His Girl Friday

85 years after its release director Howard Hawks' classic screwball comedy is still something to behold. It's rapid dialogue and wit were in part achieved by the director pushing his actors to be spontaneous on the fly leading to rampant improvisation and the film to go over time and over budget. That, along with sound mixing to further speed up the dialogue, resulted in stars Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell spitting barbs at each other non-stop for near the entire length of the film.

A reimagining of The Front Page that added a battle of the sexes to the story (which would become a staple of the genre), Russell stars as star reporter Hildy Johnson who returns from vacation to announce to her editor, and ex-husband, Walter Burns (Grant) of her plans to quit the news game and marry boring insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). What follows is Burns using every dirty trick in the book to prevent Hildy from leaving for Albany by enticing her to stay and chase down a story in an attempt to prevent the scheduled execution of of Earl Williams.

The fast-talking, overlapping dialogue was by design as Hawkes attempted break the record for the fastest dialogue for a feature film. The script takes more than few pokes at reporters putting their own spin on stories while also focusing on how Hildy is addicted to the chase, eventually forcing her to admit she love it (and Walter) more than any possible future with Bruce (not that any future with Bruce is possible after what he, and his mother, are dragged through over the course of the film).

An immediate success, the film has continued to be revered over the years ranking #19 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Laughs and added to the National Film Registry in 1993. Along with Bringing Up Baby (released two years prior) His Girl Friday helped to cement the archetype of the genre. Like The Paper, which inspired it, versions of the film have been remade over the years (with 1988's Switching Channels being one of my personal favorites).

The new Criterion Collection includes 4K restored versions of both His Girl Friday and The Paper, archival interviews, the radio adaptation, and featurettes.

• Title: His Girl Friday
• IMDb: link