"His Girl Friday" is a screwball comedy masterpiece that also influenced the movie "Barbie" *Note! Contains spoilers

*This article touches on the ending of the story, so we recommend watching the movie before reading it.

"His Girl Friday" Synopsis

Walter (Cary Grant), who works at a New York newspaper, is a notorious editor-in-chief who will do anything to get a story. When Walter finds out that his ex-wife and subordinate Hildy (Rosalind Russell) plans to remarry another man and leave the company, he tries every trick in the book to keep her, but she knows his methods so well that his tactics don't work. Hildy begs him to write an article for her, at least for one last job, so she has no choice but to visit a death row inmate, but shortly after, the inmate escapes, causing a big commotion.

Index

• A masterpiece of screwball comedy
• The effect of changing the lead role from male to female
• A dialogue drama unfolding at incredible speed
• Hildy as the epitome of the "Hawksian woman"
• Overturning the value system that says "men work and women stay at home"

A masterpiece of screwball comedy

There is no easy answer to the question of what a screwball comedy is other than to say, "Watch His Girl Friday." It can be described as a film in which eccentric characters cause one incident after another and have fast-paced conversations, like a high-speed curveball (screwball). But more than any explanation, you can understand screwball comedies by watching Howard Hawks' 1940 film His Girl Friday.

"His Girl Friday" Trailer

Of course, when talking about this genre, we must not forget the existence of " It Happened One Night " (directed by Frank Capra) made in 1934 and the work of Ernst Lubitsch, and Howard Hawks himself had already achieved success in this genre with works such as " The Twentieth Century Express " (34) and " Bringing Up Baby " (38). However, "His Girl Friday" is in a class of its own. The actors' conversations and actions are at an incredible speed. The absurdity of Cary Grant's ruthless tactics to confuse the situation. The strength of Rosalind Russell, who immediately sees through his tactics and calmly retaliates despite her rage. The drama of a death row inmate's escape before the execution of his execution, the quarrel between The Journalist competing for the scoop, and the man-woman's negotiations over remarriage and resignation are combined to create a furious development. The ferocity of the film has not faded at all even when viewed today.

Many directors, including Wes Anderson and Greta Gerwig, have publicly stated that this film was an influence. His Girl Friday is a landmark of screwball comedy and a film that revolutionized the history of cinema.

The effect of changing the lead role from male to female