His Girl Friday (1940) is a Rollicking Good Ride

May 17, 2024 — His Girl Friday (1940)

5/5 Stars

As a fan of screwball comedies and someone with a fascination for newsroom culture, I should probably start by saying I can’t pretend to be unbiased and judge this movie based solely on its cinematic appeal. But to be fair, the best movies aren’t necessarily the most realistic or the closest to technical perfection.

The best films are an experience, to echo Roger Ebert on Star Wars, and even though it’s 84 years old His Girl Friday (1940) is a rollicking good ride. Any comments I could make about the unrealistic nature of the plot or situations seem entirely against the spirit of the film. As I was watching it, I wasn’t thinking how it was going to end or what was going to happen next; I didn’t much care what happened next because I was having too much fun trying to keep up with the witty dialogue.

Despite being divorced, it’s clear from the first scene Walter Burns (Cary Grant) as a wiley newspaper editor and Hildegard ‘Hildy’ Johnson (Rosalind Russell) as his reporter aren’t about to stay away from each other. They have far too much chemistry on screen together for that. Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), Hildy’s soon-to-be second husband plays the fool as comic relief, innocent of the newspaper world and the endemic corruption in the business. In contrast to his naivete, Walter and Hildy are both hardened veterans on the paper and are exceedingly good at what they do, whether that’s leading witnesses, being the first voice on the story, or simply being in the right place at the right time to catch corruption in the act (or a sheepish murderer as he flees from the scene of a prison break).

Their confidence in their abilities plays out in scene after scene, as Walter tries every absurd thing he can think short of blowing up a train of to get Hildy to leave Bruce for him, and Hildy tries (almost) everything to outwit him. Their romance plays out over one day as they chase the story of a murderer sentenced to death by hanging the next morning. Hildy’s determination to get the story first and better than anyone else while keeping up the fast-talking repartee of the boys around her is incredibly charismatic on screen and Walter’s obvious yet constant lies (played nearly but not quite to the point of parody by Grant) is hilarious and fun.

The whole film feels like something of a satire of film noir and is consistently funny from the wisecracks of the newsmen to the sly willingness of all kinds of officials to be bribed. Corruption in politics, the justice system, and the news business is as pertinent as it ever was, making the film feel oddly topical to me, despite its age.

There are, of course, things to criticize about the film. It is, for one thing, fairly dependent on its lead actors, though because both are a force of nature in their respective ways, I don’t think this holds the film back. The snappy dialogue could overwhelm the audience, and because of its non-stop nature, some viewers might find it paradoxically boring, making the film feel longer than it needs to be, even at a tight hour and 30 minutes. With that said though, these problems are connected to the genre, and I’d argue this film minimizes them as well as or better than could be expected.

His Girl Friday (1940), though, is self-aware, from the reference to Ralph Bellamy as an actor to the scene halfway through the film when Hildy finally slows down (somewhat) to talk to Walter on the phone. I think this is one of my favorite moments of the film, and one of the only scenes Hildy and Walter are alone together, even if they are physically in two different locations. As Hildy tells Walter the latest scoop, we can see she truly enjoys telling it, bit by bit, one piece of the story at a time for the greatest impact, and Walter’s genuine laugh shows he’s having as much fun as she is. They really love each other, and even if they’re both crazed workaholics, they are at least crazy for each other too. They can’t get away from the business, and they can’t get away from each other; but so long as they’re together, I certainly don’t mind watching.