Have the movies ever talked this quickly, before or since?
Rosalind Russell delivers a verbal torrent as Hildy Johnson, the crack newspaper reporter trying to escape the clutches of Walter Burns, her workaholic ex-husband and overbearing former editor. She’s fleeing to a docile married life in the suburbs, which sounds like a smart move except that Burns is played by Cary Grant. (The new husband-to-be, to make the picture’s sympathies even clearer, is played by a simpering Ralph Bellamy.)
Bantering at light speed, Russell and Grant are a wonder to behold: they deliver what can only be called effortless precision. Given a hurtling pace by director Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday might just offer the highest laugh-to-minute ratio in film, considering there are jokes in the dialogue, delivery and actors’ expressions coming at you all at once.
The movie is also – slyly – a landmark feminist picture, especially because it takes Hildy’s independence and professional competence at face value. Her male colleagues hardly bat an eye at her “fairer†qualities and the movie never once does. In fact, it’s Hildy’s talent as a reporter – as much, if not more, than her physical beauty – that makes her desirable in the eyes of no less a male paragon than Cary Grant. The title may imply that Hildy is his girl, but there is no doubting that this is her movie.
