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His Girl Friday [1940] [DVD]
 
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His Girl Friday [1940] [DVD]

Cary Grant , Rosalind Russell , Howard Hawks    Universal, suitable for all   DVD
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Price: £2.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

His Girl Friday [1940] [DVD] + Bringing Up Baby [DVD] + Arsenic and Old Lace [DVD] [1944]
Price For All Three: £12.28

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Product details

  • Actors: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall
  • Directors: Howard Hawks
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English, French
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: U
  • Studio: Elstree Hill Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 15 Mar 2004
  • Run Time: 92 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0001U0HHK
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 12,565 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

His Girl Friday is one of the five greatest dialogue comedies ever made. Howard Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Rosalind Russell, not Hawks' first choice to play Hildy Johnson--the ace newsperson whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Cary Grant's Walter Burns is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T Jameson, Amazon.com

Product Description

Chicago Morning Post editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is about to lose his ace reporter and former wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) to Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Then a late breaking story involving the impending execution of an anarchist who escapes and is hidden from the police by the former husband and wife throws the pair together once again.


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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 64 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
What a travesty the DVD of 'His Girl Friday' release is - so much so that it must rank among the worst DVDs ever released onto the unsuspecting Region 2 market. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way criticising the film itself - simply the ineffective and downright lazy DVD transfer.

One only has to look at the likes of the recent releases of 'The Big Sleep' and 'Casablanca' to see what can be done with all-time classic movies. Ok, neither of these titles is packed with extras, which many would see as a crime in itself, but the picture and sound quality are superb considering the vintage of their original release and is a testament to those involved in the transfer to DVD. This is especially gratifying when one realises that although these titles are often cited as 'top 10 greats', they will have a limited audience among the 'Matrix' and 'Men In Black' fans and therefore will ultimately be monetarily less successful.

However, even an admittedly limited audience appeal cannot excuse the complete lack of effort put into this release. Not only does it have no extras ( which on a film of this age is perhaps excusable ) but the picture and sound are so terrible that an old VHS copy I have actually rivals it for quality - this is especially telling due to the fact that my VHS copy was recorded off-air on long-play on a very cheap tape ( in fact I think that this DVD must have been taken from a similar source ).

As a fan of classic films I purchased this DVD with great pleasure that a distribution company would have taken the trouble to release one of the greats - what I didn't bank on was the fact that I could only stand to watch this title for around 5 mins before I had to switch it off and resort to my VHS copy - where at least the hiss didn't drown out every bit of dialogue.

In short, my advice to anyone who is a fan of this film ( or DVD in general ) is to vote with your feet and avoid this DVD like the plague !

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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I bought this version via a special offer run by the Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK and am now returning it for a refund.

The film (or as much of it as we saw!) seems to deserve all the praise it has received. However, there are many different DVD versions on the market, as you can see here on Amazon, and this particular one should be avoided like the plague!

The transfer is poor, with a rather out of focus quality. There are no options whatsoever. No subtitles. No scene selection. No extra features. The DVD menu only allows you to play the movie and nothing else.

To make it even worse, my copy played about half way through then the picture started to break up and after a minute or so of this behaviour it just jumped back to the beginning. Obviously, I can't say if this particular defect applies to all copies.

Feedback on this site suggests that the Columbia Classics DVD might be a much better buy - and I will probably now get this version.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Cary Grant plays a newspaper editor and Rosalind Russell plays his ex-wife and fellow reporter who is about to quit her job and remarry. Grant doesn�t want to lose one of his star reporters, and he is unscrupulous enough to do just about anything to stop the marriage going ahead, including having her prospective husband framed and thrown in prison- not once, but twice. Russell is desperate to leave journalism behind her and start a family and a home, but her journalistic instincts flair up when she hears of a man about to be unfairly executed and she thinks she can stop it. Watching her facilitate between her desire to be a journalist and a housewife is genuinely funny. The film is gripping and Howard Hawks, one of Hollywood�s greatest directors, handles the direction with real flair, never letting the pace slacken. Cary Grant is a master of comic timing and both he and Russell make a great double act. The rest of the cast put in a sterling performance. This is a much better film than the more famous Billy Wilder remake.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
this print white cover/photo is wortless
as my beloved amazon still doesn't throw out all the public domain-stinkers, once again a warning for this brandless print GMVS 1198, with a nice coloured photo on the cover, but a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by janfilmfan
A classic story
This is the classic story of the newspaper front page frenzy. There has been many versions of it filmed and this may not be the best. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Kristina Suder
Bad & good
From a technical point of view The Elstree Hill edition is a disaster.Avoid at any cost!
Not being much of a masochist I left it at that. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Tom Tom
Cary Grant film
I bought this DVD for my niece, who is a fan of Cary Grant. The DVD arrived very promptly, but I haven't yet seen the film as it has been given to my niece.
Published 16 months ago by SAW
Poor quality and would not play properly
The disc sent to me was a very poor copy and froze in the last five minutes. I returned it and got my money back
Published 20 months ago by Portman
Breathless take on old-style Chicago news hounds with Grant
When this review was originally written in 2007, it was the 95th review to appear at Amazon US on this movie. Read more
Published 21 months ago by L. E. Cantrell
These reviews are a mistake.
In my search to buy a DVD of this film, I noticed that the same reviews appear on ALL the DVD's offered that have been made! So, you can not tell from these reviews.
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by Karen Berghorst
Don't buy it - the quality is awful
Don't buy it, the video quality is awful. Blurred and jiggles about. Looks like somebody put a camera in front of a projector screen. Very poor.

NB. Read more
Published on 27 May 2009 by J. Marques
Great Comedy
This is an incredibly fast and witty comedy, and it's pretty much considered the best. Cary Grant is unusually charming and hilarious.I enjoyed it thoroughly all the way through.
Published on 9 Aug 2008 by R. Baker
You're a reporter
Howard Hawks was responsible for a lot of outstanding movies, like "The Big Sleep" and "Bringing Up Baby. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2008 by E. A Solinas
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anyone know a good dvd version of ' HIS GIRL FRIDAY ' 3 25 Aug 2009
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