My Cultural Diet

Once the star reporter at The Morning Post, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) now wants to quit the newspaper business altogether, marry her new beau, and embrace the quiet life of a housewife. And in Albany, no less. But first, she’ll need to get past her conniving and charming ex-husband, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), who also used to be her editor. Further complicating matters is the impending execution of a man charged with killing a policeman, which has the whole city in an uproar. Can Hildy resist the allure of covering the year’s biggest story? Will she be able to see through Walter’s schemes and machinations? And more importantly, will she be able to resist his charms? The answers to those questions make for one of the all-time classic Hollywood screwball comedies. Russell and Grant are absolutely perfect together onscreen, and Charles Lederer’s script — based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s 1928 play The Front Page — is whip smart and crackerjack, filled with blink-and-you’ll-miss-em jokes, references, and double entendres. Director Howard Hawks encouraged ad-libbing and improvisation from Grant, Russell, and the rest of his ensemble cast. That decision led to production delays, but it also resulted in a film that explodes out of the gate in its opening scene and doesn’t let up until the closing credits.

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