His Girl Friday
Even in my limited experience with Howard Hawks, it is obvious that he was a director of great storytelling prowess that spread through every genre he touched. Whether it’s hard-boiled detective yarns like “The Big Sleep” or a gritty crime saga in “Scarface” or a silly romantic comedy like “Bringing Up Baby,” he holds true to his adage of what makes a good movie- three great scenes, no bad ones. “His Girl Friday” shows him in peak comedic mode, with a rhythm to the dialogue and character interactions that would feel right at home in “The Big Sleep” or “Scarface.” Since it takes place in the world of newspapers and journalism, that makes sense- sometimes, the morals are just as foggy.
This is a title I’ve been familiar with for a long time, but never watched. That’s actually fairly surprising, since Cary Grant has long been a favorite of my mother’s. She’s taken to watching some of her favorite films ad nauseam over the past few months (mainly because of memory issues, and comfort level), and while I don’t feel like I have to watch every time she takes in “North By Northwest” or “Charade,” when I do it’s easy to see why- he was so effortlessly charming he could make any level of disbelief in a narrative feel believable. The one she hooked me on to with Grant at an early age was “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and “His Girl Friday” reminds me a lot of that one for its rapid-fire dialogue and comedic premises. If I don’t enjoy it as much, it’s only because of my familiarity with the former.
“His Girl Friday” starts out with Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) going into the newsroom at The Morning Press with some bad news for Grant’s Walter Burns. She’s not only quitting her job as a reporter for the Press, but she’s also getting married to an insurance salesman (Bruce Baldwin, played by Ralph Bellamy) and moving to Albany. For Walter, this just won’t do- Hildy is one of his very best reporters (along with his ex-wife)- she was made for this work, and it’s hard to imagine her being an insurance man’s wife. Walter spends the next 91 minutes doing everything he can to rope her back into the job, including getting Hildy to do a profile of a man on Death Row (John Qualen) before he’s executed tonight, an assignment that seems to get more and more complicated as it goes along.
I think my favorite running gag in “His Girl Friday” is the absurd lengths Walter goes to to keep not just Hildy but Bruce from getting on the train to Albany. If it were just about keeping Hildy busy the movie wouldn’t be as exciting, but the fact that Bruce (and even his mother, at one point) continues to find himself in inexplicable legal trouble is just cold blooded, but also a lot of fun to watch. The sea of non-stop dialogue in the script by Charles Lederer (adapted from the play, The Front Page, by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur) is a bit much, and the story never quite settles in to be about the characters, allowing bonds with them to form, but this is an entertaining screwball comedy all the same. The actors are all on point and the story reaches its natural, silly conclusion. At 91 minutes, it is just the right length; I just wish there were more moments where it feels like the film wasn’t rushing to get to its conclusion, and let the silliness unfold at a more natural rhythm. If you haven’t seen it, and have an appreciation for old Hollywood face, though, it’s well worth your time.
