His Girl Friday is a 1940 screwball comedy, a remake of the 1931 film The Front Page, itself an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of their play of the same name. It was directed by Howard Hawks and is noted for the rapid-fire wit and extremely fast pace of the dialogue.
The film was originally supposed to be a straightforward retelling of The Front Page, with both the editor and reporter being men. However, during auditions, Howard Hawks' secretary read reporter Hildy Johnson's lines. Hawks liked the way the dialogue sounded coming from a woman, and the script was rewritten to make Hildy female (and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns). Most of the original dialogue and all of the characters' names were left the same.
The title is an inversion of the expression "Man Friday".
The film was #19 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Today the film is in the public domain, which hasn't stopped Columbia from issuing official video releases of the film.
Load Comments...
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.