His Girl Friday (1940) - Adelei Idlewild

In the Sabrina review, this diehard Bogie fan mentioned Cary Grant three times, and she therefore decided it was time to pay some tribute to one of the most charming men that ever romanced the screen. Although I wouldn’t dare assert that Grant’s best role was as Walter Burns in Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday (1940), the film did make the Times All-Time 100 Movie List, so I am at least somewhat justified in choosing this particular example of Grant’s work. And what a work it is!

As far as screwball comedies go, His Girl Friday is the crème-de-la-crème, exceeding in brilliant, snappy dialogue and well-cast star-power. Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is the editor of a New York newspaper whose top journalist is also his ex-wife, Hildy Johnson (the beautiful, sharp-tongued Rosalind Russell). When Hildy quits her job to marry a milquetoast insurance salesman, Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), Walter does everything he can to get her back – even if it means conniving her into missing her wedding ceremony to cover the biggest story the paper has seen yet. His trickery is low, perhaps, but who would blame a man for wanting to “know the kind of man [his] wife is marrying,” as he says?

The film is based on a stage play entitled “The Front Page,” which is fairly obvious by the few sets utilized by Hawks and crew. Ironically, the movie was remade using the play’s name in 1974, a version that was directed by Billy Wilder, whose Sabrina I reviewed last. A small world, that Hollywood. Or rather, I should say, How economical! Leave it to Hollywood studios – why look for more, when you have it already made? But I digress – more on that some other time.

Let me leave off by saying that if you can keep up with its fast pace, His Girl Friday is a comedy-lover’s dream. And for the philosophers, well, in the words of Cary Grant, “You've got an old-fashioned idea divorce is something that lasts forever, 'til death do us part.' Why, divorce doesn't mean anything nowadays, Hildy, just a few words mumbled over you by a judge.”

You couldn’t have said it better, Archie Leach.