This one of my FAVORITE MOVIES EVER! Love that he mentions his own real name in this...saw this many times as a girl! I have it on VHS, but I haven’t watched it in years! Loved the fast-talking, wise-cracking dialogue! ♥️ Can’t wait to see this again! I think it was one of Cary Grant’s best movies! I would’ve LOVED to have seen this on the big screen! How was it, Jeff?? ♥️♥️♥️
During the wide coverage denouement of Death on the Nile, I recall watching Bette Davis thinking she really doesn't have to do anything here. She's in the background with all the other characters listening to Peter Ustinov monologue. Yet professional that she was her face registered reactions to every single detail being revealed. It was such a marvel and a joy to behold
Ahhhh...BRILLIANT IDEA of Howard Hawks! NICE photo of Archie Leach as a youth! ♥️ I have never seen that photo! He looks pretty much the same! Thank you! 🙏🏼
Thanks for all of this background on the film. I just watched it for the first time and LOVED it. I was amused or shocked moment by moment and it was quite the rollercoaster dumping me out at the end. Appreciate the context to the dialogue and information on the actors' backgrounds.
Just discovered your channel, and glad I did! I've been a fan of classic films forever and this is definitely in my top ten. I love finding out new things about old favorites, so I wanted to say Thank You and I'm looking forward to your other videos!
I'm quite different. I prefer watching classic gems on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon for some reason lol especially Westerns. I can't watch them any other day or weather condition. I guess its the comfort these movies just ooze.
This is cool. There's a huge difference between the overlapping dialogue here in His Girl Friday, and in the movies of Robert Altman. I like Altman', but too often his overlapping dialogue is just confusing. One idea I've arrived at after 60 years of movie watching, is density. Look at a great actor in a scene with someone who isn't. The great actor's face is always moving, always doing something, reacting to the other character's dialogue, 'oh, you're going to explain it?' then 'bad start,'; (eye brow raised) you're heading in dangerous ground....; starts to sound flattering (with the same eyebrow still raised) 'you're not as stupid as you look,' but.... (both eyes pop, brow comes down) 'I oughta bust you right in the kisser.' The bad actor is, 'I'm listening, I'm listening, I'm listening, Now look--I am reacting. Same thing with script. Bad scripts are 'on the nose' each character sounds like cliff notes, exactly what they're thinking, and why. Great scripts are, again, denser. I'm not going to tell you I'm flirting with you, instead 'When you want me, just whistle,' 'You know how to whistle, Joe. Just put your lips together (tongues are hanging out, women are gasping..)and blow.' (that 'last 'blow' is a double entendre that in those days meant 'get lost' or in this case, 'also meant get lost.') Brilliant at density is Preston Sturges. There's a terrific book of his scripts, it also contains a lot of biographical material. I'd never known he'd had an entire Broadway career before he started writing and directing movies. He had a basic method, if you can break down a typical movie/novel/play using the 'three act structure' (which is too simplistic) let's call it 6 sections, Sturges always used 8 sections. The rationale behind this is that if a joke doesn't work as well as expected, the movie is already barreling into another one. It would be worth while to compare the structure of His Girl Friday, the Front Page and Sturges' movies. If they are similar, what else has a similar structure? What I noticed taking notes and watching The Lady Eve, and the Great McGinty a couple of times (over a couple of days) is how spare his movies can be. There's always a lot going on, and often the situation is spinning out of control, but there's not a lot of major business. Nobody heads to the train station and buys a ticket, only the 'business' that's essential is ever shown. Like McGinty getting elected governor, buzzing off his fixer, everything blowing up in his face and getting out of town, is just a couple of minutes. Who cares about the mechanics of how X found out about Y -- unless it's funny. Which part of 'he finds out,' 'he reacts' 'he goes looking' 'he confronts' is funny? cut the rest of it. Sturges adopting a breakneck pace, he may have learned from His Girl Friday. That would be interesting subject: how did scripts get from Oscar Wilde to Preston Sturges? I love this movie. One thing I realized (as someone born in the mid 1950s) is how I get every single joke and reference in this movie. I was born a generation after it, but grew up with in a banter culture with these references. Pop culture might be moving much faster over the past 10-20 years, I can't tell because It's now moved beyond me. The back and forth banter was I think more common across American culture than it is now. Now you toss a line and it seems people just intentionally choose in advance to be annoyed, ignore it or be offended, basically 'kids these days just can't keep up.' You can see this happening, someone gets slightly back footed, you start up, immediately you can see their response register even before they know where you're headed. Almost nobody zings one back. Russell's response was to figure out a way to keep up. Brilliant. Back in the day to day life a person in her situation would first figure out a few comebacks and then work 'em until they got better and better at it. It took my mother-in-law a few years but you could see that first she developed her deflection. She used to call me 'corny' which I thought she'd got wrong. Nope, it's also 'trying to be funny.' It was cute. Eventually she started zinging 'em back at me. I finally had to just give up and be polite, but not all the time.
Any idea why one of the changes from "The Front Page" to "His Girl Friday" was a new name for the newspaper? "The Morning Post" is so fixed in my memory, partly because of Cary Grant's delivery of the line below, that I had to be reminded that the original paper was "The Examiner." MAYOR Well! Looks like about ten years apiece for you birds! BURNS Does it? You forget the power that always watches over the Morning Post. On the other hand, I loved the subtlety of the male Hildebrand becoming Hildegarde. I forget whether either full name is spoken in their respective films.
A Million Movies Jeff...how do you know so much about films & the film industry? Did you work in it or is it a hobby? Did you take classes & do some acting yourself?? Thx in advance! ❤️
I studied film in grad school, and I worked for a couple of movie studios early in my career, but mostly I just watch a lot of movies and I like to read about who made them and how they made them.
A Million Movies thank you, Jeff! I love watching how they made a bunch of the classics & what the actors themselves had to say about the making of them...so when I have borrowed a dvd from the library, I always watch how it was made & any extra info that’s on there as a bonus! It’s really fascinating! Good for you, that you have some first-hand experiences & studied it! Wonderful!
Also, don't you think Rosaline Russel was a strange choice for this role. Before this film she was cast as the classy dame, good breeding and high society. Here she's firing off lines as fast as she can and acting like one of the guys. The films of the 30s had very fast dialogue. Torchy Blaine was a female detective who hit out at least 100 words a minute.
Today, this film could be make with Two Male Leads; not in a Platonic Love relationship as in the Original...not just as a Bromance---but a true 'Romance'--a Front Page romantic comedy...with an openly understood (had been sexual relationship----IF only acknowledged by the Two Male Leads). And Yes, the setting could still be the 1930s with no need to update; by double entendre the dialogue would sparkle with the two Gay protagonist...almost, if you will a "Kiss Me Kate" format. lol....
Thanks for doing this one. His Girl Friday is definitely on my all-time top 10 films list.
I am a HUGE old movie fan, like pre 1960, and am so grateful for you sharing all these Tibet bits making my re- viewing that much more enjoyable, thx🎸
This one of my FAVORITE MOVIES EVER! Love that he mentions his own real name in this...saw this many times as a girl! I have it on VHS, but I haven’t watched it in years! Loved the fast-talking, wise-cracking dialogue! ♥️ Can’t wait to see this again! I think it was one of Cary Grant’s best movies! I would’ve LOVED to have seen this on the big screen! How was it, Jeff?? ♥️♥️♥️
During the wide coverage denouement of Death on the Nile, I recall watching Bette Davis thinking she really doesn't have to do anything here. She's in the background with all the other characters listening to Peter Ustinov monologue. Yet professional that she was her face registered reactions to every single detail being revealed. It was such a marvel and a joy to behold
Ahhhh...BRILLIANT IDEA of Howard Hawks! NICE photo of Archie Leach as a youth! ♥️ I have never seen that photo! He looks pretty much the same! Thank you! 🙏🏼
Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant deserved Oscars.
Thanks for all of this background on the film. I just watched it for the first time and LOVED it. I was amused or shocked moment by moment and it was quite the rollercoaster dumping me out at the end. Appreciate the context to the dialogue and information on the actors' backgrounds.
Just discovered your channel, and glad I did! I've been a fan of classic films forever and this is definitely in my top ten. I love finding out new things about old favorites, so I wanted to say Thank You and I'm looking forward to your other videos!
TV show Moonlighting was inspired by this. They had many page of dialogue that had to fit into a 45 minute episode.
Time to watch this classic film again. It's a quiet Sunday evening and it's windy and cold outside. Popcorn maybe?
I'm quite different. I prefer watching classic gems on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon for some reason lol especially Westerns. I can't watch them any other day or weather condition. I guess its the comfort these movies just ooze.
Love this analysis and the movie. So romantic...their relationship.
I could watch this movie every day
What a terrific channel! Great work!
Excellent analysis. I really enjoy your work.
Oh, I love this movie, too. (They talk SO fast!)
This is cool. There's a huge difference between the overlapping dialogue here in His Girl Friday, and in the movies of Robert Altman. I like Altman', but too often his overlapping dialogue is just confusing.
One idea I've arrived at after 60 years of movie watching, is density. Look at a great actor in a scene with someone who isn't. The great actor's face is always moving, always doing something, reacting to the other character's dialogue, 'oh, you're going to explain it?' then 'bad start,'; (eye brow raised) you're heading in dangerous ground....; starts to sound flattering (with the same eyebrow still raised) 'you're not as stupid as you look,' but.... (both eyes pop, brow comes down) 'I oughta bust you right in the kisser.' The bad actor is, 'I'm listening, I'm listening, I'm listening, Now look--I am reacting.
Same thing with script. Bad scripts are 'on the nose' each character sounds like cliff notes, exactly what they're thinking, and why. Great scripts are, again, denser. I'm not going to tell you I'm flirting with you, instead 'When you want me, just whistle,' 'You know how to whistle, Joe. Just put your lips together (tongues are hanging out, women are gasping..)and blow.' (that 'last 'blow' is a double entendre that in those days meant 'get lost' or in this case, 'also meant get lost.')
Brilliant at density is Preston Sturges. There's a terrific book of his scripts, it also contains a lot of biographical material. I'd never known he'd had an entire Broadway career before he started writing and directing movies.
He had a basic method, if you can break down a typical movie/novel/play using the 'three act structure' (which is too simplistic) let's call it 6 sections, Sturges always used 8 sections. The rationale behind this is that if a joke doesn't work as well as expected, the movie is already barreling into another one. It would be worth while to compare the structure of His Girl Friday, the Front Page and Sturges' movies. If they are similar, what else has a similar structure?
What I noticed taking notes and watching The Lady Eve, and the Great McGinty a couple of times (over a couple of days) is how spare his movies can be. There's always a lot going on, and often the situation is spinning out of control, but there's not a lot of major business. Nobody heads to the train station and buys a ticket, only the 'business' that's essential is ever shown. Like McGinty getting elected governor, buzzing off his fixer, everything blowing up in his face and getting out of town, is just a couple of minutes. Who cares about the mechanics of how X found out about Y -- unless it's funny. Which part of 'he finds out,' 'he reacts' 'he goes looking' 'he confronts' is funny? cut the rest of it. Sturges adopting a breakneck pace, he may have learned from His Girl Friday. That would be interesting subject: how did scripts get from Oscar Wilde to Preston Sturges?
I love this movie. One thing I realized (as someone born in the mid 1950s) is how I get every single joke and reference in this movie. I was born a generation after it, but grew up with in a banter culture with these references.
Pop culture might be moving much faster over the past 10-20 years, I can't tell because It's now moved beyond me. The back and forth banter was I think more common across American culture than it is now. Now you toss a line and it seems people just intentionally choose in advance to be annoyed, ignore it or be offended, basically 'kids these days just can't keep up.' You can see this happening, someone gets slightly back footed, you start up, immediately you can see their response register even before they know where you're headed. Almost nobody zings one back. Russell's response was to figure out a way to keep up. Brilliant. Back in the day to day life a person in her situation would first figure out a few comebacks and then work 'em until they got better and better at it. It took my mother-in-law a few years but you could see that first she developed her deflection. She used to call me 'corny' which I thought she'd got wrong. Nope, it's also 'trying to be funny.' It was cute. Eventually she started zinging 'em back at me. I finally had to just give up and be polite, but not all the time.
Good info. Thanks.
Great video! Thank you!
Excellent review, lots of hard work on so much fun! "The Women" 1939 deserves your eagle eye?
Stage door and the original The Women are my favorite quick wit dialogue movies have you done either of these?
I haven’t, but they’re on my list.
very good. I love Rosalind Russell
Any idea why one of the changes from "The Front Page" to "His Girl Friday" was a new name for the newspaper? "The Morning Post" is so fixed in my memory, partly because of Cary Grant's delivery of the line below, that I had to be reminded that the original paper was "The Examiner."
MAYOR
Well! Looks like about ten years
apiece for you birds!
BURNS
Does it? You forget the power that
always watches over the Morning Post.
On the other hand, I loved the subtlety of the male Hildebrand becoming Hildegarde. I forget whether either full name is spoken in their respective films.
A Million Movies Jeff...how do you know so much about films & the film industry? Did you work in it or is it a hobby? Did you take classes & do some acting yourself?? Thx in advance! ❤️
I studied film in grad school, and I worked for a couple of movie studios early in my career, but mostly I just watch a lot of movies and I like to read about who made them and how they made them.
A Million Movies thank you, Jeff! I love watching how they made a bunch of the classics & what the actors themselves had to say about the making of them...so when I have borrowed a dvd from the library, I always watch how it was made & any extra info that’s on there as a bonus! It’s really fascinating! Good for you, that you have some first-hand experiences & studied it! Wonderful!
The early Three Stooges had overlapping dialogue/good timing
Also, don't you think Rosaline Russel was a strange choice for this role. Before this film she was cast as the classy dame, good breeding and high society. Here she's firing off lines as fast as she can and acting like one of the guys. The films of the 30s had very fast dialogue. Torchy Blaine was a female detective who hit out at least 100 words a minute.
Today, this film could be make with Two Male Leads; not in a Platonic Love relationship as in the Original...not just as a Bromance---but a true 'Romance'--a Front Page romantic comedy...with an openly understood (had been sexual relationship----IF only acknowledged by the Two Male Leads). And Yes, the setting could still be the 1930s with no need to update; by double entendre the dialogue would sparkle with the two Gay protagonist...almost, if you will a "Kiss Me Kate" format. lol....