TV Guide: Online Video Guide Charles MacArthur

Front Page, The (1931) -- (Movie Clip) I Want Hildy Johnson!

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:50:47 -0500

Walter Burns (Adolphe Menjou) is hunting Hildy in two remarkable shots from director Lewis Milestone in an early scene from The Front Page 1931, from the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

His Girl Friday (Enhanced) - 1940

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:51:09 -0500

Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's classic 1928 newspaper play, has had three official film versions and contributed structural DNA to half the movies ever made about professional camaraderie and fierce love-hate friendships. Lewis Milestone's 1931 movie is well respected (Billy Wilder's 1974 version isn't), but this is one case where the remake towers brilliantined head and blocked shoulders above the original. Howard Hawks had the inspired notion of making Hildy Johnson--the ace newsman whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--a she instead of a he. What's more, she's not only Walter's star reporter but also his ex-wife. When Hildy (Rosalind Russell) comes to tell Walter (Cary Grant) she's leaving the newspaper business, he bamboozles her into carrying out one last assignment--a death-row interview with a little nebbish (John Qualen) convicted of killing a policeman. It sounds like a snap, but before you can say screwball comedy, the press

His Girl Friday (Enhanced) - 1940

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:24:05 -0500