B00006RCLG

018713813657

1940

1940-01-18

92

1h 32min

Awards, 2 wins

Howard Hawks

Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur

Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

Howard Hawks

Sidney Cutner, Felix Mills

Joseph Walker

Gene Havlick

Lionel Banks

Robert Kalloch

Cliff P. Broughton, Paul Helmick

Lodge Cunningham

Cliff Shirpser

Eugene Joseff

Morris Stoloff, Ben Oakland

Jed Harris, Chet La Roche

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Columbia Pictures

USA

English, French

Passed

7.8

58770

His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. The screenplay was adapted from the 1928 play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. This was the second time the play had been adapted for the screen, the first occasion being the 1931 film which kept the original title The Front Page.

The script was written by Charles Lederer and Ben Hecht, who is not credited for his contributions. The major change in this version, introduced by Hawks, is that the role of Hildy Johnson is a woman. Filming began in September 1939 and finished in November, seven days behind schedule. Production was delayed because the frequent improvisation and numerous ensemble scenes required many retakes. Hawks encouraged his actors to be aggressive and spontaneous, creating several moments in which the characters break the fourth wall. His Girl Friday has been noted for its surprises, comedy, and rapid, overlapping dialogue. Hawks was determined to break the record for the fastest film dialogue, at the time held by The Front Page. He used a sound mixer on the set to increase the speed of dialogue and held a showing of the two films next to each other to prove how fast his film was.

His Girl Friday was #19 on American Film Institute s 100 Years ... 100 Laughs and was selected in 1993 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant . The film is in the public domain because the copyright was not renewed, though the play it was based on is still under copyright.

$296,000

Reporter,newspaper editor,newspaper,mayor,journalist