Review of His Girl Friday (1940) by Jake R — 07 May 2010

Cary Grant + Rosalind Russell are still married but they're on thin ice, he's a slimy newspaper man desperate to get her back professionally + romantically, however this is a screwball comedy, the end result of the plot will always revolve around that age old question: Will they or won't they? It won't be spoiling the film if I told you that they do get back together in the end, the storyline doesn't make "His Girl Friday" a great film, it's the dialogue and performances that make it the best screwball comedy: Cary + Rosalind deliver every innuendo-laden line at a million miles per hour, it doesn't matter if it's a dangerous criminal on the loose, her new boyfriend's mother or fellow reporters acting like vultures, nothing knocks them out of their stride and the film barrels forward at an electric pace.

Unlike "Bringing Up Baby", this one throws enough at the 2 main characters without getting too much for the audience to take in, it also helps that Cary + Rosalind have great chemistry together, infact I'd even say this is Cary Grant's best performance, he's mostly known for playing slick characters but here he's a conniving sharp-tongued weasel who's quick on the draw.

You need to give Howard Hawks some credit too, he didn't put his own personal stamp on every film he made, but he made a lot of great films across a lot of genres, he's definitely a contender for "most versatile director", and "His Girl Friday" is his masterpiece.