Howard Hawks

His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday

One of the fastest, funniest, and most quotable films ever made, His Girl Friday stars Rosalind Russell as reporter Hildy Johnson, a standout among cinema’s powerful women. Hildy is matched in force only by her conniving but charismatic editor and ex-husband, Walter Burns (played by the peerless Cary Grant), who dangles the chance for her to scoop her fellow news writers with the story of an impending execution in order to keep her from hopping the train that’s supposed to take her to Albany and a new life as a housewife. When adapting Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s smash hit play The Front Page, director Howard Hawks had the inspired idea of turning star reporter Hildy Johnson into a woman, and the result is an immortal mix of hard-boiled newsroom setting with ebullient remarriage comedy. Also presented here is a brand-new restoration of the 1931 film The Front Page, Lewis Milestone’s famous pre-Code adaptation of the same material.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1940
  • 92 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #849

TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high-definition digital restoration of His Girl Friday, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New 4K digital restoration of The Front Page, made from a recently discovered print of director Lewis Milestone’s preferred version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New interview with film scholar David Bordwell about His Girl Friday
  • Archival interviews with His Girl Friday director Howard Hawks
  • Featurettes from 1999 and 2006 about Hawks, actor Rosalind Russell, and the making of His Girl Friday
  • Radio adaptation of His Girl Friday from 1940
  • New piece about the restoration of The Front Page
  • New piece about playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht
  • Radio adaptations of the play The Front Page from 1937 and 1946
  • His Girl Friday trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Plus: Essays on His Girl Friday and The Front Page by film critics Farran Smith Nehme and Michael Sragow

New cover by Randy Glass

Purchase Options

TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high-definition digital restoration of His Girl Friday, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New 4K digital restoration of The Front Page, made from a recently discovered print of director Lewis Milestone’s preferred version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New interview with film scholar David Bordwell about His Girl Friday
  • Archival interviews with His Girl Friday director Howard Hawks
  • Featurettes from 1999 and 2006 about Hawks, actor Rosalind Russell, and the making of His Girl Friday
  • Radio adaptation of His Girl Friday from 1940
  • New piece about the restoration of The Front Page
  • New piece about playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht
  • Radio adaptations of the play The Front Page from 1937 and 1946
  • His Girl Friday trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Plus: Essays on His Girl Friday and The Front Page by film critics Farran Smith Nehme and Michael Sragow

New cover by Randy Glass

His Girl Friday
Cast
Cary Grant
Walter Burns
Rosalind Russell
Hildy Johnson
Ralph Bellamy
Bruce Baldwin
Gene Lockhart
Sheriff Hartwell
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
Helen Mack
Mollie Malloy
Alma Kruger
Mrs. Baldwin
Billy Gilbert
Joe Pettibone
Pat West
Warden Cooley
Edwin Maxwell
Dr. Egelhoffer
Credits
Director
Howard Hawks
Screenplay
Charles Lederer
From the original play The Front Page by
Ben Hecht
From the original play The Front Page by
Charles MacArthur
Producer
Jed Harris
Director of photography
Joseph Walker
Editor
Gene Havlick
Art director
Lionel Banks
Gowns by
Kalloch
Musical director
M. W. Stoloff

Current

Words in Edgewise: Dialogue in His Girl Friday
Words in Edgewise: Dialogue in His Girl Friday
The Hollywood screwball canon is rife with witty zingers and provocative repartee, but when it comes to sheer speed, nothing in the genre holds a candle to Howard Hawks’s newsroom rom-com His Girl Friday. In what remains the most beloved screen inc…
The Front Page: Stop the Presses!
The Front Page: Stop the Presses!

A revelatory restoration of Lewis Milestone’s underappreciated newsroom comedy accentuates the film’s punchy rhythms and breakneck banter.

By Michael Sragow

His Girl Friday: The Perfect Remarriage
His Girl Friday: The Perfect Remarriage

A feast of whip-smart banter, Howard Hawks’s protofeminist take on newsroom politics is the most grown-up of all remarriage comedies.


By Farran Smith Nehme

A Preservationist’s Puzzle: Restoring The Front Page

Restoration Spotlight

A Preservationist’s Puzzle: Restoring The Front Page

When the Academy Film Archive embarked on a new restoration of The Front Page, preservationists stumbled onto a mystery regarding the existing prints of the film.

Lili Horvát’s Top 10
Lili Horvát’s Top 10

The director of Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time chooses a selection of masterpieces that shaped her desire to become a filmmaker.

The Funny Man with the Pardon: Billy Gilbert in His Girl Friday

Performances

The Funny Man with the Pardon: Billy Gilbert in His Girl Friday

The famously blustery comedy veteran transforms into a hilariously timid messenger in Howard Hawks’s fast-talking screwball masterpiece.

By Stephen Winer

Jeff Smith on Offscreen Sound in La cérémonie
Jeff Smith on Offscreen Sound in La cérémonie
Most film analysis centers on what is visible on-screen, but sometimes a moment can hinge on information that lies beyond the frame. In the latest installment of Observations on Film Art, a Criterion Channel series that explores the ins and outs of c…