His Girl Friday (1940) 8.0
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. Director:Howard Hawks |
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His Girl Friday (1940) 8.0
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. Director:Howard Hawks |
|
| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Cary Grant | ... | ||
| Rosalind Russell | ... | ||
| Ralph Bellamy | ... | ||
| Gene Lockhart | ... |
Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell
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Porter Hall | ... |
Murphy
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Ernest Truex | ... |
Roy B. Bensinger
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| Cliff Edwards | ... | ||
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Clarence Kolb | ... |
Fred - Mayor
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| Roscoe Karns | ... | ||
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Frank Jenks | ... |
Wilson
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| Regis Toomey | ... |
Sanders
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Abner Biberman | ... |
Louie
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Frank Orth | ... |
Duffy
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| John Qualen | ... | ||
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Helen Mack | ... | |
Walter Burns, editor of a major Chicago newspaper, is about to lose his ace reporter and former wife, Hildy Johnson, to insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin, but not without a fight! The crafty editor uses every trick in his fedora to get Hildy to write one last big story, about murderer Earl Williams and the inept Sheriff Hartwell. The comedy snowballs as William's friend, Molly Malloy, the crooked Mayor, and Bruce's mother all get tied up in Walter's web. Written by Steve Fenwick <scf@w0x0f.com>
This screen adaptation of the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play "The Front Page" was adapted for the talents of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell -- there is no such character as Hildy Johnson (Russell) in that play.
Director Howard Hawks wanted to show the whirlwind pace of the newsroom in the criminal courts system so he had his actors overlap their lines -- so much so that at times it seems as though everyone is talking at once; it even gets difficult to understand all that is going on.
He also had the cast move FAST so the film looks totally frenetic from scene to scene with no respite -- either from the laughs or from the action.
There are two really good "inside" jokes in the script: The first is where Walter Burns (Grant) is describing Hildy's fiancee and says that "he looks like that guy in the movies -- Bellamy," Well, it WAS Ralph Bellamy playing that part!
The other is when Burns says something about someone he once knew named "Archie Leach" which just happens to be Cary Grant's real name.
This is one of the true gems of Hollywood's most prolific era. It has incredible pacing, acting, photography and an authentic gritty feeling that would be associated with hard-boiled, "anything for a story" newspaper people.
It has long been one of my favorite films and deserves to be watched over and over again -- just for all the dialogue and great acting that may have gone by so fast you missed it the first time.