events that'll make Walter and Hildy feel as though they're in a tea kettle.

Hildy Johnson's character in the original play was a man. Which might explain some of her not so lady like gestures and actions. There's ink flowing in her blood and Walter knows that. He knows that she was meant to be active and adventurous, not bogged down by figures and facts in an insurance office. But, it is also very likely that some of the things Walter does are out of love. He wants to make up for lost time that he didn't have with Hildy, like how their honeymoon was spoiled because they were trapped in a mine. Grant seems to be perfect for the role. But, though Russell was also a terrific choice, other actresses of the period (Katherine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy) would have also been good choices. They would have presented the character differently though; they don't have newspaper ink flowing in their blood. Then again, what right do I have to complain? I'm a film buff, yes, but one who still needs more experience in screwball comedies.

A fine supporting cast assists Grant and Russell. Bellamy replays a role that's similar to his in "The Awful Truth". Come to think of it, this movie is a lot like "The Awful Truth", at least with the bickering ex-lovers and with Bellamy's Bruce, like his Daniel in "Awful Truth", being loyal to his mother. Gene Lockhart ("Going My Way") has some funny scenes as Sheriff Peter B. 'Pinky', who inadvertently helps Earl Williams escape from prison (Which causes Hildy to say that the B means Brains). The newspaper reporters are all a cruel bunch: They published bad things about Earl Williams and smeared the name of his girlfriend, Molly Malloy (Helen Mack). They only spring into action when they hear a news lead that sounds interesting, such as a background check that shows Earl Williams failed a class in High School. Among this group includes Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, and Regis Toomey (There's also Ernest Truex as Roy Bensinger, a tribune reporter). Also in the supporting cast include Clarence Kold as the mayor who would hang his own mother to be reelected, Abner Biberman as Louis, a hood who seems to be a send up of "Scarface" Al Capone (Or at least as he was played by Paul Muni), Alma Kruger as Bruce's mother, who uncovers the hiding place of Williams, Pat Westas as Warden Cooley, Edwin Maxwell as Psychiatrist Dr. Egelhoffer and Billy Gilber as a messenger with news from the governor.

Though it could be another item that makes this show great, the rapid, twisting plot may annoy some. Walter teams with Hildy, only to then double cross her by getting Bruce landed in jail. But not just once, oh no no. The poor guy goes there three times. It's like "Come three times in one day and your next visit is free" (That's right. All this occurs in about 12-18 hours). The ending I'll try not to spoil. But I will say that'll either make sense to you or just seem like another happy Hollywood ending (Or similar to endings of screwball comedies like "It Happened One Night", "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "The Awful Truth" and "The Philadelphia Story").

The VHS edition I saw this on was from the Goodtimes Video series "Hollywood Movie Greats" and is erroneously called a "Collector's Edition." Well, I guess if the collector wants a so-so print of the movie. The picture quality is clear for the most part, though some scenes are lighter or darker then others. One such scene is when one reporter asks for more light in the pressroom, saying that he can't see a thing. He must be blind because I could see fine. The sound is clear for the most part, though some scenes suddenly become louder for a few minutes and then tone down. A collector's edition should also have something like a theatrical trailer, or at least an advertisement for others in the collection. Fortunately, the movie has been put on DVD in an edition licensed by Columbia. I don't have it, but it should at least have better audio and video (Not to mention some extras).

July 16, 2002

This is a great film, but my object here today isn't
to write about how much smarter this film is than most
contemporaray comedies, or to praise Howards Hawks,
Rosalind Russel or Cary Grant, alas, but to warn anyone
thinking of buying a DVD version of 'His Girl Friday' to

AVOID AT ALL COSTS THE VERSION PUT OUT
BY "HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS COLLECTION"
(MADACY ENTERTAINMENT).

It is an awful transfer, grainy, worn-out, and
unprofessional. It probably gets a lot of nibbles by
having a low price. Don't be fooled. Pay the extra
ten bucks, or whatever, and get a responsible version
of this knock-out comedy.

This is one of the most delightful and dizzy romantic comedies ever made. I've watched it on film, on tv, and on DVD. My single star rating refers to the butcher job done by D3K in their remaster. Probably the worst quality DVD I've *ever* rented. It had appalling muddy and hissy sound and looked as if it were filmed through vaseline. If you want a crisp clear DVD, stay away from the D3K version and find the Columbia Classics release.

(Please note that the DVD version I am reviewing is the Laserlight release that features an additional documentary on the life of Cary Grant as well as an introduction by an even-more-confused-than-usual Tony Curtis.)

With Laserlight you can never predict from the outside case exactly what the quality of the film itself is going to be in. I've watched good quality prints from them in the past, but I've also seen some truly awful releases that aren't worth the plastic that they're pressed on. Fortunately, their version of HIS GIRL FRIDAY is quite excellent, with a crisp picture and a clear soundtrack. Their budget releases are usually worth the risk, and in this case, you end up with a great movie that's quite well preserved and all for a fairly low price.

The movie itself is simply fantastic. The dialogue comes flying at you so fast that'll be afraid to laugh for fear of speaking over the next line. The story itself is also intensely funny, and deceptively dark. What begins as a seemingly light romantic comedy slowly becomes more and more twisted until the final scene, where the reinstatement of the romance subplot reminds us of how far we've come. It's a testament to the skills of the director, Howard Hawks, that the result is not only coherent, but also highly enjoyable. The story flows effortlessly from moment to moment, with each scene being slightly more frantic than the last, yet still together enough to be extremely entertaining.

The acting from the two main leads is also a delight. In the past I had thought of Cary Grant as always playing the same sort of character in every film. Although, you'll see some similarity to other roles that he played, he's incredibly amusing in this film and playing a far more manipulative character than I'd seen him perform. It's a nice change to see the usually easily befuddled Cary Grant actually running rings around the rest of the cast.

As for the DVD extras, they don't distract from the feature, but they won't be the deciding factor in whether you purchase this DVD or not. The included documentary, CARY GRANT ON FILM: A BIOGRAPHY runs about 28 minutes long and consists mainly of random trailers that span Grant's entire film career. It's fairly interesting, although not terribly riveting. The introductory remarks by Tony Curtis are as bizarrely entertaining as always. The film contains Spanish, Japanese and Chinese subtitles, but does not include an option for English, which is a slightly annoying oversight.

In the end, it's not the extras that you should be buying this disc for; it's the wonderful film that's packaged with them. Kick back, relax, and watch the dialog fly across the screen. You'll want to keep the remote control handy so that you can rewind to catch all the great moments that you missed while laughing over them.