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His Girl Friday (1940)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
2/21
2/21:
Having first seen Billy Wilder's remake of The Front Page and then
the original, His Girl Friday has both positives and negatives, but it's been more of the latter.
The 1931 version is a boring movie to sit through. I said in my other review that over 5,000 words should've
been cut out. Charles Lederer (and Ben Hecht who's uncredited) did the correct thing by redoing more than half
of the screenplay while reducing the volume of words and retaining most of the concepts. The result is:
lightning-fast modern dialogue that's often overlapping.
That being said, it works in the favor of Cary Grant (no surprise there) and Rosalind Russell. When the principal
stars are together, they're good. However, when it's only her with others, His Girl Friday loses
momentum. When Cary Grant is back, the pace is picked up again.
The biggest problem is the middle which begins after Cary Grant's disappearance until he's at the press room
inside the criminal courts building. It's the tedium of The Front Page
all over again. Nothing works, and I'm simply bored, feeling stuck with a play. Then, Cary Grant is back, and
it's unbelievable to see how much he changes everything. Hence, lots of credit go to him for making the film work.
Unfortunately, there's plenty of forced acting on Cary Grant's part which is especially noticeable during the
second half. Rosalind Russell is merely okay; she spends more energy in trying to match her co-star in every way
possible, and it shows. Once again, she does well when he's around. However, the dizzying speed of the dialogue
is exhausting for me to keep up with, and the ensuing confusion feels like
The Big Sleep all over again.
All in all, regarded by many as the gold standard of the screwball comedy genre, His Girl Friday has
everything, but it's not thoroughly entertaining or funny.