His Girl Friday (1940)

His Girl Friday (1940) – An unscrupulous newspaper editor (Cary Grant) tries every trick in the book to his star reporter, who is also his ex-wife (Rosalind Russell), from marrying again.

Directe4d by Howard Hawks                         Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

If the story line sounds familiar, it’s because I reviewed a slightly different version of the same story in 2015.  In 1974’s “Front Page” the story reverts to the original concept (a stage play from 1928) where the star reporter character is a man.  The editor is still trying to keep the reporter from running off to get married with the promise of a great story.  The more modern version was a flop in my opinion.  If you want to see what this story SHOULD look like on the big screen, this is the version for you.

Grant and Russell have great fun playing off of one another here.  Neither had been the first choice for the roles but Hawks gets a great performance from them both.  Hawks stumbled on the idea of changing the reporter over to a woman during auditions.  The dialogue is taken pretty much straight from the original.  While it’s hard to say that casting Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau won’t get you stellar performances of snappy dialogue, Grant and Russell grabs the laurels.  The director was known for encouraging his actors to ad-lib scenes.  When Russell decided she wasn’t getting enough good lines, she hired a writer to help her “punch up” her scenes, so she was ready for each day’s shooting.  The result is dialogue that crackles with energy.  And a movie that runs like a freight train with that driving it.

This is another movie with a quality supporting cast.  The names may not mean a lot to you, but there are plenty of familiar faces.  Ralph Bellamy plays the potential husband.  Bellamy was a star in the movies, on TV and the stage.  Gene Lockhart played the judge in “A Miracle on 34th Street” among many other supporting roles.

Why You Should Watch This Movie – It’s the best version of the story, funny and witty.  The story holds up amazingly well, and Hawks brings his expert touch to telling it.

Rating – **** Recommended