His Girl Friday 4K UHD (1940)

[Areyakiddin]

IT'SINCLUDEDASPARTOFTHECOLUMBIACLASSICSCOLLECTIONV OLUME4ANDDON'TYOUFORGETIT!!! or for the Ralph Bellamys (or people who look just like him) in the room it's included as part of Volume 4 of the Columbia Classics Collection (and currently exclusive to it).

4K Ultra HD Includes:
Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, restored from the original camera negative
Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
Blu-ray Includes:
Feature presented in high definition, sourced from the 4K master
Mono DTS-HD Master Audio
Audio Commentary Featuring Film Critic and Author Todd McCarthy
(New) Screwball Style: The Iconic Costumes of Robert Kalloch Featurette
(New) Breaking the Speed Barrier: The Dialogue of His Girl Friday Featurette
Lighting Up with Hildy Johnson Featurette
Ben Hecht Featurette
On Assignment: His Girl Friday Featurette
Cary Grant: Making Headlines Featurette
Rosalind Russell: The Inside Scoop Featurette
Howard Hawks: Reporter’s Notebook Featurette
The Funny Pages Featurette
Vintage Advertising
Theatrical Trailers

[emailking]

Eeek, I'm the only one and I have to post this

I watched it this week with chicken tenders which is the 1st I've watched in the set. I had not seen the movie before. Unfortunately I didn't like it. I remembered it being mentioned as a comedy but I forgot about that so I was expecting a drama, but no matter. I guess this is the oldest comedy I've seen. But I'm not a fan of this screwball style. I also really did not like the constant rushed dialog. (People talking at the same time didn't bother me, they go on and on about this in the specials.) It absolutely took me out of the movie as it was so strange. After an hour I was pretty bored of the concept too. I laughed once I think? Maybe twice. So it wasn't funny to me. I also did not like how I'm supposed to buy how this woman who had rightly moved on from this guy had her heart won back over because they chase a news story together, even though he's pulling all the strings on her. This was actually brought up in the special, the guy is kind of a **** so why is she taken with him, it was waved off as well it's Carey Grant duh, but that does nothing for me lol. Anyway, I'm just trying to give my honest reactions here. I absolutely tried to go into it with an open mind. It's just not a movie I would have ever sought out but it comes with the collection so I watched it. I am aware and can acknowledge the film is considered historic. May if I was alive when it was released I'd feel differently about it.

While the movie was a miss for me the picture is top notch. It's black and white but it is clear & crisp and there is tons of detail and also grain. I don't think anyone will have a complaint about the picture. I used headphones for the sound, and I guess I didn't really need to as it's mostly a dialog movie (and there is no music in between the start/end credits). There are a few special sound effects and they sounded fine.

There are like 2 hours of specials on the blu-ray, which is fortunately region free. And I watched all of them while accomplishing other tasks. There are like three 15-25 minutes specials, one about costumes, one on the dialog, and then a long special with a film scholar. The latter was the best special and was very interesting. The guys is obviously very passionate and knowledgeable about the movie and made me feel bad I didn't like it lol. After a few minutes I stopped what I was doing and just concentrated on that because it was so good. These are all 1080P, the others are 1080i I guess because they're upscaled from DVD? Just a bunch of short miscellaneous specials about the movie and the actors and director. Nothing explains the title, but I looked it up.

This book also has a nice writeup on the restoration.

I do now know where that "get out" meme/gif commonly used on this site comes from. The shot before that I was like, hmmm where have I seen this setup before lol.

I couldn't recommend this on its own since the movie did nothing for me so at least watch first before an individual purchase if it ever comes. If you are a fan of this it is an incredible picture presentation so then probably a must buy.

[PowellPressburger]

[happydood]

Originally Posted by emailking

Eeek, I'm the only one and I have to post this

I watched it this week with chicken tenders which is the 1st I've watched in the set. I had not seen the movie before. Unfortunately I didn't like it. I remembered it being mentioned as a comedy but I forgot about that so I was expecting a drama, but no matter. I guess this is the oldest comedy I've seen. But I'm not a fan of this screwball style. I also really did not like the constant rushed dialog. (People talking at the same time didn't bother me, they go on and on about this in the specials.) It absolutely took me out of the movie as it was so strange. After an hour I was pretty bored of the concept too. I laughed once I think? Maybe twice. So it wasn't funny to me. I also did not like how I'm supposed to buy how this woman who had rightly moved on from this guy had her heart won back over because they chase a news story together, even though he's pulling all the strings on her. This was actually brought up in the special, the guy is kind of a **** so why is she taken with him, it was waved off as well it's Carey Grant duh, but that does nothing for me lol. Anyway, I'm just trying to give my honest reactions here. I absolutely tried to go into it with an open mind. It's just not a movie I would have ever sought out but it comes with the collection so I watched it. I am aware and can acknowledge the film is considered historic. May if I was alive when it was released I'd feel differently about it.

While the movie was a miss for me the picture is top notch. It's black and white but it is clear & crisp and there is tons of detail and also grain. I don't think anyone will have a complaint about the picture. I used headphones for the sound, and I guess I didn't really need to as it's mostly a dialog movie (and there is no music in between the start/end credits). There are a few special sound effects and they sounded fine.

There are like 2 hours of specials on the blu-ray, which is fortunately region free. And I watched all of them while accomplishing other tasks. There are like three 15-25 minutes specials, one about costumes, one on the dialog, and then a long special with a film scholar. The latter was the best special and was very interesting. The guys is obviously very passionate and knowledgeable about the movie and made me feel bad I didn't like it lol. After a few minutes I stopped what I was doing and just concentrated on that because it was so good. These are all 1080P, the others are 1080i I guess because they're upscaled from DVD? Just a bunch of short miscellaneous specials about the movie and the actors and director. Nothing explains the title, but I looked it up.

This book also has a nice writeup on the restoration.

I do now know where that "get out" meme/gif commonly used on this site comes from. The shot before that I was like, hmmm where have I seen this setup before lol.

I couldn't recommend this on its own since the movie did nothing for me so at least watch first before an individual purchase if it ever comes. If you are a fan of this it is an incredible picture presentation so then probably a must buy.

If you want to let your copy of this awful movie go, PM me!

[emailking]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

https://i.postimg.cc/W42CzvZR/IMG-6331.webp

I deserve it lol.

Someone post a good review so I'm not the only one.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by emailking

I deserve it lol.

Someone post a good review so I'm not the only one.

I do admit most do consider it a full out comedy and it does contain some more dramatic subject matter. Sometimes it’s all about the mood for the film, if you’re ready for its tone etc. I do love the fast paced dialogue.

[Areyakiddin]

Hildy's talent as a "newspaper man" is literally shown by her manipulating Earl Williams, someone who doesn't want to be seen as insane, into giving answers that will make others think he's insane.

Hildy and Walter belong together.

[RBBrittain]

Sony shot itself in the foot when dealing with this movie's public domain status (because Columbia failed to renew its copyright back in the 1960's). Historically it has used the copyrighted status of the play it was based on, The Front Page (also basis for the 1931 film of that name, itself PD but doesn't appear to be owned by Sony), to fight off other releases; that's why a copyright notice for the play instead of the film appears throughout Vol. 4. Problem is the play was copyrighted in 1928, so it went PD at the end of 2023 right along with Steamboat Willie. I wonder if His Girl Friday would have been included in Vol. 4 if Sony had realized it would be 100% PD on release day.

[50strat54]

I'm very happy with my Criterion but will buy the box for between 60-70 just of this film and Starman. I would love it if these two films were released individually but I'm also happy with my Bluray of Starman.

[BluProofie]

Got a copy from eBay and watched. Gorgeous transfer! Stuck the criterion into a 3-disc case and added the UHD to it.

[moviemaker]

I also picked this up on eBay and am very happy I did. It came with a digital copy as well as a Blu-ray. I also have the Criterion Edition.
I initially found my way to this film via Coen's homage to this and several other screwball comedies with "The Hudsucker Proxy" - You know, for kids...

[ko8ebryant24]

Criterion BD vs Sony UHD HDR10

203 nits

Reminder:
Colors and luminance in tone-mapped HDR screenshots are not representative, only compare compression and detail.

https://slow.pics/c/sHWToigh?canvas-...ge-fit=contain

[BluProofie]

It’s a pretty massive upgrade but that’s not surprising since the Criterion was from an old Sony master.