Review of His Girl Friday (1940) by Antonius B — 06 May 2018

Pros.

- Rosalind Russell turns in a great performance and portrays a strong newspaper reporter, better than the male reporters. She's also someone who has taken control of her life, seeing through the manipulations of her ex-husband and ex-boss, Cary Grant. Her lines like "you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way" are fantastic.

- There are some very cute moments between Grant and Russell as he needles her about her new fiancée (Ralph Bellamy), and of course immediately begins to try undermining them. The scenes early on grab you, with fast, sharp dialog, Russell throwing her purse at Grant in his office, and the two playing cat and mouse with their eyes and gestures at lunch with Bellamy. I loved these parts.

Cons.

- There is not enough of the relationship/banter/love triangle. The film is at its best early on, but when it begins focusing on the convicted killer, the plot line that gives Russell the lure to return to reporting, it bogs down and loses my interest.

- Fans of zany, frenetic, screwball movies will like this film, but at some point everyone just seems to be shouting at one another, and there just isn't enough balance in it for me.

- It's somewhat incidental, but I wasn't a fan of the premise that the white killer was convicted and unfairly sentenced because he had killed a black policeman, as if this and not the reverse was (and is) the problem in America, and the heaviness of the satire on the free press.