It's the sheer relentless pace of the film that astounds you. The overlapping dialogue and fast-paced narrative leave you breathless as the scoop changes from minute to minute. This is hilarious stuff. The Coen Brothers, talented as they are, tried the same hectic screwball style with The Hudsucker Proxy- Jennifer Jason Leigh basically does a Rosalind Russell impression throughout- but came up well short of this level. It's a testament to the genius of Howard Hawks.
Suave as ever, even in a double-breasted suit that most men would look a chump in, Cary Grant plays newspaper editor Walter Burns the ex-employer and ex-husband of Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson. She is to remarry Ralph Bellamy's nice-but-dim insurance man Bruce Baldwin and drops by Grant's office to tell him just as a big news story breaks. This sets off a fantastical chain of events where everyone conspires and plots against everyone else all to get their big share of the pie- Grant has Bellamy thrown in prison three times in a day, Russell assists a death row prisoner in making sure that his insanity hearing sees him cleared, the Sheriff unwittingly helps the prisoner escape, Grant has Bellamy's mother kidnapped, Russell hides the fugitive from the police, the Mayor and Sheriff (Clarence Kolb and Gene Lockhart) bribe a messenger to withhold the prisoner's reprieve and order their men shoot to kill, newspaper men hounding a witness for information make her jump from a window... So much happens so quickly and all of it is so unreal that considerations of taste and decency are irrelevant, this is suspension of disbelief time- an exaggeration, a distortion under the microscope. When Cary Grant describes Bellamy to a girl he is sending to distract him with the words "he looks like that Hollywood actor, Ralph Bellamy" or says "the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach" (his own real name) then these are clear signals that it is all a big joke. And it truly is great fun. It isn't a kind look at the journalistic trade (Russell says: "A journalist! Peeking through keyholes -- running after fire engines -- waking people up in the middle of the night to ask them if they think Hitler's going to start a war -- stealing pictures off old ladies of their daughters that got chased by apemen! I know all about reporters -- a lot of daffy buttinskies going around without a nickel in their pockets, and for what? So a million hired girls and motormen's wives will know what's going on!") but it does make it all look such dastardly fun that you can't help but envy them all their unscrupulousness, wit and camaraderie. Howard Hawks could make road-sweeping look like a barrel of laughs!
The two lead performances are mesmerisingly good, Grant plays with great charm despite the frantic nature of his role and Russell is superb as the ballsy, headstrong 'newspaper man'. This is dynamite. The dialogue is fantastic and so pacey that you can barely pick up on it. As the story breaks Grant is on the phone to his sub-editor to clear the front page "That's what I said -- the whole front page! Never mind the European war! We've got something a whole lot bigger than that... What Chinese earthquake? I don't care if a million people died, the deuce with it... Take the President's speech and run it on the funny page ... Take Hitler and stick him on the funny page too" it is hilarious stuff watching the whole thing spiral out of control with Grant and Russell continuing two, maybe three conversations at a time. The direction allows us to keep pace superbly- the plot is never confusing, the narrative is clear despite the breakneck speed and the sheer volume of characters involved. A fantastic achievement.
Oh I loved it. As Rosalind Russell says to Cary Grant "you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way" - 10/10.
