His girl Friday [videorecording] /
- Culver City, Ca. : Columbia TriStar Home Video, [c2000]
- 1 videodisc (91 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in.
- Columbia classics. .
- Columbia classics. .
Originally produced or released in 1939. Run time: approx. 94 min. Full screen format (aspect ratio 1.33). Originally released as a motion picture in 1939. Based on the play The front page, by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, as produced by Jed Harris. Special features: 4 featurettes ; vintage advertising ; theatrical trailers ; talent files ; interactive menus ; production notes ; scene selections.
Director of photography, Joseph Walker; editing, Gene Havlick. Director of photography, Joseph Walker; editing, Gene Havlick.
Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Porter Hall.
The Charles MacArthur-Ben Hecht play about a designing, conniving newspaper editor and his favorite, but gullible ace reporter is an institution. It's been made into a film four times as The Front Page in 1930 (with Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou -- as The Front Page with in 1974 (with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon) -- and renamed and retooled as Switching Channels (with Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner and Christopher Reeves). The most successful (and hilarious) version is Hawks' combination verbal slapstick cum screwball version with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The pace in His Girl Friday is so frantic that one could get whiplash while howling with laughter. As Hildy Johnson, Russell is working at her peak. She matches wits and skills with Cary Grant's peerless Walter Johnson. They are supported by a cast that is aces -- Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Porter Hall, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Regis Toomey, Alma Kruger, John Qualen and the even tempered Ralph Bellamy as the prize nice guy booby. One of the very finest and funniest Hollywood comedies. Notes: Charles Lederer wrote this version of the Hecht-MacArthur play. The idea of turning Hildy into a woman was probably Hawks. Women in his films were always smart, tough, and yet just the right woman to be around in the end. Screenplay by Bartlett Cormack from the play by Hecht and MacArthur with additional dialogue by Charles Lederer. Produced by Howard Hughes and Lewis Milestone. Cinematography by Glen MacWilliams. Academy Award nominations for best picture, director and actor (Adolphe Menjou). An unscrupulous newspaper editor uses every dirty trick in the book to keep his ace reporter/ex-wife from retiring and remarrying in this twist on The front page.
DVD.
English (mono) or Spanish language soundtrack, with optional subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean & Thai ; closed-captioned in English for the hearing impaired.