What is the plot of the movie His Girl Friday?

Answer 1

Producer-director Howard Hawks' 1940 screen retooling of "The Front Page" is a screwball comedy about madcap activities involving key members of a Chicago newspaper. It stars Cary Grant as the fast-talking, fast-thinking newspaper editor Walter Burns, and Rosalind Russell as the equally fast-talking star reporter (and Burns' ex-wife) Hildy Johnson.

Ralph Bellamy, who excelled as the third wheel in romantic comedies starring Grant (see "The Awful Truth"), plays Bruce Baldwin, the insurance man for whom Johnson plans to leave the newspaper. Of course, Burns will do everything in his power to disrupt Johnson's marriage plans so that she can cover the controversial execution of a convicted murdered (John Qualen).

The original source material, the 1928 Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur stage play "The Front Page," featured Johnson as a male reporter. But this screen treatment by Charles Lederer, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the original "Ocean's 11," switches the character to the distaff side.