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This film was made in 1940, so unsurprisingly it’s in black and white. That’s not a problem; after the first minute or two I barely noticed. The setting is a newsroom, basically in two different places, and the characters are almost all reporters. The star, to my mind, is Rosalind Russell who plays Hildy Johnson. Hildy has been away from the office for a few months, but is returning to have a word with her former boss Walter Burns (Cary Grant) who also happens to be her ex-husband.
Hildy, who arrives with her new fiancé Bruce (Ralph Bellamy), wants to let Walter know that she’s getting married in Albany the following day, and that she won’t be returning to work. She says she’s met someone who will treat her like a woman, and offer romance rather than being caught up in work all the time. Ralph is an insurance salesman who’s not such a strong character as Hildy, but clearly loves her.
Cary Grant is supposedly the star of this film, but the character he plays is narcissistic, immoral and pushy. It was hard to find anything likeable about him. It’s obvious from the start that he is going to do anything possible to stop Hildy from travelling to Albany and marrying Bruce. This appears to be a case of sour grapes rather than because he still loves her.
The scenes in the newsroom were so fast - often with people talking over each other - that it was impossible to work out much of what was being said. That was after I had got used to the accents, which were quite strong and difficult, at first, to understand. It didn’t seem to matter much; I got the general gist.
Walter becomes more and more unscrupulous as the film progresses. He pushes Hildy into interviewing a man sentenced to hanging, he deals in counterfeit banknotes and he employs a pickpocket. Indeed, he and his cronies show the news media as a horrendously corrupt and unpleasant place to work. They’re not the only corrupt people, though - the story went from bad to worse, it seemed, with people obstructing the police, pretending that an official document had not arrived, and forcibly removing a woman who was asking too many questions.
I gather this film was adapted from a play, and suspect it worked rather better on stage, although I have little interest in this genre of farce with increasingly unrealistic situations. My husband, who has worked in media, thought that the newsrooms portrayed bore little resemblance to reality. And we were both disappointed at the ending of the film. To say what happened would be a spoiler; suffice it to say that we lost respect for Hildy’s character, which was really the only one that held the film together.
It’s not the worst film; we kept watching, and could see how some viewers might find some of the scenes amusing. But Walter is so smarmy and dislikeable that it was hard to find anything to smile about. There are a lot of minor characters, but they all seem alike, smoking heavily and insulting each other without any depth of personality emerging.
So it’s not one we plan to see again, nor one I would recommend.
The film was originally rated U, but recently re-rated PG. This is probably because of some mild violence and threats, and perhaps the significant amount of smoking. I don't recall any bad language and there weren't any scenes of intimacy. But the subject matter isn't suitable for children, and is unlikely to be of interest to today's children or teens.
However, it’s a highly rated film that was very popular when it first came out, and still has a loyal following. So if you’re a fan of Cary Grant, or if you like this genre of 1940s immoral buffoonery with people in suits, then you may well enjoy it. You can find more information, and other opinions about 'His Girl Friday' here on the IMDB site.
Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews
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