Review of His Girl Friday (1940) by Hugo S — 14 Mar 2008

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940).

Directed by Howard Hawks.

Starring Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, Ralph BellamyHis Girl Friday is known as a fast-paced comedy. Probably cause of the many punch-lines. But with today's technology and way of editing, its nothing special, its even slow sometimes. That might be cause its based on a play. Nevermind that though, that bit of trivia is totally useless.This is a classic comedy. It inspired a lot of jokes and premise for other movies ever since. Like the love triangle, which is exactly the same as the one in Twister, except in His Girl Friday there are two men and one woman. Yeah, I know, this is useless again and refering to Twister might make this film sound as a lesser one when its actually pretty good.Legendary director Howard Hawks brought this story to screen. Basically, its about a former reporter who comes to her ex-husband-slash-former-boss, to announce him she is getting married. Learning that, being a bit jealous, he does all he can to keep her close, even if her husband is waiting in the lobby. He takes them to dinner and learn they are leaving on a plane in a few hours. He will set her up to get back to her reporter roots, tempting her to write an article that could save a man's life.Based on a play, His Girl Friday is filled with dialogues and in space unity. There are plenty of good lines and the chemistry between the main actors is pretty good. There are some clever moments and a lot of laugh. Its also an interesting look at the era's journalism.Cary Grant is mostly known for his roles in some of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films but here he shows a lot ot comedic talent. He has great timing and deliver his lines perfectly and with a perfect tone as the former husband. Rosalind Russell is the lady stuck between her two loves, her future husband and her love for the reporting job. Ralph Bellamy plays the husband-to-be, he aint lucky cause he keep being framed by Cary Grant, he has a weird face and acts pretty well.His Girl Friday is not the first film you may think of when you want to watch a dialogue-driven comedy, cause its actually very old and most people dont know the film, but its a very good one and if you can get a DVD with a good transfer, I suggest you give it a shot, you cant be diasppointed.