"His Girl Friday" by Howard Hawks (1940)

All hail Rosalind Russell - she might be a Hollywood legend but I have just discovered her recently in "The Women" and noticed what a attractive woman she was, despite unflattering costumes, hats, glasses and all, in fact everything possible was done in order to make her appear humpty-dumpty for the role, but it didn't fool me and I knew she was great, classic beauty obviously hamming it up in order not to eclipse main actress. Russel and not Cary Grant (for whom I couldn't care less) was the main reason why I decided to check out this movie and it was great fun.

"His Girl Friday" is deservedly a classic and its strange that it took me forever to actually watch it, because its basically right up my alley as I love nothing better than old black & white movies that get me roaring with laughter. Sharp wit, banter and non-stop fast talking is out of this world and occasionally my head was ready to explode from all this overload of punch lines - movie is also unrepentantly subversive, because it pokes fun at everyone from opportunistic journalists to corrupted politicians. Unlike movies today, there is not a single scene with moralistic brainwashing or messages about peace, love & understanding - hard boiled characters here are tough as nails and follow only their own interests, even when they are pretending to be interested in welfare of others. Grant and Russell are divorced journalist couple pulled into madcap crime case that its just too irresistible and during the continuous mayhem they shout themselves hoarse (often yelling at the top of each other) while all sorts of people run in and out of police station. There is a missed opportunity to elaborate little more on a relationship between convicted murderer and his sweetheart but this might be intentionally as it would take focus away from the main stars who are electric, chemistry between them just sizzle. Unfortunate, boring fiancé (Ralph Bellamy) is just perfect for the role and his mother (Alma Kruger) is delightful. Unforgettable comedy that got me spurting my wine all over the place and this is very unusual as generally I rarely find comedies genuinely funny, but this one was a hoot. I was glued to the screen, chuckling and laughing all the way.