132. His Girl Friday (1940)

Directed By Howard Hawks

Synopsis

Girl is getting married to some hick from Albany. She makes the mistake of saying goodbye to her ex-husband Cary Grant who was also her boss at the newspaper. Girl gets involved with a newspaper story and ends up with Cary Grant.

Review

If there is one thing to be said about this film it is the fact that it is really fast. I have rarely seen films with such fast dialogue before or after this one. Everyone talks at the same time, there might be five jokes being delivered in the same second because different people are making them either at the same time or in extremely fast succession.

This is something which is quite typical of American comedies of this period but that reaches a real apex here. While French comedies are witty and delightful and somewhat fast, American comedies are tougher and at completely breakneck speed. They are both good but in very different styles.

Cary Grant is great here as usual in comedies, and the whole cast is pretty great. Another interesting thing about the film is how it breaks the fourth wall, when talking about Baldwin the guy played by Ralph Bellamy in the film the character of Cary Grant says " You know he looks like that film actor, Ralph Bellamy". Grant even makes digs at his own real name when he says "The last guy that said that to me was Archibald Leach (Grant's real name)". The film isn't as funny as many other American comedies reviewed here, but it does have its own merit for the way the script is not only written but expertly delivered. So get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

This is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films and is even referenced in the beginning of his script for Pulp Fiction for its rapid-fire dialogue.

The film was originally supposed to be a straightforward retelling of The Front Page, with both the editor and reporter being men. However, during auditions, Howard Hawks' secretary read reporter Hildy Johnson's lines. Hawks liked the way the dialogue sounded coming from a woman, and the script was rewritten to make Hildy female (and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns). Most of the original dialogue and all of the characters' names were left the same.

Here you go, I talked so much about the dialogue, so I am giving you the whole film in 8 minutes, without any dialogue!: