Cary Grant's Best Screwball Comedy Is Streaming For Free

Cary Grant is one of Hollywood's greatest rags-to-riches stories. Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, UK, in 1904, he survived an impoverished and neglected childhood in which his mother was falsely declared dead (he would find out she was still alive until was in his 30s) and went on to become one of the greatest romantic leading men that Tinseltown has ever produced. Known for his distinctive and often-imitated mid-Atlantic accent, dashing good looks, and a faint air of aristocratic amusement, Grant appeared in over 70 movies during his career, ranging from Boys' Own adventures ("Gunga Din") and film noir ("Notorious") to slick espionage thrillers ("North by Northwest"). Yet his particular debonair charms were always better suited to light comedy, perhaps best demonstrated in one of his best screwball movies: Howard Hawks' 1940 classic "His Girl Friday," now streaming free on Pluto TV.

"His Girl Friday" was Grant's third collaboration with Howard Hawks after "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) and "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939). The former was also a screwball comedy, pairing Grant with Katherine Hepburn, and these fast-talking farces were all the rage after the roaring success of "It Happened One Night" (1934), the first only three movies to date (the others being "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Silence of the Lambs") to win the Big Five Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. With the advent of sound, silent-era comedy stars like Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy gamely carried on by upgrading their shtick with dialogue, but the new format offered audiences something more sophisticated and glamorous at a time when many people were still suffering from the effects of the Great Depression.

There are many great screwball comedies from the genre's heyday in '30s and '40s and "His Girl Friday" is rightly regarded as one of the best of all time. As great as many of these "comedies of remarriage" still are, I'd also argue that it's probably the most accessible for modern viewers thanks to its relentless pace and forward-thinking attitude towards women in the workplace. Adapted from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's celebrated stage play "The Front Page" (which had already received a big-screen version in 1931), Hawks' version made on big change that took the newsroom farce to an entirely new level: It gender-flipped one on the main characters to create a battle-of-the-sexes for the ages. Let's take a closer look.

Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) is the star reporter of the Morning Post, but she's had enough of the journalistic lifestyle. She's ready to quit the business, move from the big city to Albany, and settle down quietly with Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), a solid but slow-witted insurance salesman. Before catching their train, they drop by the office to say goodbye to Hildy's old boss and ex-husband Walter Burns (Cary Grant), an unscrupulous newspaperman who isn't about to let things slide so easily. Especially on the eve of a major story; the following day, a man named Earl Williams (John Qualen) will go to the gallows for shooting dead a Black police officer.

Burns believes that Williams is innocent and the execution is being used for political gain by the Mayor (Clarence Kolb) in order to sway a few voters of color in the upcoming city elections. Burns needs his best reporter on the story and he sets about convincing Hildy to stay and land the big scoop, scheming behind her back to waylay Baldwin and make sure they don't leave town. While Hildy is thrashing out a neat human angle story that might save Williams' life, the sensational story gets kicked up another notch when the prisoner escapes and finds his way into the press room. Hiding Williams in a desk, Hildy and Walter do their best to bamboozle the other reporters and the mayor, but can they break the story before they are arrested for aiding a convicted criminal?

Working from a sparkling screenplay by Charles Lederer (who had previously adapted 1931's "The Front Page"), Howard Hawks stands back and gives his stars plenty of room to cook. Grant is simply wonderful as Walter Burns and his performance is so charming and funny that it is easy to forget that Burns is actually quite a monster — manipulative, two-faced, and gleefully resorting to dubious means to get whatever he wants. Grant shares fantastic chemistry with Rosalind Russell, who was reportedly the studio's "15th choice" for the role. She believably makes Hildy the perfect match for Walter, the only other person in the story capable of standing up to his devious schemes. In the middle, Ralph Bellamy does some terrific unflattering work as the well-meaning dolt who is always several steps behind his fiancée and her ex.

I know many younger movie fans tend to shy away from old black-and-white films for fear they will be too dated or boring. If you fall into this category of and you're still reading, be rest assured: "His Girl Friday" is remarkably forward-thinking for an 85-year-old movie, and it is very fast... so quick that people who enjoy watching with subtitles on may struggle to keep up. Screwball comedies are synonymous with fast-paced patter and Howard Hawks wanted to take it to the limit with this one. Setting up an intricate system of microphones to capture overlapping dialogue, Hawks' film rattles along at 240 words per minute. That's around 100 more than average American English speech. Such breakneck dialogue isn't just a gimmick, either. The movie is set in the fast-paced world of newspaper journalism and the frantic delivery gives it a madcap energy, driving the story forward with such urgency that it takes several viewings to catch all the witty barbs and throwaway lines.

The film moves at such a bracing clip that it is easy to overlook the story's darker elements. At its heart, "His Girl Friday" is satire set in a world where a man's death is mined for political capital and cynical reporters are all too eager to spin the story to suit their own agenda and the short attention span of their readers. Even Walter and Hildy are not totally clean. While they are both sympathetic to Earl Williams' plight, they're as much motivated by the prospect of landing a career-making exclusive as they are about saving his life.

There's no room to get bored in "His Girl Friday," and it also feels refreshingly modern regarding gender roles. From the moment Hildy walks into the office, it's pretty much her show for the rest of the movie. She is every bit Walter's equal and she commands the respect of her fellow reporters in the otherwise all-male newsroom, comfortably fitting as one of the boys without compromising her femininity. The other guys know she's the best and they're happy to acknowledge it. Whether or not that's a realistic portrayal is another conversation, but it's rare for an older Hollywood movie to suggest that a woman could not only do a job as well as a man, but maybe even better. Check it out for yourself on Pluto TV.