by Jake Hjort, Contributing Writer
Welcome back, fellow time travelers, to another edition of 20th Century Flicks! This month, in a continued effort to check classic cinema off of my list of shame, I’ve delved all the way back to 1940 to watch Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday. Over the course of this summer, I’ve enjoyed looking back at the history of romantic comedy films, from the classic, melodramatic Wuthering Heights, to the iconic, (relatively) modern Sleepless in Seattle, so I wanted to cap it off by looking back at one of the screwball comedies that dominated much of the mid-20th century.
Set ambiguously in either New York City or Chicago, His Girl Friday follows one day in the lives of newspaper editor, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), and his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell). After learning that Hildy will soon be departing for Albany to wed her new fiancé, Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), Walter begins scheming to reignite her love both in the newspaper and in him to try and win her back. Despite her apprehensions and better judgement, Hildy finds herself entangled uncovering details and trying to score interviews in the case of Earl Williams (John Qualen), a questionably sane man due to be hanged for shooting a police officer. Amidst the crime reporting and political scandal, Hildy rediscovers her aptitude and passion for journalism, and after a spurned Bruce leaves her behind, decides to give Walter a second chance.
Older films often have a reputation of being too slow-paced or dull for modern audiences, and although I don’t find that to be universally true, I did find myself pleasantly surprised by how kinetic His Girl Friday is. Despite its age, it is a sharply satirical film with a laughs-per-minute score that rivals that of the best modern comedies. Walter and Hildy are both fast-talking, witty characters, constantly throwing barbs at each other and those around them, always seeming to be living a beat faster than everyone else. Honestly, this is the furthest possible film from those clichéd old romantic dramas that put everyone to sleep — if you avert your attention for a few moments to check your phone or grab a snack, I assure you there’s some small joke or piece of satire that you’ll miss.
Although I personally know him best from his role as Mortimer Brewster in the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, I feel that the general image of Grant today, at least among people my age, is that of the smooth, debonair leading man. Walter, however, is far from that. Although Grant certainly brings his charisma to the role, the conniving and backstabbing editor that he plays is far from charming. Walter is an extreme comedic take on the journalist willing to do anything to break a story, be that double crossing the governor or cancelling a honeymoon. This plays nicely with his philosophical opponents in the film, the Sheriff (Gene Lockhart) and Mayor (Clarence Kolb), who will likewise do whatever they can to advance their political careers. Throughout the film, the two sides fight to delay or rush Earl’s execution to further their own goals, all callous to the life of the man they squabble over.
Although Grant is giving a great performance and has the star power and top billing, it’s Russell that really steals the show here. Truly a woman thriving in a man’s world, Russell gets more screen time than any other actor in the film, and she spends most of it talking circles around all the men around her. Hildy is said and shown to be one of the best journalists when it comes to getting the story in the city — she’s the only person willing or able to put Walter in his place. As for the romance between the two? Well, needless to say this is a far less romantic film than either of the others I’ve reviewed this summer. Walter and Hildy spend more of the film at odds than they do together, and at the end it’s clear that despite getting back together, they will never love the other more than they love journalism. However, they may very well be one of those matches where the broken ends fit together perfectly, and although they may not admit it or express it in the way you would expect, they really do belong together.
Aside from Grant and Russell, there are a lot of great supporting performances in His Girl Friday that I want to take a moment to shout out as well. Although Bellamy isn’t given a ton to do, he is great as a much more naïve, kindhearted foil to Walter (and the subject of a great joke when Walter is asked to describe Bruce’s appearance). Lockhart is memorable in a few scenes as the buffoonish Sheriff Hartwell, and a litany of other actors, including Ernest Truex, Roscoe Karns, Abner Biberman, and Frank Orth help to fill out the pressroom with journalists and newspaper staff. The real scene stealer, however, is Billy Gilbert as Joe Pettibone, a courier who, though a bit dimwitted, has a big heart and a steadfast determination not to be corrupted by the politicians he serves.
One of the best parts of being a part of the SiftPop community is being exposed to so many films that I would have otherwise never seen. I had never even heard of His Girl Friday until after I started writing here and seeing it pop up on various Best Ever Challenge lists, eventually adding it to my own watchlist, and now getting to write about it here today. With high expectations based on others’ ratings, but no idea what the film itself contained, I was thoroughly impressed by the stellar performances and the impeccably aged comedy.
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