Classic 40s Movie: “His Girl Friday”
September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from John Henderson.
Movie Title: His Girl Friday
Year: 1940
Writers: Screenplay by Charles Lederer, based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Lead Actors: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
Director: Howard Hawks
IMDb Plot Summary: A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Why I Think This Is A Classic 40s Movie
His Girl Friday is based on the famous Hecht & MacArthur play, The Front Page. The story concerns an editor (Walter Burns) trying to keep his best reporter (Hildy Johnson) from quitting and getting married so he can cover a breaking story. The play was an immediate success and considered an instant classic. A movie version in 1931 starring Adolphe Menjou as Walter and Pat O’Brien as Hildy was also a hit and even nominated for Best Picture. Much of the story’s popularity stems from its intricate plotting and rapid-fire dialogue.
Director Howard Hawks was hired to remake The Front Page. He was a huge fan of the play and would hold readings of it with his secretary reading Hildy Johnson’s lines. Hawks realized the dialogue worked better with a woman and decided to rewrite Hildy as a female and make her Walter’s ex-wife. This created added depth to the characters. Now Walter is not just scheming to get his best reporter back, he’s trying to win back the woman he loves. During this zany adventure, Hildy is also realizing her true nature — “I’m a newspaperman. Darn it” she declares at a pivotal scene.
For His Girl Friday, Hawks cast Cary Grant as Walter Burns. Grant, who was already a huge star by 1940 with films such as The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, and Gunga Din, used his knack for light comedy and quick delivery, in addition to his dashing and debonair looks, to make Walter Burns less the unlikable character as written in The Front Page and more of a gentleman, albeit a scheming one.
For Hildy Johnson, Rosalind Russell was cast. Russell starred in the comedy classic The Woman the year before His Girl Friday. Russell was popular throughout the 1940s and into the 70s, specializing in comedic roles where she usually portrayed a no-nonsense professional.
His Girl Friday is a perfect example of the “screwball comedy”. This genre, marked by social satire, madcap set pieces, complicated plots (and plot twists), and a battle of the sexes, gained in popularity during the Great Depression and into the 1940s. It Happened One Night, The Thin Man series, and Sullivan’s Travels are considered classics of the genre and all were box office successes.
The rapid-fire dialogue that made the play a hit was intensified for His Girl Friday. The film is only 92 minutes long but the final script, according to some sources, was 191 pages. Hawks wanted overlapping dialogue, a rarity in movies up until that point. The script is full of simultaneous conversations, one-liners, insults, and double entendres. For example:
Hildy Johnson: Walter!
Walter Burns: What?
Hildy Johnson: The mayor’s first wife, what was her name?
Walter Burns: You mean the one with the wart on her…?
Hildy Johnson: Right.
Walter Burns: Fanny!
Bruce Baldwin: [Speaking of Walter] You know, Hildy, he’s not such a bad fellow.
Hildy Johnson: No, he should make some girl real happy.
Bruce Baldwin: Uh-huh.
Hildy Johnson: [Under her breath] Slap-happy.
His Girl Friday was remade as Switching Channels in 1988 with Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner, and Christopher Reeve in the Grant, Russell, and Bellamy roles, respectively. The Front Page was remade again in 1974 by Billy Wilder and starred Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
His Girl Friday, which received ZERO Academy Awards nominations, was listed in the American Film Institute’s list of AFI’s 100 Years…100 Laughs in 2000 and was selected for preservation in 1993 by the Library of Congress.
Quentin Tarantino listed His Girl Friday as one of his favorite movies in a Sight & Sound Greatest Film Poll.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie
The second scene in the film is one that does not appear in The Front Page and was written specifically for His Girl Friday. Walter has invited Hildy and her fiancé, Bruce (portrayed by Ralph Bellamy), to lunch to stall them from leaving and to concoct a way to keep Hildy from getting married. As soon as they’re shown to their table, Walter sits between Hildy and Bruce. Walter spends a bulk of the meal reminding Bruce about his past with Hildy who constantly kicks him under the table to shut him up. The sequence is a master class in nonstop dialogue, physical humor, and witty repartee and one-liners — all of which drive the scene and accelerate the plot.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie
Walter Burns: There’s been a lamp burning in the window for ya, honey here.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, I jumped out that window a long time ago.
Bruce Baldwin: I like him; he’s got a lot of charm.
Hildy Johnson: Well he comes by it naturally his grandfather was a snake.
Walter Burns: Sorta wish you hadn’t done that, Hildy.
Hildy Johnson: Done what?
Walter Burns: Divorced me. Makes a fella lose all faith in himself. Gives him a… almost gives him a feeling he wasn’t wanted.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, now look, junior… that’s what divorces are FOR!
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie
At the beginning of the movie, Hildy and Bruce enter the newspaper building. Hildy tells Bruce to remain at the receptionist’s area as she continues into the offices. In fact, a “No Admittance” sign is prominently shown. The message is clear: Bruce is not part of Hildy’s world.
Later, in Walter’s office, Hildy asks for one of Walter’s cigarettes. He lights one for himself then tosses her one and a match to light it herself. Later, when they begin conniving, he lights her cigarette. It’s a subtle touch that shows just how much they’re still in sync and in love with each other.
Hildy, as portrayed in His Girl Friday, is considered an example of the “Hawksian woman”, a tough-talking woman in Hawks’ films who can keep up with her male counterparts in banter as well as action. Other examples include Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep and Angie Dickinson in Rio Bravo.
Actor Cliff Edwards, who plays the reporter Endicott, later provided the voice for Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.
On two occasions, Cary Grant breaks the “fourth wall”. When describing Bruce to someone, he says “He looks like that actor… Ralph Bellamy.” Later, when his job is threatened by the Mayor, Walter says “Listen the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat.” Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach.
Thanks, John! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of classic 5os movies, 60s Movies, 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 40s movies. And thanks to the GITS community, we’ve got 30 movies in the works, one for each day of the month!
Those who I put in bold have already sent me their posts. If you haven’t sent yours to me, please do so as soon as you can!!!
Act of Violence — Eric Rodriguez
Arsenic and Old Lace — Katha
Bicycle Thieves — Megaen Kelly
Brief Encounter — Emily Bonkoski
Casablanca — Paul Graunke
Double Indemnity — Susan Winchell
Five Graves to Cairo — Jeff Gibson
Foreign Correspondent — Doc Kane
His Girl Friday — John Henderson
It’s a Wonderful Life — David Laudenslager
Key Largo — Will King
Laura — Melinda Mahaffey Icden
Les enfants du paradis — Brendan Howley
Mrs. Miniver — Traci Nell Peterson
Notorious — Christine Henton
Now Voyager — Melissa Privette
Out of the Past — Brantley Aufill
Rope — Lance Morgan
The Bank Dick — Bob Saenz
The Best Years of Their Lives — Shaun Parker
The Big Sleep — Ipsita Barik
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir — Annie Wood
The Long Voyage Home — Vincent Martini
The Lost Weekend — Liz Warner
The Maltese Falcon — Roy Gordon
The Ox-Bow Incident — Clay Mitchell
The Philadelphia Story — Kristen Demaline
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock — David Joyner
The Third Man — Harry Cooke
To Have and Have Not — Felicity Flesher
Thanks to everyone who steps up for this ongoing project!
For the original post explaining the series, go here.
For all of the 40s movies featured in the series, go here.
Click REPLY and see you in comments about today’s classic 40s movie!
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