His Girl Friday

In 2000, I did my first shot by shot of this film, noting how fast it moved, but also if you listened closely how much information was being given. The first shot for me is a title card, which appears before the actual shot of the men and women in the newsroom.

After opening credits, a title card shows text over an unfocused background of newspaper page: IT ALL HAPPENED IN THE “DARK AGES” OF THE NEWSPAPER GAME—WHEN TO A REPORTER “GETTING THAT STORY” JUSTIFIED ANYTHING SHORT OF MURDER. INCIDENTALLY YOU WILL SEE IN THIS PICTURE NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE PRESS TODAY. READY? WELL, ONCE UPON A TIME—

This lingers on screen for a good 15 seconds, and as we do we are awash with non-diegetic violin music. The ludicrousness of the lines, "It all happened in the Dark Ages" and "Once Upon a Time--" are in stark contrast each other? Did this happen, or is it a story, well, centered in the middle of the pages, in quotes are the lines. "Getting that story" implying, getting the "story" is not the true concern, or perhaps, stands for something else. Also, the lines, "Justified anything short of Murder." Meaning, there are any number of things that can be done, such as lie, cheat or steal. I often ask my own students, is there a conflict here? Often they will wonder what I mean, but a lot can happen anything short of murder.

If you watch this film, Walter (Cary Grant) isn't above lying to the police, sending people to jail, letting a woman jump out a window, writing a bad check--the list goes on, but right smack dab in the center of the page are the terms, "Men and Women" implying that whatever this message is, it involves men and women.

Hawks doesn't wait either--he gives us men and women immediately. Men and women moving, yelling, clicking typewriters and yelling. "Copy Boy!" Then, Hawk's brilliant dissolve reverses the roles on us. Inside the newsroom, the men are in the forefront of the screen. The women walk between them--dissolve, and the women are in the foreground, the lifeblood of the "Morning Post" the telephone operators, while behind them, young boys sort mail (male).

Our images of men are succinct. They Wear hats. They push through gates marked, No admittance and they don't stop. Enter Bruce and Hildy. Bruce has a hat, but has taken it off. He wears an overcoat, and in his left hand is an umbrella? Do any other men have umbrellas? No. Who wears her hat inside? Hildy pushes straight through the "No Admittance" sign without a blink, and what does Bruce do, apart from hold it open for her. He stays on the otherside, doing exactly what the sign says. So much is said about their relationship in so few moments, and what do we soon learn. Hildy tells Bruce to stay here. Hildy walks among the men, like a men, and as she finally crosses to Walter's officer, she enters like a man, bothering to knock after she has already entered.

The reader should know, this is going to be a film about men and women, and even the number of exchanges made by Hildy in the Newsroom show she is one of the boys, right down to the title of the film, a juxtaposition of words. "His Girl Friday. The very title itself has the male and female words in it and Hawkes' is about to play around with ideas of male and female all through his masterpiece, but if you blink or don't pay attention, you just might miss it.