MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 104 this week

His Girl Friday (1940)

8.0
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.0/10 from 30,291 users  
Reviews: 196 user | 73 critic

A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.

Director:

Writers:

(screen play), (play), 1 more credit »
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2364 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 580 titles created 16 Jul 2011
 
a list of 1269 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 1360 titles created 10 months ago
 
a list of 250 titles created 19 May 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: His Girl Friday (1940)

His Girl Friday (1940) on IMDb 8/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of His Girl Friday.
1 win. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Apartment (1960)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.4/10 X  

A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.

Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
The Patsy (1928)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  
Director: King Vidor
Stars: Marion Davies, Orville Caldwell, Marie Dressler
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Hazel Flagg of Warsaw, Vermont receives the news that her terminal case of radium poisoning from a workplace incident was a complete misdiagnosis with mixed emotions. She is happy not to be... See full summary »

Director: William A. Wellman
Stars: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger
Sabrina (1954)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A playboy becomes interested in the daughter of his family's chauffeur. But it's his more serious brother who would be the better man for her.

Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Director: Woody Allen
Stars: Barbara Hershey, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow
Adam's Rib (1949)
Certificate: Passed Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband.

Director: George Cukor
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
City Lights (1931)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.6/10 X  

The Tramp struggles to help a blind flower girl he has fallen in love with.

Director: Charles Chaplin
Stars: Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

A fresh young beauty becomes an old maid waiting for her suitor to return from the Napoleonic wars. When he returns, clearly disappointed, she disguises herself as her own niece in order to test his loyalty.

Director: Sidney Franklin
Stars: Marion Davies, Conrad Nagel, Helen Jerome Eddy
The Graduate (1967)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

Recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who happens to be the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.

Director: Mike Nichols
Stars: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building.

Director: Blake Edwards
Stars: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

Lonely in his English country estate, Sir Basil decides to gather his grown (albeit illegitimate) children around him in his declining years. He uses a ledger which keeps track of the ... See full summary »

Stars: Marion Davies, Ralph Forbes, C. Aubrey Smith
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.5/10 X  

A young couple decide to marry under the condition that they agree never to disagree. That agreement is soon put to the test when the husband finds himself attracted to a beautiful young woman.

Director: Cyril Gardner
Stars: Gloria Swanson, Laurence Olivier, John Halliday
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell
Porter Hall ...
Murphy
Ernest Truex ...
Roy B. Bensinger
...
Clarence Kolb ...
Fred - Mayor
...
Frank Jenks ...
Wilson
...
Sanders
Abner Biberman ...
Louie
Frank Orth ...
Duffy
...
Helen Mack ...
Edit

Storyline

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>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

She learned about men from him! See more »

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

18 January 1940 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Broadway production of "The Front Page" (source material for the film) opened at the Times Square Theater on August 14, 1929 and ran for 276 performances. See more »

Goofs

After Walter's checkup, he puts his tie back on. At first, the skinny (back) end of the tie is longer than the wide (front) end. In the next shot, the front is properly longer than the back. When he goes to put his coat on, the back is longer than the front again. See more »

Quotes

Fred, the Mayor: It frightens me to think of what I'd like to do to you.
See more »

Connections

Featured in Film Geek (2005) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Roz Russell Is on the Case
7 March 2006 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

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 penis, 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+


30 of 38 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Other Screwball Comedies ElectroBear
Cute movie -- but way overrated + revealing of secret American psychosis aton_ra_1999
Films with the greatest dialog jdoan-4
DON'T LEAVE THE TOP 250!!!!!!!! nicknc1214
similar films? batemanswhiskeybottle
Great Actresses Turned Down the Role of Hildy Johnson csu16387
Discuss His Girl Friday (1940) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?