His Girl Friday

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His Girl Friday (Comedy 1940) Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell & Ralph Bellamy (HD)

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source: His Girl Friday

Apparently Howard Hawks must've assumed that Cary Grant could carry off even the most abrasive of lead roles. Sure, Grant specialized in snappy banter with a caustic touch, but it was usually balanced with self-deprication and an unrealistic modesty. Unfortunately, none of that humanity is present here, just endless, overlapping sniping, arguing and scheming, at ninety miles a minute. How anyone can muster any sympathy for Grant's character is beyond me. The crossfire dialogue is occasionally relieved by stretches of tedium. Rosalind Russell is charming and bright, and Ralph Bellamy does the best he can with what he's given. While there may be occasional touches of wit and good characterizations from the actors, His Girl Friday is one of the most irritating of Howard Hawks' films.

Hildy Johnson, a strong, intelligent and ambitious woman who suffers some kind of psychological torment that affects her ability to recognise the walking talking diarrhea that is Walter Burns. Pantomime dialogue, faux slapstick performances, about as funny as a septic colostomy. Out of touch, irrelevant, insulting and out of date.

I am mystified by the 8.2 rating this movie has here at imdb. Perhaps only its fans have voted. The machine-gun dialogue would be fun for stretches, but when it spews non-stop for an hour, it becomes VERY annoying. And that leaves another half hour to go. Hildy's "dream" of giving up being a top reporter/writer to become a housewife to a dullard is STUPID. And completely unbelievable as presented here. Cary Grant's character is AWFUL, and when Hildy makes her inevitable (in a romantic comedy) end choice, it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. Nothing is shown to indicate even the tiniest reason for her to change her mind about a finalized DIVORCE. Cary Grant is completely and criminally unsympathetic, and that is bad news for the lead in a romantic comedy. Tone problems. It's a comedy with dramatic moments that aren't the least bit funny. The suicide attempt. The gallows shots. Every word that comes out of the killer's mouth. And his dialogue is perhaps the worst I've ever heard for a "disturbed" killer in a movie.

This gloriously funny romp by Howard Hawks is rightly remembered as one of the fastest-talking movies ever made. Originally done as 'The Front Page', the play by Hecht and McArthur takes on new life here as the character of Hildy Johnson metamorphoses in this version to be a sparky woman (played by Rosalind Russell), former wife of the harassed columnist Walter Burns (played with characteristic bewilderment and charm by Cary Grant). Hildy is about to marry again, to the nice but dull Bruce Baldwin (played by Ralph Bellamy as a character so boring he 'is like Ralph Bellamy' - how Hollywood liked its in-jokes). With that fire-cracking script, a sizable amount of sparks between Grant and Russell, and good support from Bellamy and a cast which includes Gene Lockhart, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, and Regis Toomey, 'His Girl Friday' is one of those classic gems which never age and which remain hugely entertaining.

Every good thing you've heard about this movie is true. It may very well be the fastest paced movie I've ever seen. Jerry Bruckheimer's most hyperbolic action movie ain't got nothing' on this one. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell were a brilliant screen pair (indeed, it seems that no one was bad casting when paired with Cary Grant) as rival reporters in a furiously paced news office. Russell is the odd man, or should I say odd girl, out, due to her lack of a *, but she proves herself more than capable of holding her own with the boys. Russell charges across the screen and never loses momentum for a second. She's goofy, sexy and hysterical. The funniest moment in the film comes when she's chasing a man down the street (I won't go into details) and dive tackles him to the ground. One of the first films from the 40s and a highlight of the decade. Grade: A+

If BRINGING UP BABY has rapid-fire dialogue and one crazy scene after the other, HIS GIRL Friday goes even faster and is 10 minutes shorter. A story not that un-similar to THE PHILADELPHIA STORY which deletes the scatterbrained socialites in favor for a gritty, urban setting, Cary Grant is fantastic in his role as Walter Burns as he tries to win back his wife Hildy Johnson (an equally brilliant Rosalind Russell in full comic mode) by literally throwing her back into what she -- deep down -- loves best: reporting and the breakneck lifestyle that comes with being in front of the news. These two are on camera often, and their dialogue together is like a frenzied waltz: trying to follow every exact word, gesture, and snarl is quite a task, boy, does it sizzle! What a shame that this wasn't up for any awards, as this could have easily won in acting categories. Completely ahead of its times, this is an interesting view on feminism thirty years before the term became public knowledge, and if one listens closely, a study in verbal sexual interplay. Which shows that making Hildy Johnson a woman was the best decision a director could ever do to enhance a story. A remake of an earlier film (THE FRONT PAGE, 1931), itself a film version of a 1928 play, HIS GIRL Friday was remade again as THE FRONT PAGE in 1976 and yet again in 1988 as SWITCHING CHANNELS, with Kathleen Turner nicely holding up in her portrayal of the role that cemented Rosalind Russell as a skilled comedienne, this time set in media TV.