‘Walter, you’re wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way...’
Howard Hawks had an astonishing career as a director taking in westerns, film noir and knockabout comedies. Films such as Bringing Up Baby, The Big Sleep and the original Scarface are etched into cinematic history and until this viewing of His Girl Friday I hadn’t seen any of them. That’s something I’ll be looking to rectify over the coming months…
Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) is on the verge of leaving her job as a ‘newsman’ (a reporter in modern parlance) to marry her kindly fiance Bruce (Ralph Bellamy). Unfortunately for Hildy, her crafty ex-husband and newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) has no intention of allowing her to remarry. This all happens against the backdrop of a troubled man (John Qualen) being accused of murder and sentenced to hang.
When you see parodies of old black-and-white movies and everyone is speaking in that weird clipped, stagey, super fast style, it is this movie they are referencing. I was exhausted by the end. There is so much dialogue delivered in just over 90 minutes that it has to be seen to be believed. The ensemble cast does a great job with what is difficult material but it is Grant and Russell that push His Girl Friday into classic territory. The former is as charismatic and absorbing as ever, even as his character goes to ever more despicable lengths to keep his ex-wife by his side, while Russell, an actress I’d never heard of before seeing this movie, delivers a performance for the ages. She perfectly captures the look in a person’s eye when they succumb to an old obsession. Everyone knows that Hildy should leave Walter and the newspaper behind but time and time again she proves that she simply can’t do it. She is a tour-de-force here and it is a joy to behold.
His Girl Friday should be essential viewing for fans of perfectly scripted dialogue and Hollywood’s Golden Age. If nothing else, come for Rosalind Russell. She’s exceptional.