Review of His Girl Friday (1940) by Ian S — 17 Mar 2010

Worth hunting down to watch no matter what efforts are required to do so. The action revolves around the case of a probably wrongly convicted murderer due to be executed in the morning pending a final decision from the state governor.

We see events from the perspective of a group of hard bitten newspapermen, (one of whom is one of the two main characters and a woman â?? Hildergard Johnson) whose activities reveal the business of journalism in all its sordid majesty.

There is everything: politics, electioneering, spinning, corruption, a hanging, an escape, swindling, professional rivalry, a scoop, pathos, and a feisty romance between Rosalind Russell as the ace reporter whoâ??s had enough of gutter reporting and wants to quit and get married to a nice safe insurance salesman, and Cary Grant as her unscrupulous editor who resorts to every subterfuge to retain her and get rid of her new fiancé.

The whole drama is hysterically funny from start to end, and is told with such sparkle and at such speed you are left breathless. The story started out in 1928 as a Broadway comedy play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

It has since been reproduced numerous times, including The Front Page (1931), this version, His Girl Friday (1940), Billy Wilderâ??s The Front Page (1974), and Switching Channels (1988). Critics say His Girl Friday is the best, but I saw Walter Mattau and Jack Lemon in Wilder's version first, and so it remains my favourite.

I havenâ??t seen Wilderâ??s version lately so I canâ??t say which of them is really the best but if you appreciate great writing, terrifically acted you will want to see them both. Quite likely the other two versions are also worth seeing since the script is so brilliant it would be virtually impossible to make a bad film from it.