His Girl Friday

Product Details

Howard Hawks had the inspired notion of making Hildy Johnson--the ace newsman whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--a she instead of a he. What's more, she's not only Walter's star reporter but also his ex-wife. When Hildy (Rosalind Russell) comes to tell Walter (Cary Grant) she's leaving the newspaper business, he bamboozles her into carrying out one last assignment--a death-row interview with a little nebbish (John Qualen) convicted of killing a policeman. It sounds like a snap, but before you can say screwball comedy, the press room of the Criminal Courts Building has become ground zero for all the lunacy a jailbreak, a shooting, an impromptu suicide, a corrupt city administration, and the most Machiavellian "hero" in the American cinema can supply.

His Girl Friday is one of the, oh, five greatest dialogue comedies ever made; Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Russell, not Hawks's first choice to play Hildy, is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Grant is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T. Jameson

Product Reviews

(5 stars) - One of my favorite old-time movies
Hildegard "Hildy" Johnson (played by Rosalind Russell) is a hard-boiled reported for The Morning Post, but she is ready to hang it all up and marry Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), an insurance agent who is about as stable as a brick wall and almost as exciting. But, Hildy's editor, Walter Burns (Cary Grant) does not want to see her go, and he is not above using trickery to keep her. Burns arranges to have Baldwin arrested over and over again, but if there is one thing that will keep Hildy on the job it is the lure of the big scoop. And when a man on death-row escapes and bumps into Hildy the big scoop is hers for the taking.

Even though this movie was released in 1940, it still has an interesting story, and the badinage between Grant and Russell makes the entire movie come alive. This is one of my favorite old-time movies, and it is easy to see how it made it onto the American Film Institute's list of top 100 comedy movies, 100 Years... 100 Laughs. If you like great badinage, then this movie is for you. I give it my highest recommendations!

(5 stars) - GREAT MOVIE!!!!
I absolutely love this movie!!! Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell at their best!
The writing..... just everything about this movie is superb.

That said, the quality on this dvd is not the best but that might be due to this being a very old film.

So...

(5 stars) - His Girl Friday
I have always loved the old movies and I love both Rosalind Russel and Cary Grant so it is a no brainer for me. I enjoyed it.

(4 stars) - A Story about the Newspaper Game
The introduction says this picture has no resemblance to the men and women of the press today. [Really? Do people still think a Hollywood film is reality?] This was adapted from the famous play "The Front Page", a parody of Chicago and the press of the 1920s. The film opens on a newspaper office from decades past. A reporter tells the Editor of her plans, they discuss their past. Hildy is getting married and will quit journalism. What will Walter do? A sneaky trick? Hildy wants a normal life. Does life insurance help people? [Does this chatter slow down the film?] Will the editor exploit a death sentence to sell newspapers? Or other sensational news of an unexpected death? [Yes, its what people want.]

The condemned man will be checked by an alienist. The reporters wait in the newsroom. They tell what happened. [Does unemployment cause more crime?] Hildy Johnson knows how to get an interview? Will she create a story? "Production for use." Will reporters make up a story? Are they cynical? Is Molly too emotional? [But it makes good drama. This story mocks government as much as newspapers.] But an event changes Hildy's mind: Earl Williams escaped! Walter Burns is terribly tricky. So too the Mayor. "I can fix anything." There is a dramatic surprise! The film picks up when the original story is used. Will the story be played to influence the election? Hildy can't give up the excitement of her job. Is there anyone who won't be double-crossed by Walter Burns?

The highpoint is the recapture of Earl Williams. Each reporter files a different version of the capture. Who can you believe? Then the courier with the reprieve shows up; this changes everything. Walter Burns' scheme with the money causes more trouble for Bruce Baldwin. Hildy relents, she returns to the excitement of her job (and her old marriage?). [Was this ending required by the movie code or censorship?] I think the 1975 version of this play was better than this film. Was it modified for changing tastes?

The real Walter N. Burns was a newspaper editor who wrote a biography of `Billy the Kid' in 1926 that presented him as a popular hero to some of the people of New Mexico. Previously he was always shown as a dangerous killer. Robert M. Utley's book is the complete biography.

(5 stars) - Don't buy the PD movie, buy the one from Sony Pictures/Columbia!
It's always the same with movies that become public domain: you'll see tons of different releases by companies you've never heard of and most of the reviews complain about the awful picture quality and hissing sound. Amazon makes it especially hard to find the real McCoy because all reviews of those various editions are lumped together, so it's almost impossible to find out if there's a good edition of a movie among all the rubbish.

The only way to avoid a lemon is to seek out DVD re-release by the Hollywood studios that produced these movies and have the original celluloid instead of bad VHS copies or heavily damaged prints.

In the case of His Girl Friday, please buy the one from Sony Pictures/Columbia and avoid all other releases.

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