Just this morning, as I was flicking absent-mindedly through the television channels, I accidentally clicked my way onto Channel 31 (Australia), which, I hazard to venture, is not generally known for its quality programming. Luckily, my eye was momentarily caught by a young and sharp-looking Cary Grant, and I immediately identified the film to be 1940's 'His Girl Friday,' which I had been meaning to watch for some months. Just like Frank Capra's holiday favourite 'It's A Wonderful Life,' the film has fallen into the public domain, and so television stations are completely free to air it whenever they want. This also means that any company is allowed to throw a poor-quality print onto DVD at practically no cost to them, so this is something to be wary of. Unfortunately, I missed a few minutes of the beginning of the film, but I was too hooked into the story to worry about that until later.<br /><br />For his remake of the 1931 film 'The Front Page' (which was directed by Lewis Milestone and starred Adolphe Menjou), Howard Hawks took the story – complete with all its witty, rapid-fire dialogue – and changed the male character of Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson to a female – Hildegaard 'Hildy' Johnson (Rosalind Russell) – and also the ex-wife of the newspaper editor, Walter Burns (Cary Grant). When Hildy expresses her intentions of quitting the newspaper business and marrying Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) in Albany, Walter takes every precaution possible to prevent her from boarding that train. With a convicted cop-killer, Earl Williams (John Qualen), set to be hanged in the morning, the press-room at the prison is abuzz with vulturous reporters scavenging about for a good story. Rather than simply admitting his continuing love for Hildy, Walter uses the great lengths to which he will go to stop her leaving to tell her how he still feels about her. Also, along the way, Hildy discovers – as the night gradually becomes more and more exciting – that she is a reporter at heart, and will never be able to rid herself of the desire to uncover that perfect story.<br /><br />The jokes come thick and fast, with the talented cast delivering the clever dialogue faster than you can register it, barely giving you any time to laugh. Especially in screwball comedies such as these, actor confidence is absolutely essential, and everybody involved here performs admirably. In addition to the entertaining and often-heated banter between Walter and Hildy, other excellent characters include Bruce Baldwin (the unfortunate would-be future husband whose is arrested on no less than three occasions, and whose mother is kidnapped), the bumbling Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell (Gene Lockhart), Walter's sneaky henchman, Diamond Louie (Abner Biberman), the governor's clueless delivery-man, Joe Pettibone (Billy Gilbert) and a long line of newspaper reporters, each of whom witnesses the same event and yet still reports it in a completely different and entirely inaccurate manner.