Ep1204: His Girl Friday (1939) - Movie Review
This Valentine's Day, Ian and Jeff explore the darker side of a comedy classic, His Girl Friday!
Howard Hawks' uproarious and influential rom-com centers on Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), a former newspaper reporter who clashes with her ex-publisher/ex-husband, Walter Burns (Cary Grant) over a breaking story. She's supposed to marry an insurance salesman (Ralph Bellamy), but gets tempted into covering a political conflict involving the pending execution of a cop killer (John Qualen).
His Girl Friday takes place over a rapid-talking, action-packed 12 hours, during which Hildy and Walter re-evaluate their rocky relationship. The question is: should they be together?
In this unusual look at a beloved, iconic film, the guys dig beneath the laughs to get at the heart of two characters who may not have one--caught in a business and a system too corrupt for anyone's good.
They also compare His Girl Friday to Lewis Milestone's The Front Page, which came out in 1931 and was the inspiration for Hawks' gender-swapped comedy!
Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:
Show Links
Watch the His Girl Friday (1940) trailer.
Pick up Criterion's recent 4K release of His Girl Friday (which includes a newly restored version of 1931's The Front Page!).
Support all of Earth's Mightiest Critics at their various outlets:
Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.
Check out Mark "The Movie Man" Krawczyk's The Spoiler Room Podcast.
Get seated with The Blonde in Front!
Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.
Get educated with Don Shanahan at Every Movie Has a Lesson…
...And Film Obsessive
...and the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast.
Keep up with Annie Banks at The Mary Sue.
...and We Got This Covered.
Make Nice with Mike Crowley of You'll Probably Agree.
And save your celluloid soul with Dave Canfield’s Substack, "Creature Feature Preacher".
