His Girl Friday (1940)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently His Girl Friday is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, FlixFling, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Cineverse, Hoopla, Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Fandor Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Pure Flix, IndieFlix, Epix Amazon Channel, Fandango At Home, Crackle, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Public Domain Movies, Plex Channel
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Cary Grant
Walter Burns
Rosalind Russell
Hildy Johnson
Ralph Bellamy
Bruce Baldwin
Gene Lockhart
Sheriff Hartwell
Helen Mack
Mollie Malloy
Porter Hall
Murphy
Ernest Truex
Bensinger
Cliff Edwards
Endicott
Clarence Kolb
Mayor
Roscoe Karns
McCue
Frank Jenks
Wilson
Regis Toomey
Sanders
Abner Biberman
Louie
Frank Orth
Duffy
John Qualen
Earl Williams
Alma Kruger
Mrs. Baldwin
Billy Gilbert
Joe Pettibone
Pat West
Warden Cooley
Edwin Maxwell
Dr. Egelhoffer
Irving Bacon
Gus (uncredited)
Wade Boteler
Mike (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley
Insurance Doctor (uncredited)
Wheaton Chambers
Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb
Cop (uncredited)
Ann Doran
Newspaper Office Worker (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn
Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Earl Dwire
Pete Davis (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty
Frank the Policeman (uncredited)
Jack Gardner
Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Eddie Hart
Carl the Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Marion Martin
Evangeline (uncredited)
Frank McLure
Newsman (uncredited)
James Millican
Tim (uncredited)
Gene Morgan
Gene (uncredited)
Delmar Watson
Skinny (uncredited)
Howard Hawks
Producer / Director
Joseph Walker
Director of Photography
Charles MacArthur
Theatre Play
Sidney Cutner
Music
Ben Hecht
Theatre Play / Screenplay
Media.
Details.
Release DateJanuary 18, 1940
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 32m
Content RatingNR
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. The screenplay was adapted from the 1928 play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. This was the second time the play had been adapted for the screen, the first occasion being the 1931 film which kept the original title The Front Page.
The script for His Girl Friday was written by Charles Lederer and Ben Hecht, the latter of whom is not credited for his contributions. The major change in this version, introduced by Hawks, is that the role of Hildy Johnson is a woman. Filming began in September 1939 and finished in November, seven days behind schedule. Production was delayed because the frequent improvisation and numerous ensemble scenes required many retakes. Hawks encouraged his actors to be aggressive and spontaneous. His Girl Friday has been noted for its surprises, comedy, and rapid, overlapping dialogue. Hawks was determined to break the record for the fastest film dialogue, at the time held by The Front Page. He used a sound mixer on the set to increase the speed of dialogue and held a showing of the two films next to each other to prove how fast his film was.
His Girl Friday was #19 on American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs and was selected in 1993 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is in the public domain because the copyright was not renewed; the play it was based on remained under copyright for several decades until it expired in 2024, fully releasing the film from remaining copyright.