His Girl Friday (1940)

Directed by | Howard Hawks
Produced by | Howard Hawks
Written by | Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur (play The Front Page)
Charles Lederer (screenplay)
Starring | Cary Grant
Rosalind Russell
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) | January 11, 1940
Running time | 92 min.
Language | English

His Girl Friday is a 1940 screwball comedy, a remake of the 1931 film The Front Page, itself an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of their play of the same name. It was directed by Howard Hawks and is noted for the rapid-fire wit and extremely fast pace of the dialogue.

The film was originally supposed to be a straightforward retelling of The Front Page, with both the editor and reporter being men. However, during auditions, Howard Hawks' secretary read reporter Hildy Johnson's lines. Hawks liked the way the dialogue sounded coming from a woman, and the script was rewritten to make Hildy female (and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns). Most of the original dialogue and all of the characters' names were left the same.

The title is an inversion of the expression "Man Friday".
The film was #19 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Today the film is in the public domain.

Plot
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.
Cary Grant plays Walter Burns, a hard-boiled editor for The Morning Post of Chicago, and Rosalind Russell co-stars as his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildegard "Hildy" Johnson. She wants to marry Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) and settle down to a quiet life as a wife and mother in Albany, but Burns has other ideas. Burns entices the reluctant Johnson into covering one last story: the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams (John Qualen). When Williams escapes from the bumbling sheriff (Gene Lockhart), the fun really begins.

Walter does everything he can to keep Hildy from leaving, including setting Bruce up so he gets arrested over and over again on trumped up charges. He even kidnaps Hildy's stern mother-in-law-to-be (Alma Kruger). When escapee Williams practically falls into Hildy's lap, the lure of a big scoop proves to be too much for her. She is so consumed with writing the story that she hardly notices as Bruce realizes it is hopeless and leaves.

The crooked mayor (Clarence Kolb) and sheriff need the publicity from the execution to keep their jobs in an upcoming election, so when a messenger brings them a reprieve from the governor, they try to bribe the man to come back later, when it will be too late. Walter and Hildy find out just in time to save Walter from being arrested for kidnapping.

Afterwards, Walter offers to remarry Hildy, promising to take her on the honeymoon they never had in Niagara Falls (they didn't have one the first time because of newspaper business). But then the phone rings; it seems there's a newsworthy strike in Albany, which is on the way to Niagara Falls by train...

Cary Grant has fun with dropping the names of the real actors. His character Walter tells a partner in crime that Bruce looks a lot like the actor, Ralph Bellamy. Later, He also mentions that the last person who crossed him was Archie Leach (Grant's real name).

Adaptation
The film itself and Hecht and MacArthur's play were later adapted into another stage play, His Girl Friday, by John Guare. This was put on at the National Theatre, London, from May to November 2003, with Alex Jennings as Burns and Zoe Wanamaker as Hildy.

Films directed by Howard Hawks
The Road to Glory • Fig Leaves • The Cradle Snatchers • Paid to Love • A Girl in Every Port • Fazil • The Air Circus • Trent's Last Case • The Dawn Patrol • The Criminal Code • La Foule hurle • Scarface • The Crowd Roars • Tiger Shark • Today We Live • The Prizefighter and the Lady • Viva Villa! • Twentieth Century • Barbary Coast • Ceiling Zero • Sutter's Gold • The Road to Glory • Come and Get It • Bringing up Baby • Only Angels Have Wings • His Girl Friday • Sergeant York • Ball of Fire • Air Force • The Outlaw • To Have and Have Not • The Big Sleep • Red River • A Song Is Born • I Was a Male War Bride • The Thing from Another World • The Big Sky • Monkey Business • O. Henry's Full House • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes • Land of the Pharaohs • Rio Bravo • Hatari! • Man's Favorite Sport? • Red Line 7000 • El Dorado • Rio Lobo

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modified: 2007-11-14 01:23:30