His Girl Friday

[Guest Edgy DC]

Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant

[RealityChuck]

Great comedy, second only to Bringing Up Baby as Howard Hawk's best, and probably in the top 30 for the decade (not shabby, with the large number of films during that era and the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, and Mae West in their prime).

The original play was funny enough, but the movie upped the ante by speeding things up. Some of the best in-jokes ever: "He looks like the movie actor, Ralph Bellamy." "Mock turtle." "Archie Leach."

Billy Gilbert is also terrific, as was Clarence Kolb as the slippery mayor. "You didn't come here." "Yes, I did." "No, you didn't." "Yes, I did. Just now."

[Guest Edgy DC]

Didn't like it. And I like Hawkes and Bringing Up Baby.

Cheap ethnic humor flecked throughout. A saint-of-the-ghetto moron of an Irish woman named Molly and occasionaly guffawing references to pickaninnies.

Loose ends everywhere. A woman leaps out a window and crumbles in a courtyard below and a few other characters raise their eyebrows and tut-tut and the show goes on. I guess farce is like that, but my disbelief faled to stay suspended.

[Vic Sage]

A brilliant movie. Dazzling dialogue, witty performances and manic pacing keep it entertaining today, even when many other good movies from that era seem stale and dated.

The reporters' indifferent reaction to the death of the whore is PERFECT in tone, satirizing the callousness of the jackal pack.

If you dislike the film for reflecting the sociological sensitivities (or lack thereof) of its time, then so be it. Anybody can dislike a movie for any reason, or no reason whatsoever. It's a matter of personal taste. But having a dislike for it, one can still acknowledge its relative quality as a film.

BIRTH OF A NATION, POTEMPKIN and THE OLYMPIAD are brilliant movies, too, but certainly not in the context of modern morality, and they're certainly not ones I'd run home to watch on cable. I especially dislike TRIUMPH OF THE WILL but its power and virtuoso filmmaking techniques are undeniable.

Meanwhile, I absolutely love BARBARELLA but i'll never confuse it with a good movie.