His Girl Friday (1940)
1940 · Feature film · 91 min · dir. Howard Hawks
They're at each other's throats when they're not in each other's arms!
- Drama
- comedy drama
- romantic comedy
Synopsis
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.
Synopsis from TMDb
Details
- Director
- Howard Hawks
- Writer
- Charles Lederer
- Composer
- Sidney Cutner
- Cinematography
- Joseph Walker
- Studio
- Columbia Pictures
- Released
- 1940-01-18
- Running time
- 91 minutes
Cast & crew
Howard Hawks Director
Ralph Dunn
Pat West
Harry C. Bradley
Marion Martin
James Millican
Earl Dwire
Delmar Watson
Wade Boteler
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Best of Screwball Comedies · Big Boomer · 2017-03-19
This is considered the first screwball comedy. The fast pace of the lines tripping over each other was, in its time, novel and had audiences gasping for breath. This story is, of course, The Front Page. A wonderful play performed by just about every college and high school drama department in America at some time in the last 90 years. There is an earlier version of the story here at the Archive with a male actor portraying Russell's part. But I think the romantic chemistry between the mixed gender protagonists adds another level to the comedy and double entendres. There are also many insider…
★★★★★ · Better than the original... · Bangkokhoosier · 2024-07-12
... by far! I may have forgotten one but I'm not sure if any remake in Hollywood history has ever outdone its original as much as this one has. Hawks' driving to get his actors to rattle their lines out as quickly as possible, even to the point of having overlap ping dialogue seems as if it would have led to chaos but the result is astonishingly effective.. I can't think of any movie quite like it. I guess Hawks' Bringing Up Baby comes closest but it doesn't maintain the pace throughout the whole movie as Friday does.
★★★★★ · His Girl Friday aka The Front Page · pholmer · 2005-05-06
This film is a remake of "The Front Page" based on the play by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur. In the original, the writer is getting married and leaving town while the editor schemes to keep his ace reporter from leaving the paper. "The Front Page" has been made into a movie twice under that title; the original in 1931 with Adolphe Menjou & Pat O'Brien and the Bill Wilder directed version in 1974 with Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Carol Burnett, Susan Sarandon & one of the best ensembles of character actors ever. The ex-husband, ex-wife plot angle was created for "His Girl Friday" and made the…
★★★★★ · awsome movie :) · The Keyboard Caper · 2008-08-04
Amazing performance by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. A must watch for all. The funniest character in the movie is the fat man who brings the orders of cancellation of hanging in the end of the movie. Enjoy.
★★★★★ · Perlster's an Idiot · BondoFox · 2009-11-11
This movie is GOLD! I'm sorry, Perlster, that it's not one of the "Ernest" series of oh-so-classic comedy for trailer-dwellers, for this movie you actually require a functioning brainstem. GOLD, people. Gold. And sharp-eyed people will recognize it as the movie that would be remade in the 1980's as "Switching Channels" starring Burt Reynolds in an updated version of Cary's role.
★★★★★ · Brilliant · raghavsuri · 2005-09-24
Though in the beginning the audio does not sync, with the picture, that is the only flaw. The film is excellent, has a great cast with superb talent. This film is surely and entertainer for anyone. If you want a fun film, and feel well, retro then check out His Girl Friday.
