Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch us on Youtube Join the Archive Mailing List Read our Blog

His Girl Friday  /  The Awful Truth

His Girl Friday (1940)
October 4, 2015 - 7:00 pm

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Republic Pictures with funding provided by Dini and Les Ostrov.

His Girl Friday  (1940)


His Girl Friday
is the culmination of the screwball comedy tradition of the 1930s.  In this sophisticated battle of the sexes, Rosalind Russell plays a fast-talking reporter with a quick retort for every wisecrack delivered by her ex-husband and current boss, Cary Grant.  When Russell hands in her resignation in order to marry a bland insurance man, desire is rekindled and the brilliant dialogue begins.

35mm, b/w, 92 min.  Production: Columbia Pictures Corp.  Distribution: Columbia Pictures Corp.  Producer: Howard Hawks.  Director: Howard Hawks.  Based on the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.  Screenwriter: Charles Lederer.  Cinematographer: Joseph Walker.  Editor: Gene Havlick.  With: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division with funding provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The Awful Truth  (1937)


Screwball hits a sophisticated zenith with this inspired pairing of Irene Dunne and Cary Grant as a couple who divorce, then reconcile—a schematic concept ingeniously burnished here with snappy dialogue, amorous flings, a courtroom battle over a dog and assorted pratfalls.  Director Leo McCarey won an Oscar for his taut and witty variation on the theme of boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.

35mm, b/w, 90 min.  Production: Columbia Pictures Corp.  Distribution: Columbia Pictures Corp.  Director: Leo McCarey.  Based on the play by Arthur Richman.  Screenwriter: Viña Delmar.  Cinematographer: Joseph Walker.  Editor: Al Clark.  Composer: Ben Oakland.  With: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham.