His Girl Friday (1940)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

Charles Lederer (screenplay)
Ben Hecht (play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

She learned about men from him!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Editor | Newspaper | Reporter | Newspaper Editor | Mayor

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Walter Burns
Rosalind Russell	...	Hildy Johnson
Ralph Bellamy	...	Bruce Baldwin
Gene Lockhart	...	Sheriff Hartwell
Porter Hall	...	Murphy
Ernest Truex	...	Bensinger
Cliff Edwards	...	Endicott
Clarence Kolb	...	Mayor
Roscoe Karns	...	McCue
Frank Jenks	...	Wilson
Regis Toomey	...	Sanders
Abner Biberman	...	Louie
Frank Orth	...	Duffy
John Qualen	...	Earl Williams
Helen Mack	...	Mollie Malloy
Alma Kruger	...	Mrs. Baldwin
Billy Gilbert	...	Joe Pettibone
Pat West	...	Warden Cooley
Edwin Maxwell	...	Dr. Egelhoffer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Irving Bacon	...	Gus - Waiter (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Mike - Jail Guard (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Insurance Doctor (uncredited)
Wheaton Chambers	...	Man in Elevator (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Ann Doran	...	Newspaper Office Worker (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Earl Dwire	...	Pete Davis (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Policeman Frank (uncredited)
Eddie Hart	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Marion Martin	...	Evangeline - Louie's Blonde Associate (uncredited)

Directed by
Howard Hawks

Writing credits
Charles Lederer		(screenplay)
Ben Hecht		(play "The Front Page") and
Charles MacArthur		(play "The Front Page")

Produced by
Howard Hawks	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Sidney Cutner		(uncredited)
Felix Mills		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Gene Havlick

Art Direction by
Lionel Banks

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(gowns) (as Kalloch)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cliff P. Broughton	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Lodge Cunningham	....	sound (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Jed Harris	....	producer: stage play
Chet La Roche	....	script doctor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) (1972) (Germany) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Celebrity Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Madacy Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Timeless Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Simitar Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Delta Music Industries (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Jef Films International (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• Delta Expedition (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Laserlight Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (2000) (Argentina) (all media)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• D3K Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• AAE Films (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Front Row Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Galam Americas (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Madacy Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Marengo Films (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• New Media Resources (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• United American Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Westlake Entertainment Group (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Delta Expedition (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• GoodTimes Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• United American Video (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• Bach Films (2003) (France) (DVD)
• GoodTimes Home Video (2003) (USA) (VHS)
• Inspired Productions (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Laserlight Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Diamond Entertainment Group (DEG) (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Vidtape (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Vintage Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Classic Entertainment (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2005) (worldwide) (TV)
• Reel Media International (2005) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Critics' Choice Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Adlon Filmi (????) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Casterbury Films (????) (USA) (theatrical) (8 mm)
• Castle Communications (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Egmont Entertainment (????) (Finland) (DVD)
• Kartes Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• LK-TEL (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Mistar (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• RVC Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Television (????) (USA) (TV)
• Startime Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• C. D. C.  Italian dubbing: 1946 (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | USA:Approved (PCA #5823) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-3 (video rating: 1993) | France:U | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:15 | UK:U (1996) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1994) | West Germany:o.Al. (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Many critics in 1940 felt that Cary Grant was badly miscast as Walter Burns, and that Clark Gable would have been much better in the part.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene after Earl fires the pistol, Hildy turns off the lights and pulls down the window shades in the press room. Then in the next scene the Hildy and Molly are talking to Earl while he is in the desk, the shades are up. The other reporters return to the press room and Hildy unlocks the door and lets them enter. One of the reporters immediately goes to the windows and raises the shades.

Quotes:

Walter Burns: Take Hitler and stick him on the funny page.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Angie (1994)

Slapstick comedy that moves faster than the speed of laughter...

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.