His Girl Friday (1940)

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 | Sheriff | 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)
Frank McClure	...	Newsman (uncredited)
James Millican	...	Tim - Newsman (uncredited)
Gene Morgan	...	Gene - Reporter (uncredited)
Delmar Watson	...	Skinny - Copy Boy (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)
• Adlon Filmi (1941) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Standaard Films (1946) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1963) (Finland) (TV) (1969) (1977) (1995) (1996) (1997) (2004) (2006)
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) (1972) (Germany) (TV)
• Celebrity Home Entertainment (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1987) (Finland) (TV) (as MTV1)
• Mistar (1991) (Finland) (VHS)
• Castle Communications (1993) (Finland) (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)
• Casterbury Films (????) (USA) (theatrical) (8 mm)
• New Star (2011) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Columbia TriStar (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Egmont Entertainment (????) (Finland) (DVD)
• Kartes Video (198?) (USA) (VHS) (clamshell)
• LK-TEL (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• 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" - UK (complete title), 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:S (1991) | France:U | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:15 | UK:U (1996) | UK:U (video rating: re-edited version) (2007) | UK:U (video rating: DVD audio commentary) (2002) | Netherlands:18 (original rating) (1946) | USA:Not Rated | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 (1941) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1994) (1996) (1998) (2002) (2003) (2004) (2005) | West Germany:o.Al. (original rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The famous in-joke about Ralph Bellamy's character ("He looks like that actor...Ralph Bellamy!") was almost left on the cutting room floor: Harry Cohn, the studio head, saw the dailies and responded in fury at the impertinence, but he let Howard Hawks leave it in, and it has always been one of the biggest laughs in the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: Hildy wears black heels throughout the movie but when Earl Williams is hidden in the desk, she is pacing behind the table and is wearing white flats. The next time her feet are shown, she is wearing the black heels again.

Quotes:

Walter Burns:[on the phone] Well Butch, where are you?... Well, what are you doing there? Haven't you even started?... Listen, it's a matter of life and death!... Well, you can't stop for a dame now! I don't care if you've been after her for six years. Butch - our whole lives are at stake! Are you going to let a woman come between us after all we've been through?... Butch, I'd put my arm in fire for you, up to here. Now you can't double-cross me... Put her on, I'll talk to her.
[talking to the woman]
Walter Burns:Oh, good evening madam. Now listen, you ten-cent glamour girl. You can't keep Butch away from his duty!... What's that?... You say that again, I'll come over there and kick you in the teeth!... Say, what kind of language is that? Now look here you. -
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: Episode #26.78" (2009)

Her Guy Walter

Charles McArthur and Ben Hecht met when both were reporters in Chicago during the 1920s. They created two of the funniest farces in American drama, TWENTIETH CENTURY (about theater people) and THE FRONT PAGE. The latter was based on their experiences as news reporters in those crazy days in Chicago, where the newspapers concentrated on sensationalism and the politics was thoroughly corrupt. The resulting play is hysterically funny and yet remains timely. For all the exaggeration of how Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson manipulate police, politicians, reporters, and civilians to get their scoop, the story remains relevant for several reasons. The political balance in a big Mayoralty election is precarious due to the Earl Williams case. Williams has shot a policeman who is African-American, a big local voting block, and they want him punished. The corrupt Mayor and his idiot jail warden are willing to execute him for the votes needed to stay in office, but the Governor (who is from the rival party) believes the killer is insane (or at least mentally deficient). So already (as you see) race, politics, and the validity of the death penalty get pulled in. Soon we also see examples of nepotism and corruption in the police, and City Hall, cynical politics based on a man's life, and questions about privacy and a free press. For a play from 1931 this one still has relevance.

There had been an earlier version of the play in the 1930s called THE FRONT PAGE, starring Adolphe Menjou as the conniving and devious Walter Burns, and Pat O'Brien as ace reporter Hildy Johnson. It is a good version, and both stars do well with their parts (and both have the verbal speed necessary for the dialog to flow over the ears of the audience). But when the film was remade in 1940, Howard Hawks decided to redraw Hildy Johnson into a female reporter (and previous wife) of Burns. His casting of Cary Grant was radically different too. Burns is a nasty, conniving s.o.b. who would kill for a good story. Menjou was somewhat dapper (he was usually dapper) in the role, but the hardness under the presentable shell was there. And by changing Hildy from a guy to a gal, and Walter's former wife, you had to make Walter look more interesting. So Walter is turned into Cary Grant. There was a search for Hildy, involving Jean Arthur and Irene Dunne as possibilities. Neither ended up playing him. Instead it went to Rosalind Russell.

It has to be admitted Russell had the vocal abilities to push the dialog at the proper clip. Possibly Jean Arthur could have done that just as well, but Arthur did not have the apparent physical strength behind the stylishness that Russell showed. She really does balance well (in this film) with Grant, given their characters.

Motivation changes a little. This Walter Burns still wants to get his scoops, but there are moments of fragility when he realizes he may forever lose Hildy to her fiancé Bruce (the ever helpless Ralph Bellamy). And they oddly work (Hawks manages to keep them under control). Also, as the story is now twelve years older than the original play, certain changes occur in Walter's political views. He does dislike the gang (led by Clarence Kolb and Gene Lockhart) running the city, and points out to Hildy that they have a chance to help give the city the sort of government New York City has under La Guardia. This does not end his joy at scooping the opposition, but it does suggest that Burns has more depth.

It is now generally believed that this is the best of the film versions of THE FRONT PAGE, and one of the funniest films ever made. The entire cast shines (look at the scene where Helen Mack confronts the reporters who have made her look like a tramp, and have told lies about John Qualen (Williams) - she is in a state when Russell takes her out of the press room, and the reporters are thoroughly ashamed of herself - and Russell comes back looking at Regis Toomey, Porter Hall, and the others, and says "Gentlemen of the Press!" with heavy cynical irony). And also note Billy Gilbert's immortal Joe Pettibone, the most hopeless monument of total befuddlement in movies. It is one of the few film comedies of that period that retains it's laughs one viewing following another.