His Girl Friday (1940)

My Review

“His Girl Friday” is a screwball comedy about a newspaper editor who is about to loose his ace reporter, who also happens to be his ex-wife. He uses every trick in the book to keep her from quitting, and also to prevent her upcoming remarriage. The zaniness proceeds from there well directed by Howard Hawks (“Only Angels Have Wings” 1939) from an excellent screenplay by Charles Lederer. It was adapted from the 1928 Broadway play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

The cast includes Cary Grant as the editor, Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson, Ralph Bellamy as her fiance, Gene Lockhart as the sheriff, Clarence Kolb as the mayor, Alma Kruger as the bossy mum of Bellamy, and Regis Toomey and Roscoe Karns as reporters. The cast does an outstanding job of making the script look like spontaneous conversation. “His Girl Friday” was a solid hit at the Depression Era box office for producer Howard Hawks and Columbia Pictures. It was filmed entirely on Hollywood soundstages.