His Girl Friday
| Year: | 1940 |
| Studio: | Columbia |
| Director: | Howard Hawks |
| Cast: | Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy |
Sitting down to watch this film I had no idea it had been remade so many times (and was itself an adaptation of the play The Front Page.
But if you've ever seen Switching Channels, you know it's been pretty thoroughly ripped off. And I don't mean remade, I mean every character, setting, sequence and idea has been translated to the modern times and the TV studio. Even though I really enjoyed Switching Channels (and now I know why), I can see it was a fairly lazy movie to make.
The bickering couple are Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy the dolt in the middle who has no idea how he's being played.
Hildy has broken away from Walter personally and professionally, divorcing him and resigning from the newspaper business to life with staid insurance salesman Bruce.
But Walter's too wily for that, and he knows that the action of reporting is what really rocks Hildy's world, one he engages all his tricks to make sure she doesn't escape from.
When a condemned man becomes the pawn in a political power struggle, Walter sees his chance and starts to reel Hildy in.
The courthouse newsroom guys, Walter's many lackeys, the scattershot dialogue are all there and were so familiar to me even as I was watching it.
Charming, funny and strangely sweet. Just watch it before one of the many remakes.
But if you've ever seen Switching Channels, you know it's been pretty thoroughly ripped off. And I don't mean remade, I mean every character, setting, sequence and idea has been translated to the modern times and the TV studio. Even though I really enjoyed Switching Channels (and now I know why), I can see it was a fairly lazy movie to make.
The bickering couple are Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy the dolt in the middle who has no idea how he's being played.
Hildy has broken away from Walter personally and professionally, divorcing him and resigning from the newspaper business to life with staid insurance salesman Bruce.
But Walter's too wily for that, and he knows that the action of reporting is what really rocks Hildy's world, one he engages all his tricks to make sure she doesn't escape from.
When a condemned man becomes the pawn in a political power struggle, Walter sees his chance and starts to reel Hildy in.
The courthouse newsroom guys, Walter's many lackeys, the scattershot dialogue are all there and were so familiar to me even as I was watching it.
Charming, funny and strangely sweet. Just watch it before one of the many remakes.