His Girl Friday is based on the hit Broadway play, The Front Page, by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. This material has been made into several films including a 1974 version starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but His Girl Friday is the most successful. Increasing the stakes, he gave Hildy and Walter Burns, the manic newspaper editor, a romantic history in the form of a failed marriage. The film features fast, overlapping, and witty dialogue spewing out of emotionally tough characters. There is hardly a moment to breathe under the barrage of words and action.
Hawks necessarily uses long takes that allow the actors to work their magic on screen.
The pacing is frenetic, but there is an almost musical rhythm to the dialogue and comic timing that shows the touch of a great director. Cary Grant, as Walter Burns, the editor of the Post , shows off his genius for timing and characterization. Nevertheless, Grant is a great actor. The history of the female lead is interesting. When it finally came to Rosalind Russell, she was skeptical, but agreed.