His Girl Friday (1940)

Ben Hecht's and Charles MacArthur's classic newspaper play The Front Page had been filmed successfully before and would be again after this sparkling version, scripted by Hecht and Charles Lederer. But astute and witty director Howard Hawks delights in the simple twist that was a stroke of genius - turning ace reporter Hildy Johnson into a woman. Voila, His Girl Friday became the fastest-talking battle of the sexes in the history of romantic screwball comedy.

Scintillating Rosalind Russell is the wisecracking star reporter her editor and ex-husband (Cary Grant) can't lose in the middle of a hot murder story. When she announces that she's quitting to marry meek square (Ralph Bellamy), Walter's incredulity and dismay launch him into conniving overdrive. As wily Walter calculates, Hildy can't resist a last big story and is shortly up to her absurd hat in a jailhouse break and corruption expose. Grant and Russell engage in dizzying verbal play of machine-gun speed in a plot that reaches farcical heights, with a great ensemble of gum-chewing, smoke-wreathed, poker-playing hacks as their cynical chorus. Theatrical and stylish His Girl Friday is unrivaled for comic timing and snappy repartee.

Quote of the Day-
Walter Burns "There's been a lamp burning in the window for ya, honey... here."
Hildy Johnson "Oh, I jumped out that window a long time ago."

Tomorrow: Scarface (1932)